Annotation:Cailleach a Shúsa (1)

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X:1 T:Calloch a Theusa [1] M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Jig S:O'Farrell - Pocket Companion, vol. II (c. 1806) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:G G | A2B cBc | EFE c2A | B2G AFD | GAG BAG | A2B cBc | EFE c2A | BdB cAF | G3 BAG :| |: FGA AFd | AFd AFd | FGA AEd | GAF BAG | FGA AFd | AFd ABc | BdB cAF | G3 BAG :| |: FGA AFD | DED AFD | FGA AFD | GAG BAG | FGA AFD | DED ABc | BdB cBA | G3 BAG :||



CAILLEACH A SHÚSA [1] (The old woman in the settle-bed). AKA and see "Snug in the Blanket," "Collough a thusa," "Hag in the Blanket." AKA - "Calloch a Theusa." Irish, Jig. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (Shields/Goodman): ABC (Stanford/Petrie): AABBCC (O'Farrell). The melody appears in the mid-19th century music manuscript collection of Church of Ireland cleric James Goodman (1828-1896). Goodman, who spoke Irish and played the uilleann pipes, collected from tradition in Cork and elsewhere in Munster, and obtained tunes from manuscripts and printed sources as well. Goodman translates the title as "the old woman in the settle-bed," which Paul de Grae calls a "glossing" of the title "Hag in the Blanket" or "Snug in the Blanket"[1]. O'Farrell's and Petrie's tunes are identical, save for the repeats.

Additional notes

Source for notated version: -

Printed sources : - O'Farrell (Pocket Companion, vol. II), c. 1806; p. 113 (appears as "Calloch a Theusa"). Shields/Goodman (Tunes of the Munster Pipers), 1998; No. 196, p. 81. Stanford/Petrie (Complete Collection), 1905; No. 1363, p. 341 (appears as "Cailleac an t-Rura").

Recorded sources: -Green Linnet GLCD 1211, Kevin Crawford - "In Good Company" (2001. Learned from a recording of Dublin fiddler and concertina player John Kelly, Sr., originally from West Clare).



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  1. Paul de Grae, "Notes to Sources in the O'Neill Collections", 2017.