Morrison’s (jig) on The Session

This tune is great fun to play in a fast tempo, especially that second part which is more Metallica than Morrison’s.

Those Es and Bs at the start are just crying out to be ornamented. You can try EDE and BAB.

You can get another variation by playing the notes EBE BEB ad nauseum. Of course, then it’s really going to sound like Metallica 🙂

James Morrison was the fiddler that made this tune popular, the story goes that Morrison learned the tune from Carmondy (a friend of Morrison’s in NYC) & Tom did not have a name for it. James Morrison learned it & said that he would record it the next day for a record company & call it “Tom Carmondy’s Favorite” which he did.

From a discussion thread on making up lyrics to tunes so you can remember them, Mark/Ottery came up with this gem, and I felt it simply shouldn’t ever be lost:

Morrison’s, Morrison’s
We all play Morrison’s.
It’s such fun, and what could be finer?
Morrison’s, Morrison’s
Let’s not play Morrison’s -
It’s not fun or clever and it’s in E Minor.

Padraig O’Keefe’s Favourite

On “Gaelic Roots”, a 2-CD compilation from a Boston College concert series, Johnny O‘Leary plays a 3-part tune called “Padraig O’Keefe’s Favourite”, the first 2 parts of which sound almost identical to Morrison’s. Anyone know what I’m talking about?

Bowing problems on Morrison’s (bowing to tne inevitable?)

My problems are bowing the EBE BAB starting the A part, and the BEE AEE in teh B part. I’m playing in a group with an accordion player who can really drill out those notes. Tactical non-hits (i.e. misses): One stroke/note: feel like I’m cutting wood, and badly. Light bouncing in the B part works, down-up-up,, throw in a cut or two, sounds good escept can’t get needed speed or volume. Slurring the triples in the A part doesn’t work for me at a fast pace unless I dot the first quarter (then can get a nice rock-n-roll burr sometimes).
Maybe just do a dotted quarter E in 1st 2 measures of A and B? Not macho, but better than tripping over my own shoes. I know, ask a better player at a seisun. But I just had to get this off my shoulders. A little cyber plea.
Mike, LA, CA, USA

Bowing problems: correction re notes

I meant the BEE FEE AEE sequences in B part are problematic. where the B part modulates, I’m okay. it flows right for me.
Mike

Bowing Morrison’s

I was taught to bow the EBEB by rotating the wrist in a full circle. It took my about a week without the fiddle to do it. I have found that it gives an extra kick to reverse the rotation occaisionally.

E3 BEB | is a plausible solution as is Playing a long roll on the E3 then on a B3. If there’s a dozen other fiddlers and no guitars, I might play the E diad {EB} in unson and then slide off to the open {DA}. Just don’t do it the same way every time.

One thing that keeps this classic alive is that there’s so many different ways to play it.

Variation 4 Morrison’s

well this is a variation that i thought maybe you’d like to know
i roll the E and the B
so its
EFEDE BCBAB
🙂

“Richard Brennan’s Jig” = “Morrison’s #2”

Key signature: D Major
Submitted on March 10th 2004 by Mad Baloney.
https://thesession.org/tunes/2632

Comment from Mad Baloney:

“This is the jig that James Morrison usually played after ”Morrison’s Jig“ ~ Don’t know why the first one became so popular while this tune is so rare, but anyway they make a nice pair.”

A neat trick with this Jig

So last night I was playing with some friends, and the mando player thought that we were starting at the B section, when me and the guitar started at the top.

The result? Pretty darn cool. Other than a quick G in the guitar that sounds a little strange, it sounds really amazing, like an incredible counterpoint harmony. Try it out, and let me know what you think.

Morrisons Jig

can anyone tell me what tunes they would put with this in there session set. looking for two simple but effective tunes to go with this great jig

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forgot to mention the same question for “the maid behind the bar”

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Donnybrook Fair “falls” nicely into Morrisons.

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Which Morrison’s, there are 7 here alone? Could you post the link?

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https://thesession.org/tunes/71

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Well, i copied john carty’s set of cooley’s reel running into the maid behind the bar. It works pretty well. As for morrison’s, i never heard it before

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Oh come on michael isn’t obvious which morrisons jig it is. Ye’ll be asking which maid behind the bar it is next.

I usually put it after, out in the ocean

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I only asked because I’m not good with the names of tunes. I had a quick sacn of it and I can now say, oh, that one. (I did know the maid behind the bar’s name though)

So, you cuold just play the Bothy band set …
https://thesession.org/recordings/324
nowt wrong with that. But it’s better to be more inventive

After out on the ocean in A would be more fun than in G I think. But I’d prefer to keep the set darker. Start with something in A min, morrisons in the middle, then get another big Emin jig, kid in the mountain maybe

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Drowsy Maggie is a fairly obvious tune to play after Morrison’s Jig. Perhaps, too obvious!

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Try Morrison’s with Dorros Mill. they might be a little too similar in key and structure for some, but I like ’em.

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John J, would’t it be better to play a jig with a jig in a session.

Try a jig starting on g, and in G, maybe Jim Ward’s?
https://thesession.org/tunes/793

MBTB try Father Kelly’s.
https://thesession.org/tunes/791

Just off the top of my head, I haven’t tried these before.

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hey, those two tunes are only two numbers apart!
Creepy…

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Well, perhaps in a session but it’s quite a nice change, I think. Both tunes are in the same key and I quite like moving from a jig to a reel, in this instance.
Maybe, it’s not’s suitable for a session though, as it’s unexpected.

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Morrison’s into the Kesh goes very nicely

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Concertina Reel - Maid Behind the Bar - Dairy Maid - Sligo Maid

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I’d tend to think of jig into reel as very Scottish so it was interesting to see what you say about yourself John J.

Would people do the March/Strathspey/Reel thing in a session in Scotland, or is that for more formal situations?

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Lannigan’s Ball/Morrison’s Jig

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Yes, they would do this sort of things in sessions too but it is usually done for more formal situations. Traditionally, many of the sessions have been like this in Scotland where a musician or two or three will “do something” as opposed to everyone playing in unison all the time.

These days, most sessions where the musicians “join in” together are very similar to Irish sessions but just have Scottish and/or a mixture of tunes. Reels usually get played with reels, jigs with jigs and so on.

Sadly, there doesn’t seem to be as many strathspeys, pipe marches etc in your average Scottish session these days. It’s all reels etc here these days as well.

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Or when they do get played, they are played like jigs and reels half the time. 🙁

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our set starts with a song in Eb, then Sliabh Russel (jig in A-) which falls perfectly into the Morrison’s grand final.

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You could try Whelan’s Fancy before Morrisons.
I did it with my friends, and it worked out well..

https://thesession.org/tunes/1447

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By the way, if The Bothy Band can get away with changing from a jig to a set of reels, then surely I can 🙂

https://thesession.org/discussions/9486

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Oops. Was thinking of Monhan’s with Dorros Mill, above. My bad.

Obviously, somebody thinks this discussion belongs in the tunes section. 🙂

More notes on the origin

Tom Carmody, who played accordion in Morrison’s band, tells this story of its origin:

“Jim was up at my house the night before we were to go to the studio, and I played him this jig. Jim asked me where I had got it from and I told him it was my father’s jig called ‘The Stick Across the Hob’. Jim asked me to play it again and he wrote it down as I played, then he got the fiddle and played it off. ”I will put that on record tomorrow“, he said, and we’ll call it Maurice Carmody’s Favourite”.

From “The James Morrison Story”

http://www.morrison.ie/Story.htm

I’ve also heard variations of Morrison’s and Whelan’s mixed up together (like the first half of Morrisons and the second of Whelan’s) an easy trick to slip into but then hard to play either tune correctly after you’ve learned it! Or does this hybrid tune have a name of it’s own…? For example, what would you call the second tune this lad plays along with on youtube and who’s the fiddle player on the backing track? (the first tune is Carraroe)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=EbiYgaGqgX0

Morrison’s jig

Padraig O’Keefe’s Favourite

Bowing problems on Morrison’s (bowing to tne inevitable?)

Bowing problems: correction re notes

Bowing Morrison’s

Variation 4 Morrison’s

“Richard Brennan’s Jig” = “Morrison’s #2”

A neat trick with this Jig

Morrisons Jig

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More notes on the origin

Hallmark Card

Morrison’s

Non-jigs with Morrison’s

Cheers!

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Morrison’s

Port Ui Mhuirgheasa

hello

Morrison’s

Variation

Morrison’s for DADGAD fingerstyle guitar

3-Part Version on Tin Whistle

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Re: Morrison’s / Paddy Stack’s Fancy

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