Annotation:Maid at the Spinning Wheel (The)
X:1 T:Maid of the Spinning Wheel T:Cailleach an Túirne B:Breathnach, CRE I 1 R:Jig Z:Paul de Grae M:6/8 L:1/8 K:G D||: GAG B2 G | BcA B2 G | GDG cAG | ~F3 AFD | GAG B2 G | BcA B2 c | ded cAF | G3 G2 :| |: c |BAG AFD | ~D3 AFD | ~D3 AFD | EFG ABc| BAG AFD | ~D3 AFD | ded cAF | G G2 :| |: D |GBd gba | gdB ecA | dBG cAG | ~F3 AFD | GBd gba | gdB ecA | fed cAF | G3 G2 :| |: A |(4cBAc Afd | Bfd Afd | Bfd AFD | EFG ABc | BAG AFD | ~D3 AFD | ded cAF | G3 G :||
MAID AT THE SPINNING WHEEL, THE. AKA - "The Maid of the Spinning Wheel." AKA and see "Cailin Fionn (An)," "Cailleach an Túirne," "Cailín A' Tuirna," "Hag of the Spinning Wheel (The)," "Is Maith le Nóra Císte" (Nora Likes Cake), "Kiss Me Darling," "Ladies' Fancy (3) (The)," "Máire an Phórtair" "Noran Kista," "Nora's Purse," "Norickystie," "Road to Lurgan (The)," "Sergeant Early's Jig," "Spinning Wheel (4) (The)," "Tune the Fiddle," "Wild Irishman (4) (The)," "Wreathe/Wreath the Bowl." Irish, Double Jig. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCC(DD): AABBCCDD (Breathnach): AA'BB'CCDD (Miller). This multi-titled jig is most likely to be referred to as "Maid at/of the Spinning Wheel" at present. Brendan Breathnach (1963) traces this tune to London printer David Rutherford's Compleat Collection of 200 of the most celebrated Country Dances (vol. 3, 1756) where it appears under the title "Wild Irishman (4) (The)." He also identifies a version in Glasgow publisher James Aird's A Selection of Scottish, English, Irish and Foreign Airs as "Norickystie" (c. 1782). "Norah with the Purse" is Irish collector Edward Bunting's translation of Aird's title, and it was printed as "Norah with the Purse" in Bunting's third collection, Ancient Irish Music (1840). It is perhaps this version that editor David Taylor (1982) refers to when he remarks that the melody under the "Norah" name "is presently associated with a very old two-part version." Thomas Moore wrote his song "Wreathe the Bowl" to Bunting's variant.
Other versions of the tune go by still more names. Chicago police chief Francis O'Neill printed several variants: it appears as "Road to Lurgan (The)" (which Breathnach calls "a poor version") and again as "Kiss Me Darling" in his Music of Ireland (1903). "Wild Irishman (4) (The)" titled-tune appears in O'Neill's Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody (1922), reprinted note-for-note from the Hibernian Muse (c. 1787). Finally, Breathnach identifies the titles "Cailín A' Tuirna" in Irish Uileann Pipes by T. Crowley (Cork, c. 1934) and "Máire an Phórtair" in the mid-19th century James Goodman Manuscripts (Goodman was a cleric and uilleann piper in Cork). Others have identified the title "Tune the Fiddle," which formerly had a turn in fashion as the most popular name for this tune. Another variant of the melody, as "Is Maith le Nóra Císte" (Nora Likes Cake), was found on further inspection of Edward Bunting's 1840 collection, noted from the harper Byrne in 1802. Variants have two to four parts, but the fourth part is often omitted as it is considered awkward.
