Does "Irish Washerwoman" have a bad rap?

Bagfed · Post by **Bagfed** » Sun Jan 19, 2003 6:11 pm

I'm trying to learn it and you don't see any clips of it on clips & snips. I don't think the wandering whistler has it in the archive. (I do have a copy) It seems it is like the BG's everyone liked it when they first heard it but won't admit to it now, after hearing it for the 1000th time?

Aaron

blackhawk · Post by **blackhawk** » Sun Jan 19, 2003 6:15 pm

It's just been played to death.

Bagfed · Post by **Bagfed** » Sun Jan 19, 2003 6:20 pm

It's new to me

everyone knows how to play it right? Is it like a pre-requisite? Celtic music 101?

Redwolf · Post by **Redwolf** » Sun Jan 19, 2003 6:23 pm

Is it actually Irish, or is it music hall Irish? That's been my assumption re why you never see or hear it in traditional circles, but I could be wrong.

Redwolf

Rando7 · Post by **Rando7** » Sun Jan 19, 2003 6:46 pm

On 2003-01-19 19:15, blackhawk wrote:
It's just been played to death.

Which kind of raises another question. At the sessions I've been to, there are usually some folks just sitting around listening. When the fiddle player breaks into Irish Washerwoman, the crowd will "wake up" and start whooping and clapping along. So the question is, is it worth having some tunes that the "public" recognizes and can get into even if the more accomplished players are tired of them? Personally I like the crowd getting into the music, it makes things more exciting and enjoyable.

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Sun Jan 19, 2003 7:45 pm

I posted this in another string, but it's more relevant to this string.

Alternative lyrics to "The Irish Washerwoman":

The Chemist's Drinking Song (words: John A Carroll & Jordin Kare)
(tune: Irish Washerwoman)

Paradimethylaminobenzaldehyde,

Sodium Citrate, Ammonium Cyanide;
Mix 'em together and add some benzene
And top off the punch with trichloroeth'lene.

Got gassed up last night on some forfuryl alcohol,
Followed it up with a gallon of propanol,
Tanked up on hydrazine 'til after noon,
Then spat on the floor and blew up the saloon!

Para-dimethyl-amino-benzaldehyde,
Powdered aluminum, nitrogen iodide,
Chlorates, permanganates, nitrates galore;
Just swallow one drink and you'll never need more.

Whiskey, tequila and rum are too tame;
No, the stuff that I drink must explode into flame
When I breathe and dissolve all the paint in the room,
And rattle the walls with a ground-shaking boom.

Paradimethylaminobenzaldehyde,
Go soak your head in a good strong insecticide;
Slosh it around and impregnate your brain
With dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane.

Keep your methanol, ethanol, n-butyl acetate,
None of them work I'm too hard to intoxicate.
I don't consider a drink to be strong
If it's carbon chains aren't at least twelve atoms long.

Paradimethylaminobenzaldehyde,
Methyl methacrylate, partly solidified,
Add copper sulfate for beautiful hues,
And drink it all down for those Plexiglass blues.

Redwolf · Post by **Redwolf** » Sun Jan 19, 2003 8:03 pm

On 2003-01-19 19:46, Rando7 wrote:
On 2003-01-19 19:15, blackhawk wrote:
It's just been played to death.
Which kind of raises another question. At the sessions I've been to, there are usually some folks just sitting around listening. When the fiddle player breaks into Irish Washerwoman, the crowd will "wake up" and start whooping and clapping along. So the question is, is it worth having some tunes that the "public" recognizes and can get into even if the more accomplished players are tired of them? Personally I like the crowd getting into the music, it makes things more exciting and enjoyable.

I think it's good to have a few readily recognizable tunes up your sleeve, even if they've been overdone or aren't "authentically Irish." It's absolutely vital if you're busking, or playing in a venue where requests will be solicited!

Redwolf

jim_mc · Post by **jim_mc** » Sun Jan 19, 2003 8:16 pm

Or sometimes you just need a jig that your sister will recognize when she's had a few drinks. Then she'll get up and show everyone what she learned in step dancing classes 30 years ago. Make sure someone has the camcorder ready...

blackhawk · Post by **blackhawk** » Sun Jan 19, 2003 8:25 pm

On 2003-01-19 19:46, Rando7 wrote:
On 2003-01-19 19:15, blackhawk wrote:
Washerwoman, the crowd will "wake up" and start whooping and clapping along. So the question is, is it worth having some tunes that the "public" recognizes and can get into even if the more accomplished players are tired of them? Personally I like the crowd getting into the music, it makes things more exciting and enjoyable.

Personally, I do like the tune. I like hearing it and playing it, but I'm in the distinct minority here.

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Sun Jan 19, 2003 8:33 pm

I must say, I like "The Irish Washerwoman" very much.

There's something in it that gets into my blood and makes me want to get up and dance. This may go back to when I was doing a lot of contra dancing. I didn't know the tunes then, but "The Irish Washerwoman" (or some derivation close to it) may have been one that went along with one of my favorite dances.

Best wishes,
Jerry

Wandering_Whistler · Post by **Wandering_Whistler** » Sun Jan 19, 2003 9:25 pm

On 2003-01-19 19:11, Bagfed wrote:
I don't think the wandering whistler has it in the archive.

Actually, I do have a copy <a href="http://www.tinwhistler.com/music/sheet. ... w">here</a>

Been there since 7-28-2000

mvhplank · Post by **mvhplank** » Sun Jan 19, 2003 9:43 pm

Don't you think there comes a time when the "tired old tunes" have been ignored so long that they sound fresh to the newer players?

I had a blast at a contra dance last year when an old-time band played Arkansas Traveler.

I'll bet Turkey in the Straw is one of those tunes, too. However, I don't think I'll ever recover from 2nd Grade music class (on those bullet-shaped, recorder-fingered, black plastic "Tonettes") and Red River Valley played over and over, badly.

M

jim_mc · Post by **jim_mc** » Sun Jan 19, 2003 10:02 pm

...but remember the Red River valley,
and the cowboy that loved you so true...

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Mon Jan 20, 2003 4:44 am

For a rendition of Irish Washerwoman by a promising young player, check out this thread: http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... 1&start=15

madguy · Post by **madguy** » Mon Jan 20, 2003 4:46 am

On 2003-01-20 05:44, Walden wrote:
For a rendition of Irish Washerwoman by a promising young player, check out this thread: http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... 1&start=15

Walden, that promising young player should be on American Idol!!!

~Larry