Week 3
Shaving Baby with a Spoon - Hop Jig
This fabulous hop jig was written by uilleann piper Patrick Hutchinson, who was born and raised in Liverpool, then went on to learn pipes from Toronto-based piper Chris Langan, and who now lives in Providence, Rhode Island. He was inspired to write this tune after trying to feed his baby son, and scraping his messy food with a spoon as if shaving him. He wrote some hilarious words to it, too! Beneath my recordings of the tune is a clip of Leonard Barry, an uilleann piper from Tralee, County Kerry.
Hanly's Tweed - Reel
This is a tune written by one of two accordion-playing composers named Paddy O'Brien. This Paddy O'Brien (1922-1991) was from Nenagh, County Tipperary and was a very influential B/C box player. He played with the Lough Dearg Ceili Band, the Aughrim Slopes, and the Tulla, and later played with and coached the Ormand Ceili Band. He composed over 100 tunes in his lifetime, and many are regularly played at sessions. His daughter, fiddler Eileen O'Brien, compiled all of the tunes she could into a book titled The Compositions of Paddy O'Brien. This tune is one of his most popular ones, and I attach a photo of the sheet music from the book. Included is the story of the tune title. Also down there is a very speedy rendition played by flute player Martin Meehan.
