I've been slowly learning more common session tunes and this, of course, is one of them. But I won't learn it. I refuse. It's a rambling, boring tune and the C part appears to have been written by someone who felt compelled to come up with a third section and didn't know what to do so he/she just went da de da de da de . . ..
Has ANYONE, EVER recorded an inspiring version of this rambling mess?
A Chilean group called Viento Celta did a great version in their CD "De este lado del mundo" (the only one they recorded before disbanding). An obscure band worth checking out: the flute/whistle player, the fiddler and the guitarist were amazing and their arrangements were always inspired.
It just goes to show ye - one man's hated tune is another one's joy. I personally love Blemish / Spanish / Hashish / Misfortune. But perhaps MarcoTam, you'd enjoy a rousing version of Jig of Slurs instead?
I used to like it but have played it to death. As a tune goes it is a grand tune but I personally wouldn't miss it I didn't play it for a year or two.
But there's no harm in not liking a tune. Why should you like every single tune out there? Blindly accepting everything in this tradition as wonderful seems more fraught than being selective.
Well, just a few days ago, I was saying to someone what a great tune Banish Misfortune is. Decades after I first heard it, I still love it. The pointedly “modal” tunes are some of my favorites, but some folks don’t care for the whole lot of ‘em.
I was going to leap to the defense of Banish Misfortune. But that would be hypocritical, because I feel the same away about Music for a Found Harmonium--just don't like that tune, doubt I will ever learn it. I suppose we are all entitled to not like a certain tune, "just because." There are plenty of other tunes to play instead.
Hang on mick, Banish misfortune is an old classic . Music for a demented Harmonium aint!. No comparison.
I mean Marco, why do you play ITM?
I think it should be played more , I cant think of the last time I played it at a session. These old pipe tunes just do it for me.
Perhaps you just need to here it played well.?
I actually find it astonishing that any player of ITM [ apart from a rank beginner ] would not know the tune ! I mean a standard or what!
I'm with you Marco.
I've always found this tune to be annoying
and I've heard it on a variety of instruments.
When someone starts this one up, it's a perfect cue for
me to take a rest and meet some friends at the bar.
I think everyone has a particular tune that serves this purpose.
There's a recently-unearthed wax cylinder recording of Banish Misfortune, made by Francis O'Neill of Edward Cronin of Tipperary.
It's very close to the setting given in O'Neill's 1,850 (no surprise there, especially since he gives Cronin as his source), even including the 4-on-3 figure in the first bar of the third part.
This is quite a different setting from the one commonly heard today, and I find it rather charming.
I don't know the date this recording was made, but considering when O'Neill was collecting and publishing, it may qualify as the oldest recording of Irish fiddling in existence.
I first heard this tune played with Lark in the Morning by a band named Phoenix. They tarted it up a bit with bass and drums, but still played it as a traditional set. Very rousing, and I set out to learn the set based on that recording. Never been sorry; it knocks the socks of the crowd at gigs, where it was always a staple for me. I don't tart it up, either.
David Power, the piper from Waterford, said (at a workshop) that the reason the irish washwoman seems so bad is you hear the bad recordings, upon which he launched into the Irish washer woman with an amazing show of musicanship, regulators on, drones on, triplets flying. Made the tune come alive.
I don't think there are bad tunes, just bad renditions.
Anyway, the C part, which is the best bit IMO, actually goes like this:
dee | dah dum deedle | die-dle dum dee | dum dithery-um did-dle-ey | die dum did-dle-ey | doh did-dle-um | deedle ee die-dle-ey | did-dle-ey did-dle-ey | die-dle-um day :|
Just listening to Willie Clancy playing it on the whistle. My stock phrase; if its good enough for[insert name here] willie clancy , its good enough for me.
Talking of this, what is the opinion on sharing out of production ,cassete tape, ripped to mp3? like 'the breeze from Erin'? classic recordin.
Ive been playing it for 25 yrs ben, on guitarm fiddle banjo and mandolin[ not whistle because I never learnt to play Cnat ] so I have a fair understanding I just think you dont understand lilting.......
Banish Misfortune is played poorly more often by more people than any other Irish tune
That's not the tune's fault. The tune is a fine tune. It is actually a difficult tune to play well, due to all the short rolls. (You know- the little poppy things that all the bad players don't know how to do so they just leave them out.)
Hmm richard, that might be the case on wind instruments but on strings we use triplets and other ornaments .
Also I take exception to your suggestion that only bad players who cant roll dont.That is simply untrue.For example last night one of the fiddlers, the anchor, didnt roll all night hardly. I noted this and chatting with him mentioned it. As he is a renound fiddler and has an 'illustrious' lineage he could not, by any stretch of the imagination be called a bad fiddler. Rolls are simply a stylistic choice. I for example some times roll all over the place,[ visual image of rolling on the ground comes to mind and other times dont. Depending on what other players are doing, how i feel, the audience and colour of my socks....
Marco, I totally agree. I find a lot of our session toons
utterly boring and musically lacking and I prefer slow suicide
(I takes me pint to the bar and smokes 2/3 cigs while these
insipid toons are being offerred up to the diners in the room.
The three B's (Banish, Blarney and I'm sure there's another
one that starts with a B) are the bane of my Celtic musical
experience. I've been wanting to say this for a long time !!!!
This could be fodder for a fresh post !!!
IRISH TOONS THAT SUCK
Marco, If you can't learn a tune this simple and boring, I suggest that you need to practice more.
Simple tunes are the Rosetta Stones that link the various session traditions together.
Although, come to think of it, the Silver Spear, which was an early favorite when I was starting out, is becoming a bit stale for me.......
I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
I've been slowly learning more common session tunes and this, of course, is one of them. But I won't learn it. I refuse. It's a rambling, boring tune and the C part appears to have been written by someone who felt compelled to come up with a third section and didn't know what to do so he/she just went da de da de da de . . ..
Has ANYONE, EVER recorded an inspiring version of this rambling mess?
# Posted on May 2nd 2008 by MarcoTam
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
Danu's version is nice.
How could you not like a tune called "Banish Misfortune?"
# Posted on May 2nd 2008 by grego
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
And the third part really goes dee-dah, dee-dah, dee-dah, dee-dah, dee duddly dum, dee dum, dee dum...
# Posted on May 2nd 2008 by grego
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
You mean other than Willie Clancy, Bobby Casey, Sean Casey, Danu, and the Chieftans? Nope, probably not ... not yet anyway
# Posted on May 2nd 2008 by RogueFiddler
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
Peter Browne knocks the stuffing out of this one on "The Gathering":
http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/1093
# Posted on May 2nd 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
Come on, this is a fine tune. Have a drink or something, you seem on edge.
# Posted on May 2nd 2008 by crazy_fingerz
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
You wild and wicked webel Marco!
Just think of all those lovely hornpipes that the C music leads towards....
# Posted on May 2nd 2008 by TomB-R
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
A Chilean group called Viento Celta did a great version in their CD "De este lado del mundo" (the only one they recorded before disbanding). An obscure band worth checking out: the flute/whistle player, the fiddler and the guitarist were amazing and their arrangements were always inspired.
# Posted on May 2nd 2008 by Pablofromargentina
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
It's the best double jig of the two or three hundred I know.
Ask not what does this jig do to me, rather, what can I do to this jig?
# Posted on May 2nd 2008 by millionyears_bc
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
Well, there's Tommy Peoples' and Bobby Casey's versions for starters - http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/2257 and http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/428.
# Posted on May 2nd 2008 by Floss the Tethers
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
that's the first tune I ever learned and played at our session.
# Posted on May 2nd 2008 by Greg the Piano Tuner
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
Great tune. Just put some life and lift in it, and don't neglect to add variations, and you really can't go wrong.
# Posted on May 2nd 2008 by Seosamh Ui Sinan
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
Willie Clancy's version. Both versions. But start here:
http://www.rogermillington.com/tunetoc/banishwillie.html
# Posted on May 2nd 2008 by Nico
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
Also known as "Vanish Me Foreskin'
# Posted on May 2nd 2008 by dafydd
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
It just goes to show ye - one man's hated tune is another one's joy. I personally love Blemish / Spanish / Hashish / Misfortune. But perhaps MarcoTam, you'd enjoy a rousing version of Jig of Slurs instead?
# Posted on May 2nd 2008 by Jusa Nutter Eejit
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
I used to like it but have played it to death. As a tune goes it is a grand tune but I personally wouldn't miss it I didn't play it for a year or two.
But there's no harm in not liking a tune. Why should you like every single tune out there? Blindly accepting everything in this tradition as wonderful seems more fraught than being selective.
# Posted on May 2nd 2008 by Key Maniac Lad
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
Well, just a few days ago, I was saying to someone what a great tune Banish Misfortune is. Decades after I first heard it, I still love it. The pointedly “modal” tunes are some of my favorites, but some folks don’t care for the whole lot of ‘em.
# Posted on May 2nd 2008 by Bob himself
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
I was going to leap to the defense of Banish Misfortune. But that would be hypocritical, because I feel the same away about Music for a Found Harmonium--just don't like that tune, doubt I will ever learn it. I suppose we are all entitled to not like a certain tune, "just because." There are plenty of other tunes to play instead.
# Posted on May 2nd 2008 by mickray
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
Do learn it. It's great after Garrett Barry's.
# Posted on May 2nd 2008 by west-coaster
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
If you don't like it, don't play it. Why do you think this is of any interest to us ?
# Posted on May 2nd 2008 by Kenny
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
It's fine for fiddle. You can do some interesting bowing to great effect. You're a flute player? Tough.
# Posted on May 2nd 2008 by kuec
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
Hang on mick, Banish misfortune is an old classic . Music for a demented Harmonium aint!. No comparison.
I mean Marco, why do you play ITM?
I think it should be played more , I cant think of the last time I played it at a session. These old pipe tunes just do it for me.
Perhaps you just need to here it played well.?
I actually find it astonishing that any player of ITM [ apart from a rank beginner ] would not know the tune ! I mean a standard or what!
# Posted on May 2nd 2008 by jig
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
I'm with you Marco.
I've always found this tune to be annoying
and I've heard it on a variety of instruments.
When someone starts this one up, it's a perfect cue for
me to take a rest and meet some friends at the bar.
I think everyone has a particular tune that serves this purpose.
# Posted on May 2nd 2008 by halfwaythere
Re: lemon flavoured quarks...
i'm not going to learn quantum mechanics.
just thought i would let you all know.
# Posted on May 2nd 2008 by biggus dave
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
Gerry 'Banjo' O'Connor's version is great
# Posted on May 2nd 2008 by riada
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
Quantum mechanics is fascinating, Dave...just wish I could understand it properly.....
# Posted on May 2nd 2008 by Key Maniac Lad
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
I play it on tin whistle and I think t's a very nice tune. Once you learn it really good you'll find the 'taste' of it.
# Posted on May 2nd 2008 by Bothrops
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
yes,Danny- i touched the surface when reading about Richard Feynman but sadly it's way over my head.
my loss!
# Posted on May 2nd 2008 by biggus dave
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
There's a recently-unearthed wax cylinder recording of Banish Misfortune, made by Francis O'Neill of Edward Cronin of Tipperary.
It's very close to the setting given in O'Neill's 1,850 (no surprise there, especially since he gives Cronin as his source), even including the 4-on-3 figure in the first bar of the third part.
This is quite a different setting from the one commonly heard today, and I find it rather charming.
I don't know the date this recording was made, but considering when O'Neill was collecting and publishing, it may qualify as the oldest recording of Irish fiddling in existence.
# Posted on May 2nd 2008 by Jumper
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
I first heard this tune played with Lark in the Morning by a band named Phoenix. They tarted it up a bit with bass and drums, but still played it as a traditional set. Very rousing, and I set out to learn the set based on that recording. Never been sorry; it knocks the socks of the crowd at gigs, where it was always a staple for me. I don't tart it up, either.
# Posted on May 3rd 2008 by Ailin
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
David Power, the piper from Waterford, said (at a workshop) that the reason the irish washwoman seems so bad is you hear the bad recordings, upon which he launched into the Irish washer woman with an amazing show of musicanship, regulators on, drones on, triplets flying. Made the tune come alive.
I don't think there are bad tunes, just bad renditions.
# Posted on May 3rd 2008 by I_Fel
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
Jumper, are you able to give us a link to that wax cylinder recording of Cronin's "Banish Misfortune"?
# Posted on May 3rd 2008 by lazyhound
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
And don't forget bad associations, I_Fel.
# Posted on May 3rd 2008 by Whiddler
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
Try and have a listen to it on Pat Shortt's DVD !!!!
# Posted on May 3rd 2008 by concertinaplayer
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
Anyway, the C part, which is the best bit IMO, actually goes like this:
dee | dah dum deedle | die-dle dum dee | dum dithery-um did-dle-ey | die dum did-dle-ey | doh did-dle-um | deedle ee die-dle-ey | did-dle-ey did-dle-ey | die-dle-um day :|
I love the words ...
# Posted on May 3rd 2008 by benhall.1
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
Ah ben, are you sure thats a jig? bar 3 has8 syllables,bar 5 only 4?
# Posted on May 3rd 2008 by jig
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
Jumper -- Where did you hear that wax recording? I am thinking that Patrick Orceau played the same track for us at Friday Harbor this year.
# Posted on May 3rd 2008 by crazy_fingerz
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
Just listening to Willie Clancy playing it on the whistle. My stock phrase; if its good enough for[insert name here] willie clancy , its good enough for me.
Talking of this, what is the opinion on sharing out of production ,cassete tape, ripped to mp3? like 'the breeze from Erin'? classic recordin.
# Posted on May 3rd 2008 by jig
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
Well, that lets me off learning to play several betes noires:
The Mason's Apron,
The Glasgow Reel,
Peter Street,
East Galway tunes in odd keys that sound like pythons with stomach-ache,
Music For A Lost Harmonium
- and hundreds more.
# Posted on May 3rd 2008 by nicholas
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
I realise you put a
after what you said, jig. Nevertheless, I don't think you'd have said it if you actually knew how the tune goes.
# Posted on May 3rd 2008 by benhall.1
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
Ive been playing it for 25 yrs ben, on guitarm fiddle banjo and mandolin[ not whistle because I never learnt to play Cnat
] so I have a fair understanding 
I just think you dont understand lilting.......
# Posted on May 4th 2008 by jig
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
Banish Misfortune is played poorly more often by more people than any other Irish tune
That's not the tune's fault. The tune is a fine tune. It is actually a difficult tune to play well, due to all the short rolls. (You know- the little poppy things that all the bad players don't know how to do so they just leave them out.)
# Posted on May 5th 2008 by Richard D Cook
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
Hmm richard, that might be the case on wind instruments but on strings we use triplets and other ornaments .
and other times dont. Depending on what other players are doing, how i feel, the audience and colour of my socks....
Also I take exception to your suggestion that only bad players who cant roll dont.That is simply untrue.For example last night one of the fiddlers, the anchor, didnt roll all night hardly. I noted this and chatting with him mentioned it. As he is a renound fiddler and has an 'illustrious' lineage he could not, by any stretch of the imagination be called a bad fiddler. Rolls are simply a stylistic choice. I for example some times roll all over the place,[ visual image of rolling on the ground comes to mind
# Posted on May 5th 2008 by jig
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
Marco, I totally agree. I find a lot of our session toons
utterly boring and musically lacking and I prefer slow suicide
(I takes me pint to the bar and smokes 2/3 cigs while these
insipid toons are being offerred up to the diners in the room.
The three B's (Banish, Blarney and I'm sure there's another
one that starts with a B) are the bane of my Celtic musical
experience. I've been wanting to say this for a long time !!!!
This could be fodder for a fresh post !!!
IRISH TOONS THAT SUCK
# Posted on May 6th 2008 by hauke
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
Ha ha, its not the tune but the players....
# Posted on May 6th 2008 by jig
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
boys of blue hill?
# Posted on May 6th 2008 by jig
Re: I'm not going to learn Banish Misfortune
Marco, If you can't learn a tune this simple and boring, I suggest that you need to practice more.
Simple tunes are the Rosetta Stones that link the various session traditions together.
Although, come to think of it, the Silver Spear, which was an early favorite when I was starting out, is becoming a bit stale for me.......
# Posted on May 6th 2008 by AlBrown