The Twisted Bridge

three-two

Key signature: Amixolydian

Submitted on November 3rd 2005 by domhnall..

This tune has been added to 87 tunebooks.

Also known as An Drochaid Chiiùiteach, An Drochaid Chii�iteach, An Drochaid Chliùteach, An Drochaid Chliuteach, An Drochaid Chluiteach, An Drochaid Cliuiteach, An Drochaid Cluideachd, An Drochaid Luideach, An Drochead Chluiteach, The Crooked Bridge, The Famous Bridge, The Twisted Fox.

Recordings of a tune by this name:

A' Sireadh Spòrs by Dr. Angus MacDonald
Birlin' Fiddles by J. Wrigley, A. Henderson, J. Legge, And S. Wright
Dance Of The Celts: A Narada Collection by Various Artists
How Are We Getting Home? by Gaelic Storm
Live In Scotland by Unusual Suspects
Out Of The Blue by Anna Murray
Roaming Free by Colin MacLeod And Rory Sinclair
Scottish Fiddle by John Martin And Jack Evans
Smalltalk by Smalltalk

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Great tune - thanks to Bonnanza for requesting it and to JohnJ for identifying it. John got it from Nigel Gatherer's site

http://www.nigelgatherer.com/tunes/tab/tab8/twstb.html

NB it is a 6/4 pipe tune - maybe 3/2 is the closest option here??

# Posted on November 3rd 2005 by domhnall.

You can assign meter on site when making your contribution, say under either 3/2 or 6/8 but with a 'proviso' ~ all you do is add
M: 6/4
before the ABCs...

# Posted on November 3rd 2005 by ceolachan

Cool tune. It sounds so familiar but I can't remember where I heard it.

# Posted on November 28th 2005 by Why Bother?

Gaelic Storm. How could I forget.

# Posted on November 28th 2005 by Why Bother?

I have it on good authority that the name 'The Twisted Bridge' is a bad translation from the Gaelic. The name should actually be 'The Famous Bridge'

# Posted on September 11th 2006 by No Cause For Alarm

A reel and a half

What an interesting little tune! I think you were right to choose 3/2 anyway, domnull. Anything with a 6 on top of the time signature (6/2, 6/4, 6/8 etc) is "compound duple", i.e. there are 2 beats in the bar, so you'd tap your foot twice, and there'd be 3 crotchets' worth on each tap. With 3/2 the bar length is the same, but the subdivision is different and there are 3 beats in the bar. Clearly in this tune there are 3 beats.

Apparently this is a type of reel from the Hebrides. The whole feel of this kind of 3/2 is different from the normal 3/2. If the normal 3/2 is like a "slip march", then this would be a "slip reel", and I've heard it described as such. I think it's very descriptive to have terms such as slip reel and slip polka. Those terms imply that the general feel of the rhythm is the same but the bar length is different.

I've come across other tunes like this online. One was a French Canadian tune I heard in a session a few years ago. I'd have to do a bit of research to find out the name of that tune again, but I remember it was called "Reel" something-or-other.

# Posted on May 13th 2007 by Dr. Dow

I beg your pardon, it's actually "gigue". The name is La Grande Gigue Simple, but the Fiddler's Companion has this to say about it: "This melody is probably the most popular and famous solo step-dance tune for virtuostic stepping in French-Canadian tradition, though it is in actuality not a jig ('gigue') but a reel".

# Posted on May 13th 2007 by Dr. Dow

I just posted it here http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/7194.

# Posted on May 13th 2007 by Dr. Dow

Twisted Bridge is on track 8 of the Tannahill Weavers' "Capernaum", as the last in the Log Splitter Set entitled An Drochaid Luideach.

# Posted on May 14th 2007 by Dr. Dow

There's a discussion on slip reels here http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/13704.

# Posted on May 14th 2007 by Dr. Dow

The band Beolach does a great version of this on uilleann pipes

# Posted on February 25th 2008 by ElliotI

The name

The tune is actually about a bridge on the East side of Benbecula, in the Western Isles, and is thought to have been An Drochaid Luideach, meaning the silly bridge, but the name probably changed as they do, over time.

# Posted on November 3rd 2008 by allanmacd

Just realized you can play it in octaves! I am excited.

# Posted on October 4th 2010 by Resodan

The Famous Bridge (An Drochaid Chliui)

For the pipers out there, I thought I'd put up this arrangement which is on the Smalltalk album and I know I've heard it on highland pipes, but I don't know what it's called. I kept the 3/2 time signature because it fits, but this is more the structure of a pipe reel.

X: 1
T: Famous Bridge, The
M: 3/2
L: 1/8
R: Slip Reel
K: HP
{g}ce{g}e{A}e {g}fe{A}ef {g}e{A}e {ag}a2| {g}ce{g}e{A}e {g}fe{A}ef {g}ecB{G}B|
{g}ce{g}e{A}e {g}fe{A}ef {g}e{A}e {ag}a2|{g}A{d}A{e}AB {gcd}c2 {g}ce{g}BG {g}A{d}A :|
ae{g}e{A}e {g}fe{A}ef {g}e{A}e {ag}a2| {ag}ae{g}e{A}e {g}fe{A}ef {g}ecB{G}B|
ae{g}e{A}e {g}fe{A}ef {g}e{A}e {ag}a2|{g}A{d}A{e}AB {gcd}c2 {g}ce{g}BG {g}A{d}A :|

# Posted on August 21st 2011 by bob_piper