The Hag At The Churn

jig

Key signature: Dmixolydian

Submitted on July 7th 2002 by Jeremy.

This tune has been added to 343 tunebooks.

Also known as The Bothy Band, Dinny Delaney's, Hag At The Church Door, Hag At The Churn, The Killina, The Maid At The Churn, The Old Hag And The Churn, Old Hag In The Kiln, Single, Theold Hag And The Churn.

Recordings of a tune by this name:

Afterhours by The Bothy Band
At It Again by John Carty
Battle Songs Of The Toucan Pirates by Toucan Pirates
Bothar Gan Briseadh/Down The Line by Calua
Castle Ceili Band by Castle Ceili Band
Cavan's Lilter by Séamus Fay
Folktrax-074 Johnny Doherty - The Pedlar's Pack by John Doherty
Green Energy by The Irish Experience
Harmonic Motion by Slide
If The Cap Fits by Kevin Burke
In Your Ear by Seamus Egan
Irlande by Frankie Gavin, Arty Mc Glynn And Aidan Coffey
Less Travelled by Woad
Makin' The Rounds by Billy McComiskey
Memoire Celte, Vol. 2 by Broken String
Millvalley by DeReelium
Moidart To Mabou by Daimh
Molly's Revenge Four by Molly's Revenge
Old Hag You Have Killed Me by The Bothy Band
On Fire! by The Cottars
Osna by Osna
Out Of The Wind Into The Sun by The Bothy Band
Part II: Fire In Our Hearts by Na Connerys
Pedlar's Pack by John Doherty
Pipes, Rods 'n' Reels by Ray Sloan
Sean Potts by Sean Potts And Paddy Moloney
Standing Room Only by Eliot Grasso
The Chieftains 8 by The Chieftains
The Dusty Bridge by Fergal Scahill
The Dusty Miller by Conor, Gay And Seán McKeon
The Irish Experience by The Irish Experience
The Islay Ball by Gary West
The Leg Of The Duck by Joe Burke, Michael Cooney And Noreen Donoghue
The Long Grazing Acre by Paddy Keenan And Tommy O'Sullivan
The Old Fireside Music by Mike And Mary Rafferty
The Rare Stuff by The Rare Stuff
The Star Of Munster by Eamon De Buitlear Agus Ceoltoiri Laighean
Throw Away The Keys by Brian Mac Aodha
Travel 'n Style by Martin Nolan
Tripping Down The Stairs by Spiral Seisiún
Two Miles To Tulla by Larry Gavin, Micheál O'Rourke And Charlie Lennon
Uilleann Piper by Tommy Martin
Year Of The Dog by Culann's Hounds

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Hag At The Churn

Most people will know this one from the version by The Bothy Band.

They put it together with The Pipe On The Hob, another great tune in my opinion.

I find this tune has a great "circular" quality to it. It's fun to play it over and over. It kind of builds up each time.

I've always played this one as the last tune in a set. I could never think of anything to follow it. Any ideas?

# Posted on July 7th 2002 by Jeremy

Hag at the churn

How about following it with Jim Ward's Jig---it's a nice key change, and another very catchy, simple jig (that Paddy Keenan's pretty fond of playing as well!)!

# Posted on July 7th 2002 by aoife

Hag at the Churn

You can't follow THIS tune with anything. It is a great circular tune and one that just grows and grows.

I play the Geese in the Bog before it. Seems to suit my style

# Posted on January 13th 2003 by Susie-Lee

"The Macbeth Set" = "The Three Old Hags" - Duh Mix?

"Hag at the Churn" / "The Hag's Purse" / "The Old Hag in the Kiln"
I was dropped as a child ~ ;-)

# Posted on November 27th 2005 by ceolachan

Raise you.......

I used to play "Hag's Purse / Hag At The Spinning Wheel / Hag With The Money / Hag At The Churn".

# Posted on November 28th 2005 by Kenny

Guitar chords

Has anyone worked out a good sequence for the jig The Hag at the Churn as played by Paddy Keenan? Thanks

# Posted on February 2nd 2007 by molaoch

Recording

I have a recording of who the artists I'm not sure of their names, but they play The Irish Washerwoman, Old Hag At The Churn, Humours of Whiskey, then pause for a brief moment and go into Elizabeth Kelly's Delight. Although the last two are slip jigs to my knowledge, it sounded alright. I don't think they were the Chieftains either.

# Posted on June 30th 2007 by tin_whistler

This is a simply gorgeous tune.

Was lucky enough to hear this tune played a by a guy on Uilleann Pipes at a session.

# Posted on June 21st 2008 by D.J.F.

Here is an interesting quote from the Fiddler's Companion:

"Caoimhin Mac Aoidh says a correct translation of the Irish title would be “Hag in the churn.” This refers, he maintains, to the folk superstition that witches would inhabit a churn to steal butter. They could not abide this particular tune, however, so it would be played as a ward when the chore of churning butter was done. It was a terrible and telling mark if a woman left the house during this ritual."

# Posted on June 25th 2008 by jakep

I have just noticed that most of the other 'hag' tunes are in D mixolydian. Perhaps witches can't stand tunes in that key.

# Posted on June 25th 2008 by jakep

I've got that same recording tin_whistler. Now I'm a little confused about the third tune! I had punched it into the search a while ago and gotten the slip jig "The Kitten," (the second half of the midi matches the tune) but some of the midis of "Humors of Whiskey" sound like the exact same tune. There sure are a lot of versions of that one on the site.

# Posted on August 14th 2008 by Whiddler

The number of versions on site are just a small example... A few more can be found here, courtesy of John Chambers ~

http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/music/ndx/HU.html

# Posted on August 14th 2008 by ceolachan

There is a good pipe version of this on the McKeon's Dusty Millar. They play the Horseshoe after it and it sounds great.

# Posted on February 26th 2009 by dee.

My favourite use of this tune is in Gaelic Storm's "The Farmer's Frolic." They start out with Ramblin' Pitchfork and then move into Hag by the Churn. I agree that its difficult to do anything after this tune as its such a great circular buildup. Love it.

# Posted on August 16th 2009 by h.e. porter