Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 724 (Give Us a Drink of Water)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Slip jig16ABG Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Give Us a Drink of Water
 about these two bars

These two bars are the start of my transcription of how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording CW (details in the Discography below).

Where do you get the tune titles?
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Give Us a Drink of Water / A Drink of Water / Give Me a Cup of Water / The Swaggering Jig / The Swaggerin' Jig / There Is No Milk in the House
What do the "track#tune" codes mean?

cd Discography

Here are all recordings of this tune considering only the indexed recordings. I have discovered by careful listening that these sources are in fact musically the same tune, regardless of the tune titles they use, key changes, retuning, etc. They are listed in order of when they were recorded.

Year
Recorded		 Track
#Tune		 [Album code] Artist. Title. Primary musicians (instruments). Album details
and contents
191912#3[PT] Patsy Touhey. The Piping of Patsy Touhey. Patsy Touhey (pipes).View album details
~198510#2[CW] Matt Molloy and Sean Keane. Contentment Is Wealth. Matt Molloy (flute), Sean Keane (fiddle).View album details
199220#1[DOEI] various. Dear Old Erin's Isle. Irish Traditional Music from America. View album details
~20001#3[EOR] Eoin Ó Riabhaigh. Tiomnacht. Handed On. Eoin Ó Riabhaigh (pipes).View album details
~200211#2[TP 8] Tommy Peoples. Waiting for a Call. Tommy Peoples (fiddle).View album details

Bibliography

Here are all transcriptions of this tune under any title whatsoever – considering only the indexed books – listed in chronological order. I have discovered by careful comparison that these are very similar to this tune as played on the recordings listed above.

As tune #1131 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #420 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. [available]
As tune #123 in [WC] Pat Mitchell. The Dance Music of Willie Clancy. [available]
On page 81 of [Krsn] Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. [available]
On page 59 of [Cr] Matt Cranitch. The Irish Fiddle Book. [available]
On page 221 of [M2] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition.
As slipjig #12 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. [available]

If you are considering using the above transcriptions to help you learn this tune, I invite you to check these practical Tips for Learning Irish Traditional Music. See also: So why do you bother indexing books and abc?

Year of the oldest source for this tune, considering the recordings and transcriptions listed above (note that I concentrate on sources after 1900): 1903
Please cite your source when you use information from this document.
© 2000–2008 Alan Ng, agng@facstaff.wisc.edu. Questions? Comments? Please use the easy Feedback Form. Thank you!
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