Another Jig Will Do: A Song History
"Another Jig Will Do" is an Irish slip jig in 9/8 time, set in D, and is also known as "Any Old Jig Will Do" and by the Irish title "Deanfaid Port Eile."[1] Further titles tied to it include "He Didn't Dance All Day," "I Whistled and Called Her Back," "That's the Time o' Day" and "Whiskey and Beer," and irishtune.info connects it with the song "Cucanandy."[1][2] No composer is named in the sources consulted here. The Traditional Tune Archive lists it in Ryan's Mammoth Collection (1883) and in Francis O'Neill's Music of Ireland (1903) and Dance Music of Ireland (1907). Because many slip jigs resemble one another, the Archive observes, names easily migrate between them; this one has itself been called "Riding a Mile," a title belonging to a different slip jig.[1]
Johannes Lingelbach, Peasants Dancing, oil on canvas, 1651. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain (CC0). Shown for its dancing; it has no connection to the tune.
According to the Traditional Tune Archive, the Boys of the Lough made the tune popular in the 1970s;[1] the earliest recording indexed by irishtune.info is on the group's 1974 live album from Passim.[2] Today it is a familiar slip jig at Irish sessions, and it is included in Brody's Fiddler's Fakebook (1983).[1][2]
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