Morrison's: A Song History
"Morrison's Jig" is an Irish double jig, usually played in E Dorian, that bears the name of the Sligo-born fiddler James "The Professor" Morrison, who emigrated to Boston in 1915 and died in 1947.[1][2] Sources differ on his birth year: the Traditional Tune Archive gives 1891, while the Irish Traditional Music Archive gives 1893.[1][2] His 1936 fiddle recording is the oldest source indexed by one specialist tune database.[3] Morrison did not compose the jig, however: according to the Traditional Tune Archive, he learned it from Tom Carmody, a Kerry accordion player in his band, who called it "The Stick across the Hob" and had it from his father, Maurice.[1][2] The same source, drawing on researcher Harry Bradshaw, says the 1936 record was to title it "Maurice Carmody's Favourite," and the tune opens a set issued as "Maurice Carmody's Favourites."[1][3]
Violin, American, wood, 19th century. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain (CC0). Shown for its subject; it has no connection to Morrison or the tune.
The melody was in print well before that session, in Francis O'Neill's Waifs and Strays (1922) as "Paddy Stack's Fancy Jig," named for a Kerry-born fiddler in Chicago.[1] It was later included in Breandán Breathnach's Ceol Rince na hÉireann (1963) and in many tune collections since.[1][3] Other recordings include the Lough Gill Quartette in 1941 and Sean McGuire and Joe Burke on fiddle and accordion around 1971.[3]
The tune was taken up by musicians of the folk revival, and recordings indexed by irishtune.info continue into the 2010s.[1][3] In the northern United States it has also become a favourite for contra dances.[1]
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