Swallowtail Jig: A Song History
The Swallowtail Jig is a double jig in 6/8 of uncertain origin; the Traditional Tune Archive notes that it is usually regarded as Irish, and it was once widely played in Ireland, Britain and North America. Most versions are in E Dorian, although settings in other keys turn up in print[1]. It has collected a good many names, among them "The Dancing Master," "Dromey's Fancy," "The Swallow's Nest," "The Heart of Me Kitty" and, in Irish, Drioball na fáinleoige[1].
Pochette (pocket fiddle), German, wood and ivory, 17th or early 18th century. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain (CC0). Shown for the instrument only; it has no connection to the tune.
In the sources consulted here, the earliest printings date from the 1880s: Ryan's Mammoth Collection (1883) and Kerr's Merry Melodies from about the same decade[1], with Ryan titling it "Swallow-Tail"[2]. Francis O'Neill included an A Dorian setting under the title "The Dancing Master" in The Music of Ireland (1903, No. 960) and again in The Dance Music of Ireland (1907, No. 183). O'Neill rated it highly for dancing but did not recall his source. Paul de Grae observes that Ryan's setting is almost the same as O'Neill's apart from its lower key, and he relays Caoimhín Mac Aoidh's point that, if O'Neill did take the tune from Ryan, the new title may be a pun on the swallowtail coats worn by the old dancing masters[2]; this is a suggestion, not a documented history. The tune also travelled widely in North America: Samuel Bayard collected it from fiddlers and fifers in western Pennsylvania between 1948 and 1960, and the fiddler Joseph Allard recorded it for Victor in 1931 as "Gigue de Barnabé"[1].
The Archive considers it a handy tune for beginners, but adds that it is often thought "too hackneyed for session play"[1], yet it still appears in session tunebooks such as Dave Mallinson's 100 Evergreen Irish Session Tunes and Phil Rubenzer's Midwestern Irish Session Tunes[3]. It should not be confused with the Swallowtail Reel (also called "The Swallow's Tail"), a separate tune in reel time whose "Swallow's Tail" title appears in Patrick O'Farrell's County Longford manuscript of around 1870[4].
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