Larry O’Gaff

Traditional Irish double jig in 6/8, printed most often in G major and D major, with A major and F major settings appearing in a few American collections. It carries an unusually large set of alternate titles, among them “Bundle and Go,” “Making Babies by Steam,” and the French-Canadian “Gigue de la Débauche.” The same melody is also sung as “Humors of Whiskey” and “The Squid Jiggin’ Ground.” The “Larry O’Gaff” title traces to Samuel Lover’s comic stage-Irish piece about a hapless soldier of fortune, and the melody was written into the 1840 manuscript book of Cumbrian musician John Rook under the title “Larry O’Gaff is the boy.”

Its North American history runs through the dance floor rather than the session: Elias Howe listed it as a country dance in his Ball-Room Hand Book of 1858 and printed contra dance figures with it in Musician’s Omnibus No. 1 (1862). It took hold among players in New England, New York, and Prince Edward Island, with Maine fiddler Mellie Dunham carrying it in his repertoire. Recordings include New York accordionist John J. Kimmel’s 1920 Edison side (Edison 50653), where it falls third in a “Haste to the Wedding” jig medley, Joe Burke and Charlie Lennon on The Bucks of Oranmore (Green Linnet GLCD 1165, 1996), and Two Fiddles on Choose Your Partners!: Contra Dance & Square Dance Music of New Hampshire (Smithsonian Folkways SFW CD 40126, 1999).