Jig, D Mixolydian, Traditional Irish
Also known as: I Buried My Wife and Danced on Top of Her
TrailJams Tune of the Week: October 30, 2022; July 27, 2025
This traditional Irish jig has quite an extravagant name. The title is shocking, but the tune is sweet.
Recordings
- Audio – Comhaltas: Shandon Bells/Father Kelly’s/I Buried my Wife and Danced on her Grave from the collection Foinn Seisiún Volume 3
- Video – Martin Hayes: I Buried My Wife And Danced On Her Grave/The Rooms Of Doogh/The Mist Covered Mountain – played on fiddle. From the album Martin Hayes.
- Video – Shane Farrell: I Buried my Wife and Danced on Her Grave Jig – played on tenor banjo
Sheet Music
As always for traditional tunes, the musical notation and chords do not indicate the “right” way to play the tune, but are a useful reference. In this setting of the tune, the melody is in D Mixolydian all of the way through, meaning that it includes C natural but not C sharp. Some players like to switch to D Major in the second half of the tune, so the C notes change to C sharp. (For a brief and painless explanation of the difference between D Major and D Mixolydian, see the article Dorian, Mixolydian, Oh My: Modes in a Nutshell.)
Play-Along Tracks
Sets
Examples of sets that include this tune.
- Battering Ram Jig Set: I Buried My Wife and Danced on Her Grave / The Battering Ram / The Connaughtman’s Rambles
- Shandon Bells / Father Kelly’s (Jig) / I Buried My Wife and Danced on Her Grave
- Old Hag You Have Killed Me / I Buried My Wife and Danced on her Grave / Jimmy Ward’s Jig
- I Buried My Wife and Danced on Her Grave / Petticoat Loose
References and Resources
For those who want to dig deeper, here are some other resources.
- Books
- Book – Comhaltas: Foinn Seisiún, Volume 3 — Published by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. (D Mixolydian setting.)
- Book & Audio – Matt & Shannon Heaton: In Harmony (D Mixolydian setting.)
- Book – The Portland Collection, Contra Dance Music in the Pacific Northwest, Volume 3, by Susan Songer with Clyde Curley. (D Mixolydian setting.)
- Lessons
- Lesson – Martin Hayes: I buried My Wife and Danced on Her Grave – Lesson #20 – fiddle demonstration.
- Lesson – Shannon Heaton: Buried My Wife and Danced on Her Grave – #NameYerTune – taught phrase by phrase on flute
- Lessons – Online Academy of Irish Music: I Buried My Wife And Danced On Top Of Her – Anglo concertina lessons; virtual pub play-along sessions; play-along tracks. (The concertina lessons has C sharps in the B part of the tune; the other resources have C natural.)
- Other Resources