Scatter the Mud

Jig, A Dorian, Irish Traditional
Also known as: Doran’s Fancy
TrailJams Tune of the Week for June 10, 2021; November 10, 2024

A lively Irish jig for propelling dancers and energizing tune sets. An obvious choice to accompany dancing in the rain.

Recordings

• Video – Kevin Burke and Mícheál O’Domhnaill: The Rolling Waves/The Market Town/Scatter the Mud – from the album Portland (Portland, Oregon, USA. Scatter the Mud starts at time 2:12 in this recording.)
• Video – Eileen Ivers: Scatter The Mud – from the album Wild Blue. (In this recording, Scatter the Mud is the second of three tunes; it starts at time 1:51.)
• Audio – Alex Sturbaum: Fraher’s / Boys of Tandragee / Scatter the Mud (feat. Betsy Branch) – from the album Slash (Olympia, Washington, USA. Scatter the Mud starts at time 3:05 in this recording.) Also available as video.

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. The simplified version here comes primarily from the playing of Kevin Burke.

Sets

Examples of sets that include this tune.

• Bog Mud & Blarney Jig Set: The Geese in the Bog (C) / Scatter the Mud (A Dorian) / The Blarney Pilgrim (D Mixolydian)
• Scatter the Mud Jig Set: Scatter the Mud (A Dorian) / The Black Rogue (D) / Old Favorite (G)
• The Rolling Waves / The Market Town / Scatter the Mud
• The Mist Covered Mountain / Scatter the Mud
• Maid at the Spinning Wheel / Scatter the Mud / Jimmy Ward’s

References and Resources

For those who want to dig deeper, here are some other resources.

• Books
  • Book – Susan Songer with Clyde Curley: The Portland Collection, Volume 2 – Contra Dance Music in the Pacific Northwest
  • Book & Audio – Tom Morley: Learn to Play Irish Trad Fiddle – with audio tracks of the tunes played on fiddle
  • Book & Audio – Grey Larsen: 150 Gems of Irish Music for Tin Whistle – with audio tracks of the tunes played on tin whistle
• Additional Resources
  • Article – Dorian, Mixolydian, Oh My: Modes in a Nutshell, by Jonathan Lay, TrailJams
  • Webpage – The Session: Scatter the Mud – crowdsourced sheet music, comments and more
  • Webpage – irishtune.info: Scatter the Mud – archival information about the tune, curated by Alan Ng