Source: Jimmy Murphy (Meelick, Bohola) in Fidiléirí – Mayo Fiddlers1.
This tune was well known locally when Jimmy Murphy travelled to Chicago around 1970 where he happened to play it in Hoban’s pub. Mrs. Hoban, also a native of Bohola, upon learning that the tune had no title, christened it ‘The Bohola Jig’. The tune ‘travelled back’ some time later entitled Joe Cooley’s although Joe himself always credited Jimmy with having brought the tune to America. The tune was known sometimes by the refrain “if you’re too fat, jump up on me back and I’ll carry you over the sea”.
