| Rhythm | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reel | 48 | AABBCC | D Mixolydian |

These two bars are the start of my transcription of how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording A IA (details in the Discography below).
Here are all recordings of this tune considering only the indexed recordings. I have discovered by careful listening that these sources are in fact musically the same tune, regardless of the tune titles they use, key changes, retuning, etc. They are listed in order of when they were recorded.
| Year Recorded |
Track #Tune |
[Album code] Artist. Title. Primary musicians (instruments). |
|---|---|---|
| ~1979 | 8#1 | [BHIW] Dolores Keane & John Faulkner. Broken Hearted I'll Wander. Dolores Keane (vocals, concertina, flute ,whistle, hurdy gurdy, bodhrán), John Faulkner (vocals, guitar, hurdy gurdy, bouzouki). |
| 1993 | 6#2 | [A IA] Altan. Island Angel. Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh (fiddle, vocals), Frankie Kennedy (flute, whistle, vocals), Mark Kelly (guitar, vocals), Ciaran Curran (bouzouki), Ciaran Tourish (fiddle, whistle, vocals), Dáithi Sproule (guitar, vocals). |
| 1999 | 5#1 | [JWh 2] John Whelan. Celtic Roots. John Whelan (accordion). |
Here are all transcriptions of this tune under any title whatsoever – considering only the indexed books – listed in chronological order. I have discovered by careful comparison that these are very similar to this tune as played on the recordings listed above.
| As reel #138 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music. |
| As reel #172 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. |
| As reel #228 in [JKg 3] Josephine Keegan. A Drop in the Ocean. Traditional Irish Tunes Collected by Josephine Keegan. |
If you are considering using the above transcriptions to help you learn this tune, I invite you to check these practical Tips for Learning Irish Traditional Music. See also: So why do you bother indexing books and abc?