Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 1081 (Lakes of Sligo)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Polka32AABBD Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Lakes of Sligo
 about these two bars

These two bars are the start of my transcription of how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording KCB 1 (details in the Discography below).

Where do you get the tune titles?
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Lakes of Sligo, The / Lakes of Sligo / The Lass of Gowrie / Tom Billy's (3rd in set Newmarket Polkas on 4MD 2; mislabeled as Tripping on the Mountain on MtRd) (also in G)
What do the "track#tune" codes mean?

cd Discography

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). Album details
and contents
~19585#2[KCB 1] The Kilfenora Ceili Band. The Fabulous Kilfenora Ceili Band. P.J. Lynch (fiddle), Gus Tierney (fiddle), Jim McCormack (flute), Gerry Lynch (accordion), P. Mullins, T. Eustace, P. Madigan, Kitty Linnane (piano), G. O'Loughlin (drums).View album details
~19936#3[4MD 2] Four Men and a Dog. Shifting Gravel. Cathal Hayden (fiddle, banjo), Gino Lupari (percussion, vocals), Kevin Doherty (guitar, vocals), Arty McGlynn (guitar), Conor Keane (accordion), Gerry O'Connor (banjo, fiddle).View album details
~19979#2[KCB 5] The Kilfenora Céili Band. Set on Stone. Aidan McMahon (fiddle), Anne Marie McCormack (fiddle), Anne Rynne (fiddle), Garry Shannon (flute), Anthony Quigney (flute), Conor McCarthy (accordion), John Lynch (banjo), Tim Collins (concertina), Fintan McMahon (piano), Sean Griffin (drums), Paul O'Driscoll (double bass).View album details
~199925#1[MtRd] various. The Mountain Road. A Compilation of Tunes Popular in South Sligo. View album details
20077#2[PotW] John Wynne and John McEvoy. Pride of the West. John Wynne (flute), John McEvoy (fiddle).View album details

Bibliography

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 tune #80 in volume 4 of [B&S] D[avid] Bulmer and N[eil] Sharpley. Music from Ireland. 4 vols.
As tune #222 in [JOL] Terry Moylan. Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra. Dance Music from the Cork-Kerry Border. [available]
As misc #49 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music.
On page 70 of [Cr] Matt Cranitch. The Irish Fiddle Book. [available]
As tune #76 in [IBPS] Pat Conway. Ireland's Best Polkas and Slides. [available]

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?

Year of the oldest source for this tune, considering the recordings and transcriptions listed above (note that I concentrate on sources after 1900): 1958