Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 1176 (Mac's Fancy)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Double jig32AABBA Mixolydian
Transcription of first 2 bars of Mac's Fancy
 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 DD 3 (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):
Mac's Fancy / The Victor's Return / The Rover's Return / John Doherty's / John Doherty's Jig / Paddy Lyons' / Haugh's Jig / Big Ned (for dance The Haymakers Jig in book MM) (also in E, also in Dorian)
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
~19801#1[DD 3] Dé Danann. Mist Covered Mountain. Frankie Gavin (fiddle, viola, whistle), Jackie Daly (accordion), Charlie Piggott (banjo, mandolin, steel guitar), Alec Finn (bouzouki, mandocello, steel guitar), Johnny 'Ringo' McDonagh (bodhrán, bones).View album details
~19931#2[SnugBl] Paddy O'Brien, Jamie Gans, Daithi Sproule. Snug in the Blanket. Paddy O'Brien (accordion), Jamie Gans (fiddle), Daithi Sproule (guitar).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 #886 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #137 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. [available]
As tune #27 in [A] Hugh McDermott. Allan's "Irish Fiddler." [available]
As tune #3 in [JOL] Terry Moylan. Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra. Dance Music from the Cork-Kerry Border. [available]
On page 38 of [Krsn] Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. [available]
As misc #48 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music.
As jig #49 in [JKg 3] Josephine Keegan. A Drop in the Ocean. Traditional Irish Tunes Collected by Josephine Keegan. [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): 1903
Please cite your source when you use information from this document.
© 2000–2008 Alan Ng, agng@facstaff.wisc.edu. Questions? Comments? Please use the easy Feedback Form. Thank you!
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