Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 1245 (McCarthy's)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Hornpipe32AABBA Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of McCarthy's
 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 JDJO (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):
McCarthy's / McCarty's Hornpipe / Roxburgh Castle / Roxborough Castle / Blanchard's Hornpipe / Blanchards Hornpipe (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
~194820#1[JDJO] Joe Derrane and Jerry O'Brien. Irish Accordion Masters. Joe Derrane (accordion), Jerry O'Brien (accordion).View album details
19878#2[BBow 2] Buttons and Bows. The First Month of Summer. Séamus McGuire (fiddle, viola), Manus McGuire (fiddle), Jackie Daly (accordion, concertina, whistle).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 #831 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. [available]
On pages 237-238 of [FF] David Brody. The Fiddler's Fakebook. [available]
As tune #308 in [FT] Randy Miller. The Fiddler's Throne. [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): 1907