Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#1256 (Cuckoo's Nest)
about these two barsThese two bars were transcribed by me from how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording KOS (details in the Discography below).
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hornpipe | 32 | AABB | E Minor |
Cuckoo's Nest, The / Cuckoo's Nest No. 2 / Jackie Tar / Jackie Tarr / McGibbney's Fancy / McGibbney's Hornpipe / McGibney's Hornpipe / An Spealadóir / The Mower (compare 1st part with song An Spealadóir #428)
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.
Click 
to hear the first 12 seconds.
to hear the first 12 seconds.| Year Recorded |
Track #Tune? |
[Album code] Artist. Title. Performers (instruments). |
|---|---|---|
| ~1981 | 6#2 | [KOS] James Kelly, Paddy O'Brien, Daithi Sproule. Traditional Music of Ireland. James Kelly (fiddle), Paddy O'Brien (accordion), Daithi Sproule (vocals, guitar). For this tune: Paddy O'Brien. |
| 1998 | 9#2 | [CBnds] The County Bounds. Johnny McCarthy (fiddle), Con "Fada" Ó Drisceoil (accordion). |
| ~2000 | 14#1 | [JLavelle] John Lavelle. @Home Alone. John Lavelle (accordion). |
| 2001 | 3#1 | [JCrv] John Creaven. The Story So Far. John Creaven (flute). |
| ~2001 | 7#2 | [JMcK] Joe McKenna. The Irish Low Whistle. Joe McKenna (whistle, pipes, keyboards, piano). For this tune: (low whistle). |
Bibliography
Here are all transcriptions of this tune 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 #1733 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. |
| As tune #238 in volume 2 of [R] Francis Roche. The Roche Collection of Traditional Irish Music. 3 vols. |
| On page 205 of [Krsn] Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. |
| As hp #27 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music. |
| On page 26 of [T] Fintan Vallely. Timber. The Flute Tutor. 2nd Edition. |
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