Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 1271 (Merrily Kiss the Quaker)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Slide48AABBCCG Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Merrily Kiss the Quaker
 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 Plx 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):
Merrily Kiss the Quaker / Merrily Kissed the Quaker / Merrily Kiss the Quaker's Wife / Merrily Kissed the Quaker's Wife / Kiss the Quaker's Wife / Kiss the Quaker / Merrily Dance the Quaker / Merrily Dance the Quaker's Wife / The Quaker's Wife / The Gates of Derry (compare 1st part with 1st part of #2808)
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
~197311#1[Plx 1] Planxty. Planxty. Liam O'Flynn (pipes, whistle), Andy Irvine (vocals, mandola, mandolin, hurdy-gurdy, harmonica), Donal Lunny (vocals, bouzouki, guitar, bodhrán), Christy Moore (vocals, guitar, harmonica, bodhrán).View album details
~19792#1[Plx 4] Planxty. Collection. Unidentified on this reissue.View album details
~199610#2[PCln] Pat Cloonan. Pat Cloonan's Thanksgiving. Patrick Cloonan (accordion).View album details
~199912#1[OMT] Billy McComiskey, Brendan Mulvihill, and Zan McLeod. One More Time. Billy McComiskey (accordion), Brendan Mulvihill (fiddle), and Zan McLeod (guitar, mandolin, bouzouki, bass).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 #77 in volume 1 of [B&S] D[avid] Bulmer and N[eil] Sharpley. Music from Ireland. 4 vols.
As tune #91 in [WC] Pat Mitchell. The Dance Music of Willie Clancy. [available]
On page 48 of [RW] Robin Williamson. The Penny Whistle Book. [available]
On page 186 of [FF] David Brody. The Fiddler's Fakebook. [available]
On page 97 of [M] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. 3rd Edition.
In [FMH] Tom Hastings. The Feis Musicians Handbook [sic].
On page 163 of [M2] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition.
As slide #20 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #72 in [DM 4] Dave Mallinson. 100 Vital Irish Session Tunes. [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): 1973
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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