Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 1400 (Nell Fees')

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Polka48AABBCCD Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Nell Fees'
 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 MOK (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):
Nell Fees' / [misspelled as:] Nell Fee's / Nell Fee / Pa Paddy O'Connor's / Johnny O'Leary's 2 (2nd in set Dan O'Callaghan's on ACB 1)
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
199310#2[MOK] Máire O'Keeffe. Cóisir. House Party. Máire O'Keeffe (fiddle).View album details
~19968#1[DH 1] Dan Herlihy and Friends. The Night of the Fair. Traditional Irish Music from Sliabh Luachra. Dan Herlihy (accordion).View album details
19973#2[SCAC] Séamus Creagh, Aidan Coffey. Séamus Creagh, Aidan Coffey. Séamus Creagh (fiddle), Aidan Coffey (accordion).View album details
~199910#1[PF] Patty Furlong. Traditional Irish Music on Button Accordion. Patty Conway Furlong (accordion).View album details
20006#2[ACB 1] The Abbey Céilí Band. Bruach an tSuláin. Ger Murphy (accordion), Andrew O'Connell (fiddle), Liam Forde (banjo), Micheál Creedon (bass, keyboards).View album details
200212#1[DLB] Donncha Lynch Band. Timmy 'the Brit' McCarthy's Set Dances of Cork and Kerry. Donncha Lynch (accordion), Aogan Lynch (concertina), Ronan Lynch (fiddle), Donncha Lynch, Jr. (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.

In [L] Alan's private loose music.
On page 234 of [M2] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition.
As polka #28 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. [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): 1993