Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#1447 (Oh! The Britches Full of Stitches)
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Polka | 32 | AABB | A Major |
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 JDSC (details in the Discography below).
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Oh! The Britches Full of Stitches / O the Britches Full of Stitches / O The Breeches Full of Stitches / Oh! The Breeches Full of Stitches / The Breeches Full of Stitches / Breeches full of Stitches / Brístí Breaca / The Britches Full of Stitches / The Britches (for 1st figure of Sliabh Luachra Set on MISD 7) (also in G, also as single jig)
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). |
|---|---|---|
| ~1977 | 10#2 | [Ch 7] The Chieftains. 7. Paddy Moloney (pipes, whistle), Seán Potts (whistle, bones), Seán Keane (fiddle, whistle), Martin Fay (fiddle, bones), Michael Tubridy (flute, concertina, whistle), Derek Bell (harp, tiompán, oboe), Kevin Conneff (bodhrán). |
| ~1977 | 6#2 | [JDSC] Jackie Daly, Séamus Creagh. Jackie Daly. Séamus Creagh. Jackie Daly (accordion), Séamus Creagh (fiddle). |
| 1992 | 11#1 | [MH 1] Martin Hayes. Martin Hayes. Martin Hayes (fiddle). |
| ~1993 | 8#2 | [Shskn 6] Shaskeen. My Love Is in America. Tom Cussen (banjo), Benny O'Connor (drums, bodhrán), Sean Conway (flute, whistle, guitar, vocals), Charlie Harris (accordion), Kevin Rohan (fiddle, vocals). |
| ~1996 | A.1#2 | [MISD 7] Donncha Lynch Trio. The Magic of Irish Set Dancing. Vol. 7. Donncha Lynch (accordion), Aogán Lynch (concertina), Donncha Lynch Jr. (guitar). |
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 #240 in volume 2 of [R] Francis Roche. The Roche Collection of Traditional Irish Music. 3 vols. |
| As tune #23 in [LPF] Eithne and Brian Vallely. Learn to Play the Fiddle with Armagh Pipers Club. |
| As other #4 in [Ng] Alan Ng. Alan Ng's Transcriptions. |
| As tune #2 in [IBPS] Pat Conway. Ireland's Best Polkas and Slides. |
| On page 224 of [M2] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition. |
| As polka #6 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. |
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): 1927