Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 1486 (O'Sullivan's March)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Double jig32AABBG Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of O'Sullivan's March
 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 JCrv (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):
O'Sullivan's March / O'Sullivan More's March / Dé bheatha ad' shláinte, Uí Shúilleabháin Mhóir / Páinneach na nUbh / The Old Woman Tossed Up in a Blanket / There Was an Old Woman / Sweeping the Cobwebs Out of the Sky / The Basket of Eggs / Carawath Jig / Green Goose Fair / Glengariff / The Onehorned Cow / A Rock and a Wee Pickle Tow / When the Wind Blows / Montrosse's March / Pretenders' March / The Scotch March / The Retreat (also in A, also as march) (compare Girls of the Town #3102 and compare 1st part with 1st part of Sullivan's #3788)
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
~19777#1[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).View album details
~19964#3[MOB] Mick O' Brien. May Morning Dew. Mick O' Brien (pipes, whistle).View album details
20011#2[JCrv] John Creaven. The Story So Far. John Creaven (flute).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 #12(ii) in [CRE 2] Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann 2.
As tune #771 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #51 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. [available]
As tune #315 in volume 2 of [R] Francis Roche. The Roche Collection of Traditional Irish Music. 3 vols. [available]
As tune #12(i) in [CRE 2] Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann 2.
On page 22 of [Krsn] Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. [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): 1666
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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