Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 1487 (Otter's Holt)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel32AABBB Minor
Transcription of first 2 bars of Otter's Holt
 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 BB 2 (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):
Otter's Holt, The / Poll an Madra Uisce / The Otter's Den / Water Dog's Hole / The Water Dog's Hole / The Water Hole / The Aughdarra / The Windy Lane / McFadden's Handsome Daughter (3rd in set Music in the Glen on BB 2) (composed by Junior Crehan)
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
19761#3[BB 2] The Bothy Band. Old Hag You Have Killed Me. Paddy Keenan (pipes, whistle), Matt Molloy (flute, whistle), Kevin Burke (fiddle), Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill (vocals, clavinet, harmonium), Mícheál Ó Domhnaill (vocals, guitar), Donal Lunny (vocals, bouzouki, guitar, bodhrán).View album details
~19762#2[MM 1] Matt Molloy accompanied by Dónal Lunny. Matt Molloy. Matt Molloy (flute).View album details
~19918#2[BT] Baal Tinne. . . . About Time. Noel Rice (flute, whistle), Kevin Rice (bodhrán, percussion), Cathleen Rice (fiddle), Matt Sundstrom (guitar), Paul Cienniwa (piano, keyboards).View album details
~199211#2[MMM] various. Music at Matt Molloy's. View album details
~199717#2[KHe] Kevin Henry. One's Own Place - A Family Tradition. Kevin Henry (flute, whistle, pipes, vocals).View album details
19988#3[Lgcy] Legacy. Navan. Don Penzien (guitar, vocals, whistle), Valerie Plested (fiddle), Beth Patterson (bouzouki, vocals), Justin Murphy (flute, whistle).View album details
~20003#3[MMcG 2] Michael McGoldrick. Fused. Michael McGoldrick (flute except where noted).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 in volume 4 of [B&S] D[avid] Bulmer and N[eil] Sharpley. Music from Ireland. 4 vols.
As reel #77 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music.
As tune #5 in [DM 2] Dave Mallinson. 100 Enduring Irish Session Tunes. [available]
On page 51 of [M] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. 3rd Edition.
On page 82 of [M2] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition.
As reel #254 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #158 in [Raff] Lesl Harker. 300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty. [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): 1974