Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 1515 (Paddy Murphy's Wife)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel16ABD Mixolydian
Transcription of first 2 bars of Paddy Murphy's Wife
 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 JKn 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):
Paddy Murphy's Wife (also with a 3rd part composed by Paddy O'Brien the younger, of Offaly)
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
~19803#3[JKn 1] James Keane. Roll Away the Reel World. James Keane (accordion).View album details
~19802.13#3[GL20] various. Green Linnet Records. The Twentieth Anniversary Collection. View album details
~19878#1[MM 3] Matt Molloy. Stony Steps. Matt Molloy (flute).View album details
~19936#2[SnugBl] Paddy O'Brien, Jamie Gans, Daithi Sproule. Snug in the Blanket. Paddy O'Brien (accordion), Jamie Gans (fiddle), Daithi Sproule (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.

As tune #1526 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #744 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. [available]
On page 156 of [Krsn] Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. [available]
As reel #122 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music.
As reel #261 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): 1903