Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 1625 (Queen of the Rushes)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Double jig48AABBCCD Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Queen of the Rushes
 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 SWW (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):
Queen of the Rushes, The / Banríon na Luachra / The Chorus Jig / The Battering Ram / The Ladies March to the Ballroom / Bridging the Gap (mislabeled on MRaf as The Bower) (also in C or G; compare 3rd part with 2nd part of Paddy Doory's Fancy #4740)
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
19821#1[Plx 7] Planxty. Words and Music. Christy Moore (guitar, vocals, bodhrán), Andy Irvine (bouzouki, mandolin, vocals, harmonica), Liam O'Flynn (pipes, whistle), Donal Lunny (guitar, bouzouki, bowed psaltery, spinet, dulcimer, bodhrán, synthesizer).View album details
~19829#2[TP 4] Tommy Peoples. The Iron Man. Tommy Peoples (fiddle).View album details
~198811#1[SWW] Ronan Browne and Peter O'Loughlin. The South West Wind. Traditional Music from County Clare. Ronan Browne (pipes), Peter O'Loughlin (fiddle).View album details
~199314#1[JKn 2] James Keane. That's the Spirit. James Keane (accordion).View album details
~200416#1[MRaf] Mike Rafferty. Speed 78. Mike Rafferty (flute, pipes).View album details
~20051.11#1[WFO 3] various. Wooden Flute Obsession 3. 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 #31 in [CRE 1] Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann 1.
As jig #78 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music.
On page 105 of [M] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. 3rd Edition.
On pages 176-177 of [M2] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition.
As jig #103 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. [available]
As jig #27 in [JKg 3] Josephine Keegan. A Drop in the Ocean. Traditional Irish Tunes Collected by Josephine Keegan. [available]
As tune #172 in [Raff] Lesl Harker. 300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty. [available]
As tune #173 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): 1963
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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