Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 1636 (Rainy Day)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel32AABBA Dorian
Transcription of first 2 bars of Rainy Day
 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 SE 5 (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):
Rainy Day, The / A Rainy Day / An Lá Báistî (mislabeled as The Merry Blacksmith on SE 4) (wide range of settings are played today) (compare Peter Flanagan's #1572)
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
~19471.1#1[GL20] various. Green Linnet Records. The Twentieth Anniversary Collection. View album details
~195616#1[Rnys] The Raineys. The Raineys. Paddy Rainey (fiddle), Stephen Rainey (fiddle), Bridie 'Biddy' Rainey (vocals).View album details
19682.25#1[MGm] Michael Gorman. The Sligo Champion. The Fiddle Music of County Sligo. Michael Gorman (fiddle, vocals).View album details
19757#2[BB 1] The Bothy Band. 1975. The First Album. Paddy Keenan (pipes, whistle), Matt Molloy (flute, whistle), Tommy Peoples (fiddle), Donal Lunny (bouzouki, vocals), Tríona Ni Dhomhnaill (harpsichord, bodhrán, vocals), Mícheál Ó Domhnaill (guitar, vocals).View album details
197712#1[MBP] Matt Molloy, Paul Brady, Tommy Peoples. Matt Molloy. Paul Brady. Tommy Peoples. Matt Molloy (flute), Paul Brady (guitar, vocals), Tommy Peoples (fiddle).View album details
~19771#1[SE 4] Séamus Ennis. Forty Years of Irish Piping. Seamus Ennis (pipes except where whistle or vocals noted).View album details
~19789#1[SE 5] Seamus Ennis. The Fox Chase. Seamus Ennis (pipes).View album details
~19796#3[MB 1] Mary Bergin. Feadóga Stáin. Traditional Irish Music on the Tin Whistle. Mary Bergin (whistle).View album details
199310#1[MoD] Tony Mac Mahon, Noel Hill, Iarla Ó Lionáird. Music of Dreams. Tony Mac Mahon (accordion), Noel Hill (concertina), Iarla Ó Lionáird (vocals).View album details
~19977#3[KCB 5] The Kilfenora Céili Band. Set on Stone. Aidan McMahon (fiddle), Anne Marie McCormack (fiddle), Anne Rynne (fiddle), Garry Shannon (flute), Anthony Quigney (flute), Conor McCarthy (accordion), John Lynch (banjo), Tim Collins (concertina), Fintan McMahon (piano), Sean Griffin (drums), Paul O'Driscoll (double bass).View album details
~200415#1[OMcD] Oisín Mac Diarmada. Ar an bhFidil. Oisín Mac Diarmada (fiddle, whistle).View album details
~20051.10#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 #1196 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #473 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. [available]
As reel #278 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #17 in [DM 4] Dave Mallinson. 100 Vital Irish Session Tunes. [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