Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 165 (Blackbird)

Rhythm
Air
Where do you get the tune titles?
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Blackbird, The / An Lon Dubh (1st in set The Blackbird on JnKlly) (compare air #163 and as set dance #164)
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
~19664#1[TMC] Joe Burke, Andy McGann, and Felix Dolan. A Tribute to Michael Coleman. Joe Burke (accordion), Andy McGann (fiddle), Felix Dolan (piano).View album details
~196910#1[SatG] Denis Murphy and Julia Clifford. The Star above the Garter. Fiddle music from Kerry, played by Denis Murphy and Julia Clifford. Denis Murphy (fiddle), Julia Clifford (fiddle).View album details
19712#1[TPtts] Tommy Potts. The Liffey Banks. Tommy Potts (fiddle).View album details
~19748#1[SE 3] Séamus Ennis. The Wandering Minstrel. Seamus Ennis (pipes).View album details
~197414#1[GP] various. The Gentlemen Pipers. Classic Recordings of Irish Traditional Piping. View album details
197519#1[JnKlly] John Kelly. Irish Traditional Concertina and Fiddle Music. John Kelly (concertina, fiddle).View album details
~197510#1[PK 1] Paddy Keenan. Paddy Keenan. Paddy Keenan (pipes, whistle, low whistle).View album details
19777#1[BB 3] The Bothy Band. Out of the Wind into the Sun. Paddy Keenan (pipes, whistle), Matt Molloy (flute, whistle), Kevin Burke (fiddle), Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill (vocals, keyboards), Dónal Lunny (bouzouki, guitar, bodhrán, synthesizer), Mícheál Ó Domhnaill (guitar).View album details
~197827#1[ItS] various. In the Smoke. View album details
~19957#1[Whr] Paddy Glackin and Robbie Hannan. The Whirlwind. Paddy Glackin (fiddle), Robbie Hannan (pipes).View album details
~20078#1[TAM] Joe Burke, Brian Conway and Felix Dolan. A Tribute to Andy McGann. Joe Burke (accordion), Brian Conway (fiddle), Felix Dolan (piano).View album details
~200810#1[TDeM] Tony DeMarco. The Sligo Indians. Tony DeMarco (fiddle).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 #199 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #200 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #201 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #56 in volume 1 of [R] Francis Roche. The Roche Collection of Traditional Irish Music. 3 vols. [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