Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#1683 (Road to Lisdoonvarna)
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reel | 16 | AB | D Mixolydian |
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 Ch 3 (details in the Discography below).
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Road to Lisdoonvarna, The / The Galway Girls / March of the Tribes to Galway / All the Way to Galway / Sarsfield March / Flash Away the Pressing Gang / Slash Away the Pressing Gang (3rd in set Michael Gorman's on BB 2; this set in turn was mislabeled on some reissues as The Laurel Tree) (also in A, also with reversed parts) (compare 2nd part with 2nd part of polka The Kerry Cow #2830)
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). |
|---|---|---|
| ~1973 | 7#2 | [Ch 3] The Chieftains. 3. Michael Tubridy (flute, concertina, whistle), Seán Potts (whistle), Paddy Moloney (pipes, whistle), Martin Fay (fiddle), Seán Keane (fiddle), Peadar Mercier (bodhrán, bones). |
| 1976 | 6#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). |
| ~1997 | 2#3 | [Sol 2] Solas. Sunny Spells and Scattered Showers. Karan Casey (vocals), John Doyle (guitar, mandocello, vocals), Seamus Egan (flute, banjo, whistle, mandolin, guitar, bodhrán, percussion), Winifred Horan (fiddle), John Williams (accordion, concertina). |
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 #999 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. |
| On page 101 of [RM] Randy Miller and Jack Perron. Irish Traditional Fiddle Music. |
| As tune #19 in volume 1 of [B&S] D[avid] Bulmer and N[eil] Sharpley. Music from Ireland. 4 vols. |
| On page 19 of [LPUP] Eithne and Brian Vallely. Learn to Play the Uilleann Pipes. |
| As tune #23 in volume 2 of [LPTW] Eithne Vallely. Learn to Play the Tin Whistle. |
| On page 231 of [FF] David Brody. The Fiddler's Fakebook. |
| In [L] Alan's private loose music. |
| As reel #290 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. |
| As tune #92 in [Raff] Lesl Harker. 300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty. |
| As tune #24 in [DM 4] Dave Mallinson. 100 Vital Irish Session Tunes. |
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): 1907