Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 1697 (Rolling in the Ryegrass)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel16ABD Mixolydian
Transcription of first 2 bars of Rolling in the Ryegrass
 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 ECr (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):
Rolling in the Ryegrass / Rolling in the Rye Grass / Rolling on the Ryegrass / Roll Her on the Banks / Ag Ionfairt sa tSeagal / Ag Suirí sa Seagal / The Shannon Breeze / Old Molly Ahern / Old Mollie Ahern / Sean-Mháire Ní Eachthighearn / The Piper's Lass / The Brown Red Girl / The Ladies Tight Dress / The Ladies Top Dress / Punch for the Ladies / The Lady on the Railroad / The Railway Station / The Telegraph / The Maureen Playboy / Maureen Playboy / Love among the Roses / The Rathkeale Hunt / What the Divil Ails Him? / What the Devil Ails You? / Strac an Mhuc an Léine / The Connachtman's Rambles / The Connaughtman's Rambles / McCaffrey's Reel / McCaffrey's / The Kilfinane Reel / The Kilfinane / The Listowel Lasses / Boil the Kettle Early / Kitty Got a Clinking / The New Found Out (mislabeled as The Belburry Hills on ESL 1; 3rd in set Noel Hill's / Noel Hills' on DD HR) (also doubled, also with 3rd part, also as untitled highland fling in set Highland Schottische Medley on IDM 2)
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
19309#3[IDM 2] various. Past Masters of Irish Dance Music. View album details
196014#1[ECr] Elizabeth Crotty. Concertina Music from West Clare. Elizabeth Crotty (concertina).View album details
~19693#2[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
197810#2[KKgn] Kevin Keegan. The Music of Kevin Keegan. Kevin Keegan (accordion).View album details
~197816#1[ItS] various. In the Smoke. View album details
~19916#2[MV] various. Maiden Voyage. Live Traditional Irish Music Session from Pepper's Bar, Feakle, Co. Clare. Tommy Peoples (fiddle), Siobhán Peoples (fiddle), Andrew McNamara (accordion), Kevin Crawford (flute), P.J. King (accordion), Páraic Mac Donnchadha (banjo), Pat Marsh (bouzouki), Joe Bane (whistle), John Maloney (bodhrán), Séan Mac Donnchadha (vocals).View album details
~19925#1[MMM] various. Music at Matt Molloy's. View album details
~199316#2[JCnly] Johnny Connolly. An tOileán Aerach. Johnny Connolly (accordion).View album details
~19961#3[DD HR] De Dannan. Hibernian Rhapsody. Frankie Gavin (fiddle, flute), Alec Finn (bouzouki, guitar), Colm Murphy (bodhrán), Derek Hickey (accordion), Tommy Flemming (vocals).View album details
~19982.10#3[ESL 1] various. An Evening in Sliabh Luachra. Volume One. A Collection of Traditional Music and Song from the Sliabh Luachra Area. View album details
~20022(9:07)#6[Boh 3] Bohola. Bohola. Jimmy Keane (piano accordion), Sean Cleland (fiddle, viola, baritone fiddle), Pat Broaders (dordan, bouzouki, vocals).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 #1553 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #766 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. [available]
As tune #150 in volume 1 of [R] Francis Roche. The Roche Collection of Traditional Irish Music. 3 vols. [available]
As tune #208 in [CRE 2] Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann 2.
On page 162 of [Krsn] Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. [available]
As tune #178 in [JOL] Terry Moylan. Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra. Dance Music from the Cork-Kerry Border. [available]
As reel #50 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music.
On page 96 of [Cr] Matt Cranitch. The Irish Fiddle Book. [available]
On page 16 of [MR] Barbara Wygol (tunes), Jenny Loui (text). The Piper's Chair. A Collection of Tunes and Folklore from Micho Russell.
On page 53 of [M] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. 3rd Edition.
On page 91 of [M2] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition.
As reel #294 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #7 in [Raff] Lesl Harker. 300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty. [available]
As tune #13 in [DM 4] Dave Mallinson. 100 Vital Irish Session Tunes. [available]
In [LM] L[arry]. E. McCullough. ? [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
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!
Start at