Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 1861 (Sweep's Hornpipe)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Hornpipe48AABBCCD Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Sweep's Hornpipe
 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 LR 1 (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):
Sweep's Hornpipe, The / The Sweeps / The Belfast Hornpipe / The Belfast / The Royal Belfast / The Great Eastern / The Great Western / Millicent's Favourite
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
~1947B.2#1[JDrn] Johnny Doran. The Bunch of Keys. Johnny Doran (pipes).View album details
~194818#1[LR 1] Leo Rowsome. Classics of Irish Piping. Leo Rowsome (pipes).View album details
~19585#1[TDMI] various. Traditional Dance Music of Ireland. View album details
199410#3[JDr 1] Joe Derrane with Felix Dolan. Give Us Another. Joe Derrane (accordion), Felix Dolan (piano).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 #1613 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #852 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. [available]
As tune #108 in [WC] Pat Mitchell. The Dance Music of Willie Clancy. [available]
As tune #88 in [A] Hugh McDermott. Allan's "Irish Fiddler." [available]
On page 177 of [Krsn] Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. [available]
On page 207 of [Krsn] Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. [available]
As tune #240 in [JOL] Terry Moylan. Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra. Dance Music from the Cork-Kerry Border. [available]
On page 198 of [M2] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition.
As hp #3 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #53 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