Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 1868 (Swinging on the Gate)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel32AABBG Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Swinging on the Gate
 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 JCrv (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):
Swinging on the Gate / Swinging on the Gates / Swinging on a Gate (also in D)
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
~19931#3[WU] Martin Mulhaire, Séamus Connolly, Jack Coen. Warming Up. Martin Mulhaire (accordion), Séamus Connolly (fiddle), Jack Coen (flute).View album details
~19981.2#1[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
20012#1[JCrv] John Creaven. The Story So Far. John Creaven (flute).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 #53 in volume 1 of [B&S] D[avid] Bulmer and N[eil] Sharpley. Music from Ireland. 4 vols.
On page 272 of [FF] David Brody. The Fiddler's Fakebook. [available]
As reel #24 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music.
As reel #161 in [JKg 3] Josephine Keegan. A Drop in the Ocean. Traditional Irish Tunes Collected by Josephine Keegan. [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): 1974