Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 1874 (Tailor's Twist)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Hornpipe32AABBD Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Tailor's Twist
 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 SE 6 (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):
Tailor's Twist, The / Jolly Butchers / The Fisherman's Lilt / Spellan the Fiddler
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
19407#1[SE 6] Séamus Ennis. The Return from Fingal. Séamus Ennis (pipes, vocals).View album details
~197611#1[AMPR] Andy McGann and Paddy Reynolds. Andy McGann and Paddy Reynolds. Andy McGann (fiddle), Paddy Reynolds (fiddle).View album details
~197716#2[ECst] various. Traditional Irish Music in America. The East Coast. View album details
~19804#1[Plx 6] Planxty. The Woman I Loved so Well. Dónal Lunny (bouzouki, guitar, synthesizer), Andy Irvine (bouzouki, mandolin, harmonica, vocals), Liam O'Flynn (pipes, whistle), Christy Moore (guitar, bodhrán, vocals).View album details
19956#1[JDr 2] Joe Derrane. Return to Inis Mór. Joe Derrane (accordion).View album details
~199613#1[GOh] Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin. Traditional Music from Clare and Beyond. Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin (concertina, whistle).View album details
~19965#2[JB 3] Joe Burke, Charlie Lennon. The Bucks of Oranmore. Joe Burke (accordion), Charlie Lennon (piano).View album details
~199812#2[KH] Kieran Hanrahan. Kieran Hanrahan Plays the Irish Tenor Banjo. Kieran Hanrahan (banjo).View album details
20025#1[EGrs 1] Eliot Grasso. Standing Room Only. Eliot Grasso (pipes).View album details
~20023#1[EON] Eoin O'Neill. In Session. Eoin O'Neill (bouzouki, 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 #208 in volume 2 of [R] Francis Roche. The Roche Collection of Traditional Irish Music. 3 vols. [available]
As tune #76 in volume 3 of [B&S] D[avid] Bulmer and N[eil] Sharpley. Music from Ireland. 4 vols.
On page 22 of [TP] Tommy Peoples. Fifty Irish Fiddle Tunes. [available]
As hp #62 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #317 in [FT] Randy Miller. The Fiddler's Throne. [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): 1927