Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 1950 (Tongs by the Fire)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Double jig32AABBG Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Tongs by the Fire
 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):
Tongs by the Fire, The / The Tongs by the Fire / Tongues of Fire / Come to the Raffle
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
~194820#2[LR 1] Leo Rowsome. Classics of Irish Piping. Leo Rowsome (pipes).View album details
197612#1[JCC] Jack and Charlie Coen. The Branch Line. Jack Coen (flute), Charlie Coen (concertina).View album details
19948#1[MvC 1] Moving Cloud. Moving Cloud. Paul Brock (accordion), Maeve Donnelly (fiddle, viola), Manus McGuire (fiddle), Kevin Crawford (flute and percussion), Carl Hession (piano).View album details
~19989#2[KH] Kieran Hanrahan. Kieran Hanrahan Plays the Irish Tenor Banjo. Kieran Hanrahan (banjo).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 #962 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #185 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. [available]
On page 13 of [SK] Sean Keane. Fifty Fiddle Solos. [available]
In [FMH] Tom Hastings. The Feis Musicians Handbook [sic].
As tune #47 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
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!
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