Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 1980 (Turkey in the Straw)

RhythmBarsMode
Reel32D Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Turkey in the Straw
 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 JDJO (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):
Turkey in the Straw / Turkeys in the Straw / Turkies in the Straw (also in A or G, also as march and as barndance)
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
19287#2[FBros] The Flanagan Brothers. The Tunes We Like to Play on Paddy's Day. Joe Flanagan (accordion), Louis Flanagan (guitar, banjo), Mike Flanagan (banjo, vocals, mandolin).View album details
~195322#1[JDJO] Joe Derrane and Jerry O'Brien. Irish Accordion Masters. Joe Derrane (accordion), Jerry O'Brien (accordion).View album details
19959(1:49)#2[JOL 3] Johnny O'Leary. Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra. Dance Music from the Cork-Kerry Border. Johnny O'Leary (accordion).View album details
~20015#2[AtR 2] At the Racket. Mirth-Making Heroes. John Carty (fiddle, banjo), Brian McGrath (banjo, piano, keyboards), Seamus O'Donnell (flute, saxophone, vocals), Garry O'Briain (guitar, mandocello, piano), Brid Dooley (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 #1520 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #739 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. [available]
As tune #215 in volume 3 of [R] Francis Roche. The Roche Collection of Traditional Irish Music. 3 vols. [available]
On page 155 of [Krsn] Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. [available]
On page 5 of [Ba] Betty M. Barlow. Fiddle Tunes for the Violinist. [available]
On page 280 of [FF] David Brody. The Fiddler's Fakebook. [available]
As tune #247 in [JOL] Terry Moylan. Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra. Dance Music from the Cork-Kerry Border. [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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