Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 2055 (Wheels of the World)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel32AABBD Mixolydian
Transcription of first 2 bars of Wheels of the World
 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 WW 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):
Wheels of the World, The / Rothaí an Domhain / [misspelled as:] Wheel of the World / [mislabeled on the seminal 1930 recording by James Morrison as:] Rakish Paddy
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
192912#2[MG] various. Milestone at the Garden. Irish Fiddle Masters from the 78 RPM Era. View album details
19302#2[WW 1] various. The Wheels of the World. Early Irish-American Music. Classic Recordings from the 1920s and 1930s. Vol. 1. View album details
~197511#2[SK 1] Seán Keane. Gusty's Frolicks. Seán Keane (fiddle).View album details
~19763#1[TP 2] Tommy Peoples and Paul Brady. The High Part of the Road. Tommy Peoples (fiddle), Paul Brady (guitar).View album details
~19781#3[KB Cap] Kevin Burke. If the Cap Fits. Kevin Burke (fiddle).View album details
200110#1[JBC] Johnny B. Connolly. Bridgetown. Johnny B. Connolly (accordion).View album details
~200110#1[FG 6] Frankie Gavin. Fierce Traditional. Frankie Gavin (fiddle, flute).View album details
~20083#1[TDeM] Tony DeMarco. The Sligo Indians. Tony DeMarco (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 #168 in [CRE 1] Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann 1.
As tune #14 in [P] Brian and Eithne Vallely. Play 50 Reels.
On page 290 of [FF] David Brody. The Fiddler's Fakebook. [available]
On page 117 of [M2] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition.
As reel #349 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #266 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): 1929
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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