Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#2065 (Whistling Postman)
about these two barsThese two bars were transcribed by me from how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording AW (details in the Discography below).
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reel | 32 | AABB | D Major |
Whistling Postman, The / Fear an Phoist ag Feadaíl / Fear Poist na Feadaíola / Gallagher / Gallagher's / Connelly's / Connolly's Reel / Tommy McGuire's (also in A) (compare 1st part with 1st part of Four Leafed Shamrock #5733)
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.
Click 
to hear the first 12 seconds.
to hear the first 12 seconds.| Year Recorded |
Track #Tune? |
[Album code] Artist. Title. Performers (instruments). |
|---|---|---|
| ~1971 | 8#2 | [AW] Paddy Reynolds, Charlie Mulvihill, James Keane, with Felix Dolan. Atlantic Wave. Paddy Reynolds (fiddle), Charlie Mulvihill (accordion), James Keane (accordion). For this tune: Paddy Reynolds (fiddle), Charlie Mulvihill (accordion). |
| ~1972 | 11#2 | [BHCMoher] Sean Ryan, Kathleen Ryan, Pat Lyons. Back Home to the Cliffs of Mohir [sic]. Sean Ryan (fiddle), Pat Lyons (accordion), Kathleen Ryan (piano). |
| ~1976 | 7#1 | [KClns 1] Kathleen Collins. Traditional Music of Ireland. Kathleen Collins (fiddle). |
| ~1984 | 11#1 | [Crsl] Séamus McGuire, Manus McGuire, Dáithí Sproule. Carousel. Séamus McGuire (fiddle, viola), Manus McGuire (fiddle), Dáithí Sproule (guitars, vocals). For this tune: (fiddle). |
| ~1986 | 1.4#3 | [RtH] Round the House. Music for the Sets - Vol. 1. Séamus Meehan (piano accordion), Paul O'Shaughessy (fiddle). |
| ~1993 | 5#1 | [JKn 2] James Keane. That's the Spirit. James Keane (accordion). |
| ~1996 | 2#2 | [JCt 2] John Carty. Last Night's Fun. John Carty (fiddle, banjo, flute). |
| ~2003 | 12#2 | [KitRec] Seán O'Driscoll and Larry Egan. The Kitchen Recordings. Seán O'Driscoll (banjo, bouzouki), Larry Egan (accordion). |
| ~2005 | 3#1 | [MMhn] Martin Meehan. Three's Company. Martin Meehan (flute, bodhrán). For this tune: (Eb flute). |
| ~2005 | 3#2 | [CDrny 4] Chris Droney. Down from Bell Harbour. Chris Droney (concertina). |
| 2009 | 14#1 | [RoClare] Riches of Clare. Pádraig Rynne, Noel O'Donoghue, Brian Mooney, Liam Murphy. |
Bibliography
Here are all transcriptions of this tune 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 reel #564 in [HN] Henrik Norbeck. Henrik Norbeck's Abc Tunes. |
| As tune #267 in [FT] Randy Miller. The Fiddler's Throne. |
| On page ? of volume 3 of [CRE 3+] Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann. |
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): 1971