Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 2088 (Drunken Tinker)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel16ABA Dorian
Transcription of first 2 bars of Drunken Tinker
 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 A RC (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):
Drunken Tinker, The / The Yellow Tinker / Yellow Tinker #1 / The Jolly Tinker / Dick Cosgrove's Reel / Dick Cosgrove's (also in G Dorian, also with 2nd part doubled; or, instead, two or three slightly different tunes could possibly be distinguished across all of these sources, in which case the titles of them would be probably The Yellow Tinker from Donegal, The Drunken Tinker from Connaught, and then Dick Cosgrove's, the one more similar to #552) (compare 1st part with 1st part of #552)
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
19398#2[HG] Hugh Gillespie. Classic Recordings of Irish Traditional Fiddle Music. Hugh Gillespie (fiddle).View album details
~19788(8:33)#7[KB Cap] Kevin Burke. If the Cap Fits. Kevin Burke (fiddle).View album details
19901#1[A RC] Altan. The Red Crow. Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh (fiddle, vocals), Frankie Kennedy (flute, whistle, vocals), Paul O'Shaughnessy (fiddle), Mark Kelly (guitar, vocals), Ciaran Curran (bouzouki).View album details
~19951#2[PCny] Paddy Canny. Traditional Music from the Legendary East Clare Fiddler. Paddy Canny (fiddle).View album details
~19965#2[DByrn] Dermot Byrne. Dermot Byrne. Dermot Byrne (accordion).View album details
~20036#2[MatH] Brendan Bulger, Marty Fahey, Kathleen Gavin. Music at the House. Brendan Bulger (fiddle), Marty Fahey (accordion, piano), Kathleen Gavin (piano).View album details
200612#2[NNW] Eliot Grasso and Dave Cory. North-by-NorthWest. Eliot Grasso (pipes, flute), Dave Cory (banjo, guitar, octave mandolin).View album details
~20077#2[ATrgs 1] Athena Tergis. A Letter Home. Athena Tergis (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 reel #157 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music.
As reel #197 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music.
As reel #2 in [Ng] Alan Ng. Alan Ng's Transcriptions. [available]
On page 120 of [M2] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition.
As reel #73 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. [available]
As reel #63 in [JKg 3] Josephine Keegan. A Drop in the Ocean. Traditional Irish Tunes Collected by Josephine Keegan. [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): 1939
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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