Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#210 (Boys of the Lough)
about these two barsThese two bars were transcribed by me from how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording MC (details in the Discography below).
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reel | 32 | AABB | D Major |
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Boys of the Lough, The / Boys of the Lough / The Boys at the Lough / Buachaillí na Locha / Stócaigh an Locha / The Rose of Castletown / Johnstown Reel (1st in set The Boys of the Lough a.k.a. The Boys at the Lough on MC; mislabeled as Tom Clark's Fancy on MER) (compare Master McDermott's #1233)
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 10 seconds.
to hear the first 10 seconds.| Year Recorded |
Track #Tune? |
[Album code] Artist. Title. Performers (instruments). |
|---|---|---|
| ~1919 | 33#1 | [PT] Patsy Touhey. The Piping of Patsy Touhey. Patsy Touhey (pipes). |
| 1922 | 1.3#1 | [MC] Michael Coleman. Michael Coleman 1891-1945. Michael Coleman (fiddle). |
| 1926 | 10#1 | [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). |
| ~1927 | 20#1 | [MER] The Music of Ed Reavy. Ed Reavy (fiddle). |
| 1928 | 22#1 | [MG] Milestone at the Garden. Irish Fiddle Masters from the 78 RPM Era. Edward V. Reavy [Ed Reavy]. |
| 1928 | 12#1 | [BFair] Ballinasloe Fair. Early Recordings of Irish Music in America. Neil Nolan (banjo), Dan Sullivan (piano).. |
| ~1958 | 16#1 | [TDMI] Traditional Dance Music of Ireland. The Jimmy Hogan Trio. |
| ~1971 | 20#1 | [GP] The Gentlemen Pipers. Classic Recordings of Irish Traditional Piping. Felix Dolan. |
| 1973 | 1#4 (6:37) | [JC] Joe Cooley. Cooley. Joe Cooley (accordion). |
| ~1974 | 3#1 | [ItS] In the Smoke. Noel Pepper (harmonica), Paddy Moran (flute). |
| ~1976 | 1#1 | [MM 1] Matt Molloy accompanied by Dónal Lunny. Matt Molloy. Matt Molloy (flute). |
| ~1977 | 2#2 | [ECst] Traditional Irish Music in America. The East Coast. Brian Conway (fiddle). |
| 1994 | 7#3 | [MvC 1] Moving Cloud. Moving Cloud. Paul Brock (accordion), Maeve Donnelly (fiddle, viola), Manus McGuire (fiddle), Kevin Crawford (flute and percussion), Carl Hession (piano). For this tune: 1st time Paul Brock (melodeon). |
| 1994 | 1.10#3 | [GL20] Green Linnet Records. The Twentieth Anniversary Collection. Moving Cloud. |
| ~1997 | 14#1 | [PCny] Paddy Canny. Traditional Music from the Legendary East Clare Fiddler. Paddy Canny (fiddle). |
| ~1999 | 4#1 | [MtRd] The Mountain Road. A Compilation of Tunes Popular in South Sligo. Peter Horan (flute). |
| 2000 | 7#1 | [MnMcG] Manus McGuire. Saffron and Blue. Manus McGuire (fiddle). |
| 2002 | 1#3 | [EGrs 1] Eliot Grasso. Standing Room Only. Eliot Grasso (pipes). |
| ~2006 | 11#1 | [HB 3] Harry Bradley. The Night-Rambler's Companion. Harry Bradley (flute, whistle). |
| ~2006 | 2#1 | [JasCt] James Carty. Upon My Soul. James Carty (flute). |
| ~2007 | 5#2 | [TAM] Joe Burke, Brian Conway and Felix Dolan. A Tribute to Andy McGann. Joe Burke (accordion), Brian Conway (fiddle), Felix Dolan (piano). For this tune: Brian Conway (fiddle). |
| ~2007 | 5#1 | [KB ABR] Kevin Burke and Cal Scott. Across the Black River. Kevin Burke (fiddle), Cal Scott (guitar, mandolin, bouzouki, mountain dulcimer). |
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.
| On page 53 of [RM] Randy Miller and Jack Perron. Irish Traditional Fiddle Music. |
| As tune #139 in volume 1 of [R] Francis Roche. The Roche Collection of Traditional Irish Music. 3 vols. |
| As tune #37 in [A] Hugh McDermott. Allan's "Irish Fiddler." |
| As tune #159 in [CRE 1] Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann 1. |
| On page 54 of [FF] David Brody. The Fiddler's Fakebook. |
| On page 12 of [SK] Sean Keane. Fifty Fiddle Solos. |
| As tune #20 in [DM 3] Dave Mallinson. 100 Evergreen Irish Session Tunes. |
| As reel #24 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. |
| On page 17 of [JKg 3] Josephine Keegan. A Drop in the Ocean. Traditional Irish Tunes Collected by Josephine Keegan. |
| In [LM] L[arry]. E. McCullough. ? |
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): 1919