Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 2146 (Maggie in the Wood)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Polka32AABBG Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Maggie in the Wood
 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 ItS (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):
Maggie in the Wood / If I Had Maggie in the Wood / Maggie in the Woods / Maggie in the Corner / Nancy Wants Her Own Share / Séamaisín (2nd in set If I Had Maggie in the Wood on Ch 8) (compare [untitled] Polka in CITM, p. 280)
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
~195824#3[ItS] various. In the Smoke. View album details
197413#2[CC] Bernard O'Sullivan and Tommy McMahon. Clare Concertinas. Bernard O'Sullivan (concertina), Tommy McMahon (concertina) except where solos noted.View album details
~19786#2[Ch 8] The Chieftains. 8. Paddy Moloney (pipes, whistle), Seán Potts (whistle), Seán Keane (fiddle), Martin Fay (fiddle, bones), Michael Tubridy (flute, concertina, whistle), Derek Bell (harp, tiompán), Kevin Conneff (bodhrán).View album details
200116#1[PHCB] Public House Ceili Band. Go Figure. Dan Cobb (banjo), Dave Delgado (whistle), Alan Ng (fiddle), Bob Newton (octave mandolin).View album details
~200613#1[JOSe] Jimmí Ó Sé. Malairt Poirt ó Fionntrá. Jimmí Ó Sé (accordion, 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 #69 in [D&M] Arthur Warren Darley and Patrick Joseph McCall. The Darley and McCall Collection of Traditional Irish Music. [available]
As polka #19 in [HN] Henrik Norbeck. Henrik Norbeck's Abc Tunes. [available]
As tune #30 in [IBPS] Pat Conway. Ireland's Best Polkas and Slides. [available]
On page 280 of [CITM] Fintan Vallely. The Companion to Irish Traditional Music. [available]
On page 232 of [M2] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition.
As polka #24 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #58 in [DM 4] Dave Mallinson. 100 Vital Irish Session Tunes. [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): 1914
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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