Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 217 (Dan Breen's)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel16ABA Dorian
Transcription of first 2 bars of Dan Breen's
 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 Ch 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):
Dan Breen's / Dan Breen's Reel / Breen's Reel / Dan Breens / West Clare Reel / The West Clare / Ríl Iarthar an Chláir (3rd in set The Maids of Galway on WFO 1; 3rd in set The Maid of Galway on WFO 1; 2nd in set West Clare Reels on Chlr; on MvC 2, this tune appears again at the end of that track) (also in G or E)
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
~19638#3[Ch 1] The Chieftains. The Chieftains. Paddy Moloney (pipes, whistle), Michael Tubridy (flute, concertina), Seán Potts (whistle), Martin Fay (fiddle), David Fallon (bodhrán).View album details
~19861#3[SEgn 1] Seamus Egan. Traditional Music of Ireland. Seamus Egan (flute, banjo, mandolin, whistle, pipes, tres).View album details
19904#2[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
~19937#2[JKn 2] James Keane. That's the Spirit. James Keane (accordion).View album details
19942#2[MH 2] Martin Hayes. Under the Moon. Martin Hayes (fiddle).View album details
~19942.16#3[WFO 1] various. Wooden Flute Obsession. View album details
19988#2[Chlr] Chulrua. Barefoot on the Altar. Paddy O'Brien (accordion), Tim Britton (pipes, flute, whistle), Pat Egan (guitar, vocals).View album details
~199816#1[MvC 2] Moving Cloud. Foxglove. Paul Brock (accordion), Maeve Donnelly (fiddle), Manus McGuire (fiddle), Kevin Crawford (flute, whistle, bodhrán), Carl Hession (piano).View album details
~20006#3[MMcG 2] Michael McGoldrick. Fused. Michael McGoldrick (flute except where noted).View album details
20011#1[KlmFcy] Catherine McEvoy and John McEvoy. The Kilmore Fancy. Catherine McEvoy (flute), John McEvoy (fiddle).View album details
~200312#3[KitRec] Seán O'Driscoll and Larry Egan. The Kitchen Recordings. Seán O'Driscoll (banjo, bouzouki), Larry Egan (accordion).View album details
~20032.16#3[WFO 2] various. Wooden Flute Obsession 2. View album details
20061#2[NNW] Eliot Grasso and Dave Cory. North-by-NorthWest. Eliot Grasso (pipes, flute), Dave Cory (banjo, guitar, octave mandolin).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 #35 in volume 1 of [B&S] D[avid] Bulmer and N[eil] Sharpley. Music from Ireland. 4 vols.
As tune #17 in volume 3 of [AW] Eithne Vallely. Learn to Play the Tin Whistle.
As reel #56 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. [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): 1963