Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 2448 (Humours of Ballydesmond)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Polka48AABBCCG Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Humours of Ballydesmond
 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 SatG (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):
Humours of Ballydesmond, The / The Knocknaboul #1 / The Knocknaboul Polka 1 / The Knocknabower Polka / Scartaglen Polka / The Little Green Cottage / Din Tarrant's (1st in set Knocknaboul Polkas on SatG; 1st in set Knocknabower Polkas in AW)
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
19521#2[KF] Padraig O'Keefe, Denis Murphy, Julia Clifford. Kerry Fiddles. Padraig O'Keefe (fiddle), Denis Murphy (fiddle), Julia Clifford (fiddle).View album details
196913#3[Ch 2] The Chieftains. 2. Michael Tubridy (flute, concertina, whistle), Seán Potts (whistle), Paddy Moloney (pipes, whistle), Martin Fay (fiddle), Peadar Mercier (bodhrán, bones), Seán Keane (fiddle).View album details
~196913#1[SatG] Denis Murphy and Julia Clifford. The Star above the Garter. Fiddle music from Kerry, played by Denis Murphy and Julia Clifford. Denis Murphy (fiddle), Julia Clifford (fiddle).View album details
~20008#2[DH 3] Dan Herlihy and John Drew. The Ballydesmond Polka. Traditional Irish Music from Sliabh Luachra Played By Dan Herlihy and John Drew. Dan Herlihy (accordion), John Drew (mandocello).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 #21#1 in volume 2 of [AW] Eithne Vallely. Learn to Play the Tin Whistle.
On page 131 of [RM] Randy Miller and Jack Perron. Irish Traditional Fiddle Music. [available]
As polka #15 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music.
As tune #49 in [Cr] Matt Cranitch. The Irish Fiddle Book. [available]
As tune #280 in [JOL] Terry Moylan. Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra. Dance Music from the Cork-Kerry Border. [available]
As tune #95 in [IBPS] Pat Conway. Ireland's Best Polkas and Slides. [available]
On page 238 of [M2] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition.

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): 1952