Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#2527 (Darby the Driver)
about these two barsThese two bars were transcribed by me from how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording WU (details in the Discography below).
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Double jig | 32 | AABB | A Dorian |
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Darby the Driver / Bly's Jig / Paddy Cronin's / Cronin's Favourite / Cronin's Favorite / Con Williams' Jig / I nDeire ne Dala (for 3rd figure of The West Kerry Set on JRSLCB 2) (compare 1st part with 1st part of John Naughton's #2384; compare, remotely, #5462)
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). |
|---|---|---|
| ~1962 | 12#1 | [BG 1] Bobby Gardiner. Memories of Clare. Bobby Gardiner (accordion). |
| ~1993 | 14#1 | [WU] Martin Mulhaire, Séamus Connolly, Jack Coen. Warming Up. Martin Mulhaire (accordion), Séamus Connolly (fiddle), Jack Coen (flute). For this tune: Jack Coen (flute), Séamus Connolly (fiddle). |
| ~1998 | 15#2 | [JRSLCB 2] Johnny Reidy and the Sliabh Luachra Ceili Band. Music for Set Dancing Vol. II. Johnny Reidy (accordion). |
| 2000 | 4#2 | [NR] Charlie Piggott and Gerry Harrington. The New Road. Charlie Piggott (accordion), Gerry Harrington (fiddle). |
| 2001 | 2#1 | [KlmFcy] Catherine McEvoy and John McEvoy. The Kilmore Fancy. Catherine McEvoy (flute), John McEvoy (fiddle). |
| ~2002 | 2#1 | [MaRaf] Mary Rafferty. Hand-Me-Downs. Mary Rafferty (accordion, concertina, flute, whistle). For this tune: 1st time Dónal Clancy (guitar). |
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.
| As tune #789 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. |
| As tune #64 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. |
| On page 24 of [Krsn] Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. |
| As tune #81 in [SIMB] Tony Sullivan. Sully's Irish Music Book. |
| As jig #25 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music. |
| As tune #26 in [FT] Randy Miller. The Fiddler's Throne. |
| As jig #46 in [JKg 3] Josephine Keegan. A Drop in the Ocean. Traditional Irish Tunes Collected by Josephine Keegan. |
| As tune #203 in [Raff] Lesl Harker. 300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty. |
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): 1903