Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 2885 (Girl I Left Behind)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Polka32AABBG Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Girl I Left Behind
 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 CC (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):
Girl I Left Behind, The / The Girl I Left Behind Me / Girl I Left Behind Me / Gal I Left Behind Me / Brighton Camp (for 4th figure of dance Orange and Green in book R) (also as single reel) (compare song-air Spailpín Fánach #2327)
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
197413#1[CC] Bernard O'Sullivan and Tommy McMahon. Clare Concertinas. Bernard O'Sullivan (concertina), Tommy McMahon (concertina) except where solos noted.View album details
20025#1[DLB] Donncha Lynch Band. Timmy 'the Brit' McCarthy's Set Dances of Cork and Kerry. Donncha Lynch (accordion), Aogan Lynch (concertina), Ronan Lynch (fiddle), Donncha Lynch, Jr. (guitar).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 #297#4 in volume 2 of [R] Francis Roche. The Roche Collection of Traditional Irish Music. 3 vols. [available]
On page 119 of [FF] David Brody. The Fiddler's Fakebook. [available]
As polka #48 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): 1927