Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 3157 (Boys of Wexford)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
March16ABG Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Boys of Wexford
 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 LR 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):
Boys of Wexford, The / Boys of Ireland (also in D, also as song) (compare The Boys of Wexford included here in book FF and compare Low Low Lands of Holland #2361)
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
193623#2[WW 1] various. The Wheels of the World. Early Irish-American Music. Classic Recordings from the 1920s and 1930s. Vol. 1. View album details
19386#1[LR 1] Leo Rowsome. Classics of Irish Piping. Leo Rowsome (pipes).View album details
~195713#2[KR] Kevin Rowsome. The Rowsome Tradition. Kevin Rowsome (pipes).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 #81 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #42 in volume 3 of [R] Francis Roche. The Roche Collection of Traditional Irish Music. 3 vols. [available]
On page 55 of [FF] David Brody. The Fiddler's Fakebook. [available]
As tune #79 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): 1903