Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 3267 (Old Wheels of the World)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel32AABBA Dorian
Transcription of first 2 bars of Old Wheels of the World
 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 Plx 5 (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):
Old Wheels of the World, The / The Old 'Wheels of the World' / The Wheels of the World (mislabeled on Plx 5 as Lord McDonald) (also singled) (compare St. Ruth's Bush #1822)
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
~19798#1[Plx 5] Planxty. After the Break. Christy Moore (vocals, guitar, harmonium, bodhrán), Donal Lunny (blarge, guitar), Andy Irvine (vocals, mandolin, mandola, hurdy gurdy, bouzouki), Liam O'Flynn (pipes, whistle), Matt Molloy (flute, whistle).View album details
19826#2[Plx 7] Planxty. Words and Music. Christy Moore (guitar, vocals, bodhrán), Andy Irvine (bouzouki, mandolin, vocals, harmonica), Liam O'Flynn (pipes, whistle), Donal Lunny (guitar, bouzouki, bowed psaltery, spinet, dulcimer, bodhrán, synthesizer).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 #56 in [WC] Pat Mitchell. The Dance Music of Willie Clancy. [available]
As reel #522 in [HN] Henrik Norbeck. Henrik Norbeck's Abc 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): 1971
Please cite your source when you use information from this document.
© 2000–2008 Alan Ng, agng@facstaff.wisc.edu. Questions? Comments? Please use the easy Feedback Form. Thank you!
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