Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#3745 (Johnny Box)
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Polka | 32 | AABB | D Major |
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 Beg 1 (details in the Discography below).
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Johnny Box / O'Connor's / O'Connor's Polka / Mary Ann / The Hayden Fancy (1st in set The Cuas Polkas on Beg 1; for 2nd figure of The West Kerry Set on JRSLCB 2) (also in G)
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). |
|---|---|---|
| ~1980 | B.1#2 | [Boys 8] Boys of the Lough. Regrouped. Aly Bain (fiddle), Cathal McConnell (flute), Dave Richardson (), Tich Richardson (guitar). |
| 1997 | 7#1 | [Beg 1] Beginish. Beginish. Paul McGrattan (flute), Paul O'Shaughnessy (fiddle), Brendan Begley (accordion, vocals), Noel O'Grady (bouzouki). |
| ~1998 | 14#1 | [JRSLCB 2] Johnny Reidy and the Sliabh Luachra Ceili Band. Music for Set Dancing Vol. II. Johnny Reidy (accordion). |
| 2002 | 20#3 | [LAC] Tom and Kerry Barrett. Lios A'Cheoil. Traditional Irish Music. Tom Barrett (fiddle), Kerry Barrett (fiddle). |
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.
| On page 132 of [RM] Randy Miller and Jack Perron. Irish Traditional Fiddle Music. |
| As polka #81 in [HN] Henrik Norbeck. Henrik Norbeck's Abc Tunes. |
| As tune #36 in [IBPS] Pat Conway. Ireland's Best Polkas and Slides. |
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): 1977