Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#405 (Crabs in the Skillet)
about these two barsThese two bars were transcribed by me from how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording BMu 1 (details in the Discography below).
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Double jig | 48 | AABBCC | G Minor |
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Crabs in the Skillet
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). |
|---|---|---|
| ~1979 | 2#1 | [BMu 1] Brendan Mulvihill, accompanied by Mick Moloney. The Flax in Bloom. Traditional Irish Music. Brendan Mulvihill (fiddle), Mick Moloney (guitar, bouzouki, mandolin). |
| 1999 | 5#2 | [LD 1] Liz Doherty. Last Orders. Liz Doherty (fiddle). |
| ~2000 | 10#2 | [LC 3] Liz Carroll. Lost in the Loop. Liz Carroll (fiddle). |
| 2001 | 2#2 | [LYK] Liz and Yvonne Kane. The Well Tempered Bow. Liz Kane (fiddle), Yvonne Kane (fiddle), John Blake (guitar, piano). |
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 #1112 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. |
| As tune #306 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. |
| On page 75 of [Krsn] Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. |
| As jig #26 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. |
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