Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#416 (Crooked Road to Dublin)
about these two barsThese two bars were transcribed by me from how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording MC (details in the Discography below).
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reel | 16 | AB | G Major |
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Crooked Road to Dublin, The / Crooked Road to Dublin / The Crooked Road / The Smiles and Tears of Erin / Gol agus Gáire na hÉireann / Lady's Pantalets (1st in set The Crooked Road to Dublin on MC; 1st in set The Lady's Pantalettes on DC1; mislabeled as The Ravelled Hank of Yarn on WC 2)
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). |
|---|---|---|
| ~1924 | 1.9#1 | [MC] Michael Coleman. Michael Coleman 1891-1945. Michael Coleman (fiddle). |
| 1971 | 20#1 | [DC1] The Drones and the Chanters. Irish Pipering. Willie Clancy. |
| 1973 | 11#2 | [WC 2] Willie Clancy. The Pipering of Willie Clancy. Volume 1. Willie Clancy (pipes, whistle). For this tune: (whistle). |
| 1975 | 13#1 | [JnKlly] John Kelly. Irish Traditional Concertina and Fiddle Music. John Kelly (concertina, fiddle). For this tune: (concertina). |
| ~1977 | 1#1 | [AM] Andy McGann and Paul Brady. It's A Hard Road to Travel. Andy McGann (fiddle), Paul Brady (guitar). |
| ~1988 | 14#2 | [SWW] Ronan Browne and Peter O'Loughlin. The South West Wind. Traditional Music from County Clare. Ronan Browne (pipes), Peter O'Loughlin (fiddle). For this tune: Peter Brown (flute), Ronan Brown (pipes), Tierna Brown (fiddle). |
| ~1990 | 12#2 | [CmA 1] The Coleman Archive Vol. 1: The Living Tradition. Mick Regan (fiddle). |
| ~1991 | 6#2 | [TKn] Tommy Keane. The Piper's Apron. Tommy Keane (pipes, whistle). For this tune: (pipes), with Jacqueline McCarthy (concertina). |
| 1994 | 12#1 | [MH 2] Martin Hayes. Under the Moon. Martin Hayes (fiddle). |
| ~1994 | 2.1#1 | [GL20] Green Linnet Records. The Twentieth Anniversary Collection. Martin Hayes. |
| ~1996 | 13#2 | [JB 4] Joe Burke, Charlie Lennon. The Bucks of Oranmore. Joe Burke (accordion), Charlie Lennon (piano). |
| ~1997 | 1#2 | [NaCnn 1] Na Connerys. Celtic Sessions. Paddy Glackin (fiddle), Kevin Glackin (fiddle), Sean Og Potts (pipes, whistle), John Regan (accordion), John Wynne (flute), Tom McDonagh (bouzouki), Mark Kelly (guitar). |
| 1998 | 4#1 | [JWh 6] John Whelan. Come to Dance. John Whelan (accordion). For this tune: with Jim Eagan (fiddle). |
| ~2008 | 1#2 | [RossBr] Ben Lennon and Tony O'Connell. Rossinver Braes. Ben Lennon (fiddle), Tony O'Connell (concertina). |
| 2011 | 15#3 | [HDvls 2] The House Devils. Crossing the Ocean. Matt Fahey (vocals, guitar, bouzouki, resonator guitar), Mat Walklate (harmonica, flute, vocals, whistle, pipes), Andrew Dinan (fiddle), Anthony Haller (double bass). |
| ~2011 | 2#3 | [BODFam] Bríd O'Donohue and Family. Cliabhán an Dúchais. Bríd O'Donohue (flute, whistle), Seán O'Brien (flute), Eibhlís O'Brien (pipes), Deirdre O'Brien (harp), Liam O'Brien (concertina), Sinéad O'Brien (fiddle). |
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 #101 in [CRE 1] Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann 1. |
| As tune #81 in [WC] Pat Mitchell. The Dance Music of Willie Clancy. |
| As reel #27 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music. |
| On page 18 of [M2] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition. |
| As reel #50 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. |
| As tune #63 in [Raff] Lesl Harker. 300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty. |
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): 1924