Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 440 (Game of Love)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel32AABBE Dorian
Transcription of first 2 bars of Game of Love
 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 JDSC (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):
Game of Love, The / Cluiche an Ghrá / Sórtanna Suirí / The Girls of Farranfore / The New Custom House / The Aberdeen Lasses / Bloron's Fancy / Bond's Reel / Caunheen's Reel (also singled) (compare 1st part with 1st part of New Custom House #3194)
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
~197710#2[JDSC] Jackie Daly, Séamus Creagh. Jackie Daly. Séamus Creagh. Jackie Daly (accordion), Séamus Creagh (fiddle).View album details
19931#2[MOK] Máire O'Keeffe. Cóisir. House Party. Máire O'Keeffe (fiddle).View album details
19957#2[JK 2] James Kelly and Zan McLeod. The Ring Sessions. James Kelly (fiddle), Zan McLeod (guitar, bouzouki).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 #293 in [CRE 2] Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann 2.
As reel #621 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): 1966