Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#477 (Dear Irish Boy)
| Rhythm ? | Mode ? |
|---|---|
| Air | A Dorian |
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Dear Irish Boy, The / Dear Irish Boy / An Buachaillín Bán / An Buachaillin Ban / The Little Fair-Haired Boy / The Fair-Haired Boy (1st in set Alone in the Dark on WFO 3) (also in D, E, or G) (compare as song #2624) (composed by Mícheál Ó Liongáin or John Barton)
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). |
|---|---|---|
| ~1966 | 17#1 | [DC1] various. The Drones and the Chanters. Irish Pipering. Séamus Ennis (pipes), Peadar Broe (pipes), Leo Rowsome (pipes), Paddy Moloney (pipes), Dan Dowd (pipes), Tommy Reck (pipes), Willie Clancy (pipes). |
| ~1967 | 7#1 | [WC 1] Willie Clancy. The Minstrel from Clare. Willie Clancy (pipes, whistle, vocals). |
| ~1967 | 9#1 | [GP] various. The Gentlemen Pipers. Classic Recordings of Irish Traditional Piping. |
| 1971 | 19#1 | [TPtts] Tommy Potts. The Liffey Banks. Tommy Potts (fiddle). |
| 1992 | 8#1 | [DOEI] various. Dear Old Erin's Isle. Irish Traditional Music from America. |
| ~1996 | 9#1 | [JK 3] James Kelly. Traditional Irish Music. James Kelly (fiddle). |
| ~1998 | 11#1 | [JMcE] John McEvoy. Returning. John McEvoy (fiddle). |
| ~2002 | 11#1 | [CaBrdg] Niall and Cillian Vallely. Callan Bridge. Niall Vallely (concertina), Cillian Vallely (pipes, whistle). |
| ~2005 | 1.4#1 | [WFO 3] various. Wooden Flute Obsession 3. |
| ~2005 | 1.4#5 | [WFO 3] various. Wooden Flute Obsession 3. |
| ~2007 | 4#1 | [MH 5] Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill. Welcome Here Again. Martin Hayes (fiddle, viola), Dennis Cahill (guitar, mandolin, bass). |
| 2009 | 11#1 | [Hmmrs] The Hammers. From Distant Shores. Paul Hammer (mandolin, banjo), Susan Hammer (whistle, concertina). |
| ~2009 | 4#1 | [KClns 2] Kathleen Collins. My Book of Songs. Kathleen Collins (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.
| As tune #73 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. |
| As tune #59 in [D&M] Arthur Warren Darley and Patrick Joseph McCall. The Darley and McCall Collection of Traditional Irish Music. |
| As tune #49 in volume 1 of [R] Francis Roche. The Roche Collection of Traditional Irish Music. 3 vols. |
| As tune #50 in volume 1 of [R] Francis Roche. The Roche Collection of Traditional Irish Music. 3 vols. |
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