Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 505 (Dick Gossip's)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel32AABBD Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Dick Gossip's
 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 ItS (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):
Dick Gossip's / Dick Gossip / Dick Gossip's Reel / Dicky Gossip's / The Castle (also with parts reversed)
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
~19765 and 26#2[ItS] various. In the Smoke. View album details
~199217#2[MMM] various. Music at Matt Molloy's. View album details
19966#2[TF] Martin Dowling, Christine Dowling, Daithi Sproule. A Thousand Farewells. Martin Dowling (fiddle), Christine Dowling (flute, vocals), Daithi Sproule (guitar).View album details
200110#1[PHCB] Public House Ceili Band. Go Figure. Dan Cobb (banjo), Dave Delgado (whistle), Alan Ng (fiddle), Bob Newton (octave mandolin).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 #17 in volume 1 of [B&S] D[avid] Bulmer and N[eil] Sharpley. Music from Ireland. 4 vols.
As tune #1 in [DM 1] Dave Mallinson. 100 Essential Irish Session Tunes. [available]
On page 15 of [M] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. 3rd Edition.
On page 21 of [M2] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition.
As reel #61 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. [available]
As reel #175 in [JKg 3] Josephine Keegan. A Drop in the Ocean. Traditional Irish Tunes Collected by Josephine Keegan. [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): 1974
Please cite your source when you use information from this document.
© 2000–2008 Alan Ng, agng@facstaff.wisc.edu. Questions? Comments? Please use the easy Feedback Form. Thank you!
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