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Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#539 (Down the Back Lane)
about these two barsThese two bars were transcribed by me from how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording WC 2 (details in the Discography below).
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Double jig | 32 | AABB | D Mixolydian |
Down the Back Lane / Down the Dark Lane / Boring the Leather / Tolladh an Leathair / The Cavan Brigade (1st in set Irish Washerwoman on SHtn 1; 1st in set Atlantic Drive on JMcSh 1) (compare 2nd part with 2nd part of Seamus Cooley's #839)
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 12 seconds.
to hear the first 12 seconds.| Year Recorded |
Track #Tune? |
[Album code] Artist. Title. Performers (instruments). |
|---|---|---|
| ~1949 | 20#1 | [IDM 2] Past Masters of Irish Dance Music. Séamus Ennis (pipes). |
| 1973 | 15#1 | [WC 2] Willie Clancy. The Pipering of Willie Clancy. Volume 1. Willie Clancy (pipes, whistle). |
| ~1977 | 17#2 | [SE 4] Séamus Ennis. Forty Years of Irish Piping. Seamus Ennis (pipes except where whistle or vocals noted). |
| ~1991 | 12#1 | [TKn] Tommy Keane. The Piper's Apron. Tommy Keane (pipes, whistle). For this tune: (pipes). |
| ~1995 | 4#1 | [MMR 1] Mike and Mary Rafferty. The Dangerous Reel. Mike Rafferty (flute, whistle, pipes), Mary Rafferty (accordion, flute, whistle). |
| ~1995 | 13#2 | [PCny] Paddy Canny. Traditional Music from the Legendary East Clare Fiddler. Paddy Canny (fiddle). |
| ~2002 | 7#1 | [TMIYD] Ronan Browne and Peter O'Loughlin. Touch Me If You Dare. Ronan Browne (pipes, flute), Peter O'Loughlin (fiddle, flute). For this tune: Ronan Browne (Bb flute), Peter O'Loughlin (fiddle), Maeve Donnelly (viola). |
| 2010 | 11#1 | [SHtn 1] Shannon Heaton. The Blue Dress. Shannon Heaton (flute). |
| ~2010 | 2#1 | [JMcSh 1] John McSherry. Soma. John McSherry (pipes, whistle). For this tune: (pipes). |
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 #6 in [CRE 1] Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann 1. |
| As tune #103 in [WC] Pat Mitchell. The Dance Music of Willie Clancy. |
| As jig #29 in [JKg 3] Josephine Keegan. A Drop in the Ocean. Traditional Irish Tunes Collected by Josephine Keegan. |
| As tune #229 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): 1949