Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 590 (Molly Bán)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel16ABG Dorian
Transcription of first 2 bars of Molly Bán
 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 KOS (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):
Molly Bán / Molly Bawn / Molly Ban / White-Haired Molly / Fairhaired Mary / Fair-Haired Mary / Fair Haired Molly / Fairhaired Molly (4th in set Michael Gorman's on BB 2; this set in turn was mislabeled on some reissues as The Laurel Tree) (also in E, also doubled) (compare #3288)
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
~19737#2[JB 1] Joe Burke with Charlie Lennon. Traditional Music of Ireland. Joe Burke (accordion), with Charlie Lennon (piano).View album details
19766#4[BB 2] The Bothy Band. Old Hag You Have Killed Me. Paddy Keenan (pipes, whistle), Matt Molloy (flute, whistle), Kevin Burke (fiddle), Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill (vocals, clavinet, harmonium), Mícheál Ó Domhnaill (vocals, guitar), Donal Lunny (vocals, bouzouki, guitar, bodhrán).View album details
~198110#1[KOS] James Kelly, Paddy O'Brien, Daithi Sproule. Traditional Music of Ireland. James Kelly (fiddle), Paddy O'Brien (accordion), Daithi Sproule (vocals, guitar).View album details
~19937#1[JMd] Joanie Madden. A Whistle on the Wind. Joanie Madden (flute, whistle).View album details
19949#1[MH 2] Martin Hayes. Under the Moon. Martin Hayes (fiddle).View album details
~19942.5#1[WFO 1] various. Wooden Flute Obsession. View album details
~19978#2[PCny] Paddy Canny. Traditional Music from the Legendary East Clare Fiddler. Paddy Canny (fiddle).View album details
~20027#1[EON] Eoin O'Neill. In Session. Eoin O'Neill (bouzouki, fiddle).View album details
~20058#1[CTrsh] Ciaran Tourish. Down the Line. Ciaran Tourish (fiddle, whistle).View album details
~20076#2[CMcN] Christy McNamara. The House I Was Reared In. Christy McNamara (accordion, concertina, vocals).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 #1474 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #703 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. [available]
On page 146 of [Krsn] Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. [available]
As tune #154 in [FT] Randy Miller. The Fiddler's Throne. [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): 1903