Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#611 (Farewell to Miltown Malbay)
about these two barsThese two bars were transcribed by me from how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording JCrehan (details in the Discography below).
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reel | 32 | AABB | G Dorian |
Farewell to Miltown Malbay / Farewell to Miltown / Farewell to Milltown / Bobby Casey's / The Crosses of Annagh (miscredited to Bobby Casey in book JKg 3) (composed by Junior Crehan)
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). |
|---|---|---|
| ~1971 | 12#1 | [BC 3] Bobby Casey. The Spirit of West Clare. Bobby Casey (fiddle, whistle). For this tune: with Sean Casey (mandolin). |
| 1994 | 9#2 | [MH 2] Martin Hayes. Under the Moon. Martin Hayes (fiddle). For this tune: with Randal Bays (fiddle). |
| ~1994 | 13#2 | [JCt 1] John Carty and Brian McGrath. The Cat that Ate the Candle. John Carty (banjo, fiddle), Brian McGrath (piano, banjo). |
| ~1996 | 11#1 | [MOB] Mick O' Brien. May Morning Dew. Mick O' Brien (pipes, whistle). For this tune: 1st time Terry Crehan (fiddle), then with Mick (whistle). |
| ~1998 | 1.4#1 | [JCrehan] Junior Crehan. The Last House in Ballymakea. Junior Crehan (fiddle, vocals, concertina). For this tune: Junior Crehan (fiddle). |
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 #21 in volume 4 of [B&S] D[avid] Bulmer and N[eil] Sharpley. Music from Ireland. 4 vols. |
| As reel #594 in [HN] Henrik Norbeck. Henrik Norbeck's Abc Tunes. |
| As reel #179 in [JKg 3] Josephine Keegan. A Drop in the Ocean. Traditional Irish Tunes Collected by Josephine Keegan. |
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): 1971