Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 611 (Farewell to Miltown Malbay)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel32AABBG Dorian
Transcription of first 2 bars of Farewell to Miltown Malbay
 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 MH 2 (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):
Farewell to Miltown Malbay / Farewell to Milltown / Bobby Casey's / The Crosses of Annagh (composed by Junior Crehan or Bobby Casey)
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
19949#2[MH 2] Martin Hayes. Under the Moon. Martin Hayes (fiddle).View album details
~199413#2[JCt 1] John Carty and Brian McGrath. The Cat that Ate the Candle. John Carty (banjo, fiddle), Brian McGrath (piano, banjo).View album details
~199611#1[MOB] Mick O' Brien. May Morning Dew. Mick O' Brien (pipes, whistle).View album details
19982.A.5#1[1] various. Alan's personal session tapes.

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 #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. [available]
As reel #179 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