Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#622 (Fermoy Lasses)
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reel | 32 | AABB | E Dorian |
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 MGm (details in the Discography below).
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Fermoy Lasses, The / Fermoy Lasses / The Fermoy Lassies / Girrseachaí Fhearmuí / The Wexford Reel / The Humours of Mackin / The Connacht Ranger / Connacht Ranger (also singled)
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). |
|---|---|---|
| ~1919 | 25#1 | [PT] Patsy Touhey. The Piping of Patsy Touhey. Patsy Touhey (pipes). |
| 1928 | 22#1 | [WW 2] various. The Wheels of the World. Early Irish-American Music. Classic Recordings from the 1920s and 1930s. Vol. 2. |
| ~1947 | A.4#2 | [JDrn] Johnny Doran. The Bunch of Keys. Johnny Doran (pipes). |
| ~1956 | 10#1 | [Rnys] The Raineys. The Raineys. Paddy Rainey (fiddle), Stephen Rainey (fiddle), Bridie 'Biddy' Rainey (vocals). |
| 1957 | 1.5#3 | [SltSdt] various. Seoltaí Séidte. Setting Sail. |
| ~1957 | 2.10#1 | [MGm] Michael Gorman. The Sligo Champion. The Fiddle Music of County Sligo. Michael Gorman (fiddle, vocals). |
| ~1967 | 9#1 | [PKlly] Patrick Kelly. Patrick Kelly From Cree. Fiddle Music. Patrick Kelly (fiddle). |
| ~1979 | 10#1 | [BMu 1] Brendan Mulvihill, accompanied by Mick Moloney. The Flax in Bloom. Traditional Irish Music. Brendan Mulvihill (fiddle), Mick Moloney (guitar, bouzouki, mandolin). |
| 1986 | 8#1 | [TJC] Frankie Gavin and Paul Brock. Ómós do Joe Cooley. A Tribute to Joe Cooley. Frankie Gavin (fiddle), Paul Brock (accordion). |
| ~1992 | 9#1 | [CmA 1] various. The Coleman Archive Vol. 1: The Living Tradition. |
| ~1993 | 2.15#1 | [WFO 1] various. Wooden Flute Obsession. |
| ~1995 | 8#2 | [Arc 2] Arcady. Many Happy Returns. Johnny McDonagh (bones, bodhrán, triangle), Nicholas Quemener (guitar, flute, whistle, vocals), Patsy Broderick (piano, keyboards), Conor Keane (accordion), Brendan Larrissey (fiddle), Niamh Parsons (vocals). |
| 1998 | 7#1 | [JWh] John Whelan. Come to Dance. John Whelan (accordion). |
| 2001 | 2#1 | [FDys] Davy Spillane and Kevin Glackin. Forgotten Days. Davy Spillane (pipes, whistle), Kevin Glackin (fiddle). |
| 2007 | 5#4 | [AbsIr] various. Absolutely Irish. Mac Benford (banjo, vocals), Darrah Carr (feet), Liz Carroll (fiddle), Karan Casey (vocals), Brendan Dolan (piano), John Doyle (guitar, bouzouki, vocals), Seamus Egan (banjo, flute), Eileen Ivers (fiddle), Rhys Jones (fiddle, guitar, vocals), Joanie Madden (flute, whistle), Billy McComiskey (accordion), Susan McKeown (vocals), Mick Moloney (banjo, mandolin, guitar, vocals), Robbie O'Connell (vocals, guitar), Niall O'Leary (feet), Jerry O'Sullivan (pipes, whistle), Mike Rafferty (flute), Athena Tergis (fiddle). |
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 #1310 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. |
| As tune #573 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. |
| As tune #16 in [WC] Pat Mitchell. The Dance Music of Willie Clancy. |
| On page 116 of [Krsn] Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. |
| As tune #142 in [JOL] Terry Moylan. Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra. Dance Music from the Cork-Kerry Border. |
| As tune #7 in [DM 2] Dave Mallinson. 100 Enduring Irish Session Tunes. |
| As reel #29 in [Ng] Alan Ng. Alan Ng's Transcriptions. |
| On page 34 of [M2] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition. |
| As reel #94 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. |
| In [LM] L[arry]. E. McCullough. ? |
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