Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#635 (Newtown Bridge)
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reel | 32 | AABB | G Major |
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 Tri 1 (details in the Discography below).
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Newtown Bridge / New Town Bridge / The Sailor's Farewell / Slán an Mhairnéalaigh / The Sailor's Return / Fisherman's Farewell / Bell Harbour / The Bellharbour Reel / The Belharbour Reel / The Rough Road / Doocastle / Dillons / McGuinnesse's Frolics / Reynold's Reel (for 1st figure of Caledonian Set on JRSLCB 2) (composed by Paddy O'Brien or Chris Droney or Raymond Roland)
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). |
|---|---|---|
| ~1949 | 10#1 | [CmA 1] various. The Coleman Archive Vol. 1: The Living Tradition. |
| ~1980 | 1#3 | [JKn 1] James Keane. Roll Away the Reel World. James Keane (accordion). |
| ~1980 | 11#1 | [MMlny] Mick Moloney. Strings Attached. Mick Moloney (banjo, mandolin, guitar). |
| ~1980 | 5#3 | [BigSq] various. The Big Squeeze. Masters of the Celtic Accordion. |
| ~1990 | 1#1 | [VK 1] Vinnie Kilduff. The Boys from the Blue Hill. Vinnie Kilduff (whistle, mandolin, guitar, keyboards, bass, bodhrán). |
| ~1991 | 8#1 | [Tri 1] Trian. Trian. Liz Carroll (fiddle), Billy McComiskey (accordion), Daithi Sproule (guitar, vocals). |
| ~1995 | 5#1 | [KC 1] Kevin Crawford. 'D' Flute Album. Kevin Crawford (flute, whistle, bodhrán). |
| 1998 | 16#1 | [JWh] John Whelan. Come to Dance. John Whelan (accordion). |
| ~1998 | 7#2 | [JRSLCB 2] Johnny Reidy and the Sliabh Luachra Ceili Band. Music for Set Dancing Vol. II. Johnny Reidy (accordion). |
| ~2002 | 1#1 | [Fns] Feenish. Rabharta. P.J. Hernon (accordion), Marcus Hernon (flute, whistle), Don Stiffe (vocals, guitar, whistle). |
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 #146 in [CRE 2] Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann 2. |
| As reel #217 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music. |
| As reel #193 in [HN] Henrik Norbeck. Henrik Norbeck's Abc Tunes. |
| As reel #12 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. |
| As reel #46 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): 1949