Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 692 (Galway Bay)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Hornpipe32AABBG Dorian
Transcription of first 2 bars of Galway Bay
 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 JB 1 (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):
Galway Bay / Galway Bay Hornpipe (1st in set The Drunken Sailor on TPtts)
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
19718#1[TPtts] Tommy Potts. The Liffey Banks. Tommy Potts (fiddle).View album details
~197312#1[JB 1] Joe Burke with Charlie Lennon. Traditional Music of Ireland. Joe Burke (accordion), with Charlie Lennon (piano).View album details
~19927#2[CR 1] Craobh Rua. The More That's Said the Less the Better. Mark Donnelly (pipes, whistle), Michael Cassidy (fiddle), Brian Connolly (banjo, mandolin, bodhrán), Jim Byrne (guitar, mandola, vocals).View album details
19943#2[MH 2] Martin Hayes. Under the Moon. Martin Hayes (fiddle).View album details
200112#2[LYK] Liz and Yvonne Kane. The Well Tempered Bow. Liz Kane (fiddle), Yvonne Kane (fiddle), John Blake (guitar, piano).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 #1619 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #853 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. [available]
On page 178 of [Krsn] Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. [available]
As hp #66 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. [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