Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 740 (Going to the Well for Water)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Slide32AABBD Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Going to the Well for Water
 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 JDa 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):
Going to the Well for Water / Uisce ón Tobar / The Kaiser / Denis Murphy's (1st in set Sliabh Luachra Slides on ACB 1) (also with parts reversed)
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
197715#2[JDa 1] Jackie Daly. Music from Sliabh Luachra. Jackie Daly (accordion, concertina).View album details
~198911#2[JOL 2] Johnny O'Leary. An Calmfhear. The Trooper. Johnny O'Leary (accordion).View album details
~19896#3[SRn 1] Seán Ryan. Siúil Uait / Take the Air. Seán Ryan (whistle).View album details
200018(2:34)#4[ACB 1] The Abbey Céilí Band. Bruach an tSuláin. Ger Murphy (accordion), Andrew O'Connell (fiddle), Liam Forde (banjo), Micheál Creedon (bass, keyboards).View album details
200121#3[PHCB] Public House Ceili Band. Go Figure. Dan Cobb (banjo), Dave Delgado (whistle), Alan Ng (fiddle), Bob Newton (octave mandolin).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 #134 in [JOL] Terry Moylan. Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra. Dance Music from the Cork-Kerry Border. [available]
As tune #64 in [DM 2] Dave Mallinson. 100 Enduring Irish Session Tunes. [available]
On page 85 of [M] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. 3rd Edition.
On page 140 of [M2] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition.
As slide #12 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): 1977
Please cite your source when you use information from this document.
© 2000–2008 Alan Ng, agng@facstaff.wisc.edu. Questions? Comments? Please use the easy Feedback Form. Thank you!
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