Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 748 (Good Morning to Your Nightcap)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel32AABBA Dorian
Transcription of first 2 bars of Good Morning to Your Nightcap
 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 MC (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):
Good Morning to Your Nightcap / Good Morning to Your Night Cap / Good Morning, Nightcap / Good Morning, Nightcap? / Good Morning Nightcap / Morning Nightcap / Michael Coleman's / Shifting Gravel / Drunken Police Car / Over the Waves (untitled tune following Farrell O'Gara on MC) (also with parts reversed; the common practice of starting with the high part - as written here - often seems to be a choice made for the sake of a nice transition between a preceding tune and this tune; also in G)
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
19271.7#2[MC] Michael Coleman. Michael Coleman 1891-1945. Michael Coleman (fiddle).View album details
~19781#2[KB Cap] Kevin Burke. If the Cap Fits. Kevin Burke (fiddle).View album details
~198111#1[MM 2] Matt Molloy. Heathery Breeze. Matt Molloy (flute).View album details
19918#3[Ch AIE] The Chieftains. An Irish Evening. Live at the Grand Opera House, Belfast. Martin Fay (fiddle), Seán Keane (fiddle), Kevin Conneff (bodhrán, vocals), Matt Molloy (flute), Paddy Moloney (pipes, whistle), Derek Bell (harp, tiompán, keyboards).View album details
~19932#1[4MD 2] Four Men and a Dog. Shifting Gravel. Cathal Hayden (fiddle, banjo), Gino Lupari (percussion, vocals), Kevin Doherty (guitar, vocals), Arty McGlynn (guitar), Conor Keane (accordion), Gerry O'Connor (banjo, fiddle).View album details
~200111#2[Lu 3] Lúnasa. The Merry Sisters of Fate. Kevin Crawford (flute, whistle), Seán Smyth (fiddle, whistle), Cillian Vallely (pipes, whistle), Donogh Hennessy (guitar, whistle), Trevor Hutchinson (double bass).View album details
20061#2[Lu 7] Lúnasa. The Story So Far …. Kevin Crawford (flute, whistle, bodhran), Sean Smyth (fiddle, whistle), Cillian Vallely (pipes, whistle), Mike McGoldrick (flute, pipes), John McSherry (pipes), Donogh Hennessy (guitar), Trevor Hutchinson (double bass, cello), Paul Meehan (guitar).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 #1485 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #710 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. [available]
On page 73 of [RM] Randy Miller and Jack Perron. Irish Traditional Fiddle Music. [available]
On page 148 of [Krsn] Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. [available]
On page 43 of [M] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. 3rd Edition.
On page 70 of [M2] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition.
As reel #214 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
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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