Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 768 (Green Groves of Erin)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel32AABBA Dorian
Transcription of first 2 bars of Green Groves of Erin
 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):
Green Groves of Erin, The / Garráin Ghlasa na hÉireann / The Groves of Erin / Groves of Erin / Erin's Groves / The Green Groves / Na Garráin Ghlasa / Down the Groves / The Green Fields of Erin / Green Fields of Erin / The Gay Fellow's Favourite / The Gayfellow's Favourite / The Good Fluter / The Castlecomer Lasses / Castlecomer Lasses / The Queenstown Lasses / The Heather Breeze / Miss Shaw's Reel / Mary in the Mall / Kelly's Fancy / Miss Stewart of Grantully / The Low Highland / Padaí Bhillí na Rópaí's Highland (2nd tune in set The Real Blackthorn Stick on MC) (also singled, also in A Mixolydian)
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
~19242.7#2[MC] Michael Coleman. Michael Coleman 1891-1945. Michael Coleman (fiddle).View album details
192512#2[IDM 1] various. Irish Dance Music. View album details
192616#1[WW 2] various. The Wheels of the World. Early Irish-American Music. Classic Recordings from the 1920s and 1930s. Vol. 2. View album details
192621#1[GD] various. From Galway to Dublin. Early Recordings of Traditional Irish Music. View album details
196028#1[ECr] Elizabeth Crotty. Concertina Music from West Clare. Elizabeth Crotty (concertina).View album details
19752#1[BB 1] The Bothy Band. 1975. The First Album. Paddy Keenan (pipes, whistle), Matt Molloy (flute, whistle), Tommy Peoples (fiddle), Donal Lunny (bouzouki, vocals), Tríona Ni Dhomhnaill (harpsichord, bodhrán, vocals), Mícheál Ó Domhnaill (guitar, vocals).View album details
~19757#2[PCt] Paddy Carty. Traditional Irish Music. Paddy Carty (flute).View album details
197611#2[JCC] Jack and Charlie Coen. The Branch Line. Jack Coen (flute), Charlie Coen (concertina).View album details
~19767#1[TP 2] Tommy Peoples and Paul Brady. The High Part of the Road. Tommy Peoples (fiddle), Paul Brady (guitar).View album details
~19771#2[ECst] various. Traditional Irish Music in America. The East Coast. View album details
197811#1[BB 4] The Bothy Band. After Hours. Kevin Burke (fiddle), Paddy Keenan (pipes, whistle), Matt Molloy (flute), Dónal Lunny (vocals, bouzouki, guitar, bodhrán), Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill (vocals, keyboards, bodhrán), Mícheál Ó Domhnaill (vocals, guitar, keyboards).View album details
198511#2[Kn] Noel Hill and Tony MacMahon. In Knocknagree. Noel Hill (concertina), Tony MacMahon (accordion).View album details
200112#2[PHCB] Public House Ceili Band. Go Figure. Dan Cobb (banjo), Dave Delgado (whistle), Alan Ng (fiddle), Bob Newton (octave mandolin).View album details
~20079#3[PHGH 2] Peter Horan and Gerry Harrington. The Merry Love to Play. Peter Horan (flute), Gerry Harrington (fiddle).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 #1429 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #666 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. [available]
As tune #71 in [WC] Pat Mitchell. The Dance Music of Willie Clancy. [available]
As tune #234 in [CRE 2] Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann 2.
On page 136 of [Krsn] Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. [available]
As tune #303 in [JOL] Terry Moylan. Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra. Dance Music from the Cork-Kerry Border. [available]
As tune #9 in [DM 2] Dave Mallinson. 100 Enduring Irish Session Tunes. [available]
On page 26 of [M] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. 3rd Edition.
On page 43 of [M2] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition.
As reel #126 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. [available]
As reel #181 in [JKg 3] Josephine Keegan. A Drop in the Ocean. Traditional Irish Tunes Collected by Josephine Keegan. [available]
As tune #108 in [Raff] Lesl Harker. 300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty. [available]
In [LM] L[arry]. E. McCullough. ? [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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