Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 877 (I Had a Bonnet Trimmed with Blue)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Polka32AABBA Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of I Had a Bonnet Trimmed with Blue
 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 JOL 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):
I Had a Bonnet Trimmed with Blue / I Have a Bonnet Trimmed with Blue / I Have a Bonnet / Bonnet Trimmed with Blue / Din Tarrant's / Tar Abhaile (also in D or 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
19774#1[JOL 1] Johnny O'Leary. Music for the Set. Traditional Irish Music from Sliabh Luachra. Johnny O'Leary (accordion).View album details
199219#1[DOEI] various. Dear Old Erin's Isle. Irish Traditional Music from America. View album details
20028#1[DLB] Donncha Lynch Band. Timmy 'the Brit' McCarthy's Set Dances of Cork and Kerry. Donncha Lynch (accordion), Aogan Lynch (concertina), Ronan Lynch (fiddle), Donncha Lynch, Jr. (guitar).View album details
~20046#1[MRaf] Mike Rafferty. Speed 78. Mike Rafferty (flute, pipes).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 #302 in volume 2 of [R] Francis Roche. The Roche Collection of Traditional Irish Music. 3 vols. [available]
As tune #73 in [JOL] Terry Moylan. Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra. Dance Music from the Cork-Kerry Border. [available]
As tune #21 in [IBPS] Pat Conway. Ireland's Best Polkas and Slides. [available]
As tune #57 in [IBPS] Pat Conway. Ireland's Best Polkas and Slides. [available]
On page 224 of [M2] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition.
As tune #281 in [Raff] Lesl Harker. 300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty. [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): 1927
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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