Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#877 (I Had a Bonnet Trimmed with Blue)
about these two barsThese two bars were transcribed by me from how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording JOL 1 (details in the Discography below).
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Polka | 32 | AABB | A Major |
I Had a Bonnet Trimmed with Blue / I Have a Bonnet Trimmed with Blue / I've A Bonnet Trimmed with Blue / I Have a Bonnet / Bonnet Trimmed with Blue / Bonnet Trimmed in Blue / The Blue Bonnet Polka / I've a Polkie Trimmed with Blue / Jacket Trimmed in Blue / Din Tarrant's / Tar Abhaile / Cracovienne / Krakoviak (also in D or G)
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.
Click 
to hear the first 12 seconds.
to hear the first 12 seconds.| Year Recorded |
Track #Tune? |
[Album code] Artist. Title. Performers (instruments). |
|---|---|---|
| 1977 | 4#1 | [JOL 1] Johnny O'Leary. Music for the Set. Traditional Irish Music from Sliabh Luachra. Johnny O'Leary (accordion). |
| 1992 | 19#1 | [DOEI] Dear Old Erin's Isle. Irish Traditional Music from America. Tom Doherty (melodeon). |
| ~1993 | 7#1 | [TDrty] Tom Doherty. Take the Bull by the Horns. Tom Doherty (accordion). |
| 1995 | 9#1 | [AOT 3] Any Old Time. Crossing. Traditional Music from Cork and Beyond. Matt Cranitch (fiddle), Dave Hennessy (accordion), Mick Daly (vocals, guitar, banjo). For this tune: Dave Hennessy (accordion). |
| 2002 | 8#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). |
| ~2004 | 6#1 | [MRaf] Mike Rafferty. Speed 78. Mike Rafferty (flute, pipes). |
Bibliography
Here are all transcriptions of this tune 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. |
| As tune #73 in [JOL] Terry Moylan. Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra. Dance Music from the Cork-Kerry Border. |
| As tune #21 in [IBPS] Pat Conway. Ireland's Best Polkas and Slides. |
| As tune #57 in [IBPS] Pat Conway. Ireland's Best Polkas and Slides. |
| 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. |
| On page 91 of [IFMCK] Drew Beisswenger. Irish Fiddle Music from Counties Cork and Kerry. |
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