Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 897 (Irish Washerwoman)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Double jig32AABBG Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Irish Washerwoman
 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 JDJO (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):
Irish Washerwoman, The / An Bhean Níocháin Éireannach / The Irishwoman / The Wash Woman / The Washing Woman / The Washerwoman / Bean an Níocháin / Jackson's Delight / Corporal Casey / The Big Jig / Paddy McGinty's Goat / The Snouts and Ears of America / Haste to the Wedding (version by Ed Reavy included here)
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
~19078#1[PT] Patsy Touhey. The Piping of Patsy Touhey. Patsy Touhey (pipes).View album details
~195310#1[JDJO] Joe Derrane and Jerry O'Brien. Irish Accordion Masters. Joe Derrane (accordion), Jerry O'Brien (accordion).View album details
~19695#2[GP] various. The Gentlemen Pipers. Classic Recordings of Irish Traditional Piping. View album details
199118#2[FS] various. Fiddle Sticks. Irish Traditional Music from Donegal. View album details
~19916#3[PG 2] Paddy Glackin. Rabharta Ceoil. In Full Spate. Paddy Glackin (fiddle), Dónal Lunny (bouzouki, guitar, bodhrán).View album details
~199320#1[JCnly] Johnny Connolly. An tOileán Aerach. Johnny Connolly (accordion).View album details
~1996[2] various. Alan's other personal audiocassettes.
19996#1[GCJR] Gerard Commane and Joe Ryan with Eoin O'Neill. Two Gentlemen of Clare Music. Gerard Commane (concertina), Joe Ryan (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 #317 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. [available]
As tune #14 in [A] Hugh McDermott. Allan's "Irish Fiddler." [available]
As tune #19 in [CRE 2] Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann 2.
On page 11 of [Ba] Betty M. Barlow. Fiddle Tunes for the Violinist. [available]
On page 140 of [FF] David Brody. The Fiddler's Fakebook. [available]
As tune #90 in [ER] Joseph M. Reavy (compiler). The Collected Compositions of Ed Reavy. [available]
On page 148 of [M2] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition.
As tune #33 in [DM 4] Dave Mallinson. 100 Vital Irish Session Tunes. [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): 1907
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!
Start at