Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID#99 (Bag of Spuds)
about these two barsThese two bars were transcribed by me from how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording MC (details in the Discography below).
| Rhythm ? | Bars | 8-bar phrase structure | Mode ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reel | 32 | AABB | A Dorian |
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Bag of Spuds, The / The Bag o' Spuds / Bag of Spuds / The Bag of Potatoes / Bag of Potatoes / Sack of Potatoes / An Mála Fataí / Mála Fataí / An Mála Prátaí / An Mála Prátai / The Sligo Dandy / Eddie Dunne's Favourite (2nd in set The Shaskeen on MC) (also in G) (compare Bonnie Ann #3666)
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 10 seconds.
to hear the first 10 seconds.| Year Recorded |
Track #Tune? |
[Album code] Artist. Title. Performers (instruments). |
|---|---|---|
| 1921 | 1.5#2 | [MC] Michael Coleman. Michael Coleman 1891-1945. Michael Coleman (fiddle). |
| 1928 | 8#2 | [IDM 2] Past Masters of Irish Dance Music. Peter Conlon (accordion). |
| ~1949 | 21#1 | [IDM 2] Past Masters of Irish Dance Music. Ballinamore Ceilidhe Band. |
| ~1951 | 5#1 | [AL] World Library of Folk and Primitive Music: Ireland. Ballinakill Ceilidhe Band. |
| ~1973 | 5#1 | [BICM] Best of Irish Ceili Music. Disc 5 of Celtic Souls. Irish Celtic Ballads & Traditional Music. Green Cross Ceili Band. |
| ~1978 | A.8#2 | [MMu] Martin Mulvihill with Mick Moloney. Traditional Irish Fiddling from County Limerick. Martin Mulvihill (fiddle). For this tune: with Mick Moloney (banjo). |
| 1987 | 21#2 | [WmSullvn] William Sullivan. Traditional Irish Music. William Sullivan (accordion). |
| ~1992 | 15#3 | [PHt] Parson's Hat. The Better Match. Bríd Ní Chatháin (harp, vocals), Fred Johnston (guitar, vocals, mandolin), Janet Sutton (whistle), Paul Wilkins (piano accordion, whistle, keyboards, piano). |
| 1993 | 12#1 | [MoD] Tony Mac Mahon, Noel Hill, Iarla Ó Lionáird. Music of Dreams. Tony Mac Mahon (accordion), Noel Hill (concertina), Iarla Ó Lionáird (vocals). |
| ~1993 | 9#2 | [PS 4] Patrick Street. All in Good Time. Kevin Burke (fiddle), Jackie Daly (accordion), Andy Irvine (vocals, bouzouki, mandolin, harmonica), Arty McGlynn (guitar), Bill Whelan (keyboards, vocals). |
| ~1996 | 6#2 | [ST ES] Seamus Tansey. Easter Snow. Seamus Tansey (flute). |
| 1998 | 1#2 | [JWh 6] John Whelan. Come to Dance. John Whelan (accordion). For this tune: with Jim Eagan (fiddle). |
| ~1999 | 8#5 | [CTL 7] Cherish the Ladies. At Home. Mary Coogan (guitar, banjo, mandolin), Aoife Clancy (vocals), Joanie Madden (flute, whistle, vocals), Siobhan Egan (fiddle, bodhrán), Donna Long (piano, synthesizer, fiddle, vocals), Mary Rafferty (accordion, whistle, concertina). |
| 2000 | 5#1 | [KC 2] Kevin Crawford. In Good Company. Kevin Crawford (flute, whistle). For this tune: with Martin Hayes (fiddle). |
| ~2000 | 6#2 | [LC 3] Liz Carroll. Lost in the Loop. Liz Carroll (fiddle). |
| ~2002 | 9#2 | [Fns] Feenish. Rabharta. P.J. Hernon (accordion), Marcus Hernon (flute, whistle), Don Stiffe (vocals, guitar, whistle). |
| ~2004 | 4#2 | [DF] The Dunne Family. Legacy. Mickey Dunne (pipes, fiddle, whistle), Niamh Dunne (fiddle, vocals, viola), Brid Dunne (fiddle). For this tune: Niamh (fiddle). |
| ~2005 | 2.12#1 | [WFO 3] Wooden Flute Obsession 3. Louise Mulcahy (Eb flute). |
| ~2006 | 10#1 | [CrnrHs 2] Corner House. The Friendly Visit. Davey Mathias (guitar), Andi Hearn (fiddle, vocals). For this tune: Andi (fiddle), Beanie Odell (fiddle). |
| 2007 | 12#2 | [CMcEv 3] Catherine McEvoy. The Home Ruler. Traditional Irish Flute Music. Catherine McEvoy (flute). |
| ~2007 | 4#3 | [PHGH 2] Peter Horan and Gerry Harrington. The Merry Love to Play. Peter Horan (flute), Gerry Harrington (fiddle). |
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 #111 in [CRE 1] Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann 1. |
| As reel #109 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music. |
| As reel #27 in [Ng] Alan Ng. Alan Ng's Transcriptions. |
| As reel #6 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. |
| As tune #146 in [Raff] Lesl Harker. 300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty. |
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): 1921