Lakes of Sligo - irishtune.info

Tune ID#1081 (Lakes of Sligo)

These two bars were transcribed by me from how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording KCB 1 (details in the Discography below).

Basic musical information on this tune.
Rhythm ?	Bars	8-bar phrase structure	Mode ?
Polka	32	AABB	D Major

Basic musical information on this tune.

Rhythm ?

Bars

8-bar phrase structure

Mode ?

Polka

AABB

D Major

Titles ? given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):

Lakes of Sligo, The / Lakes of Sligo / The Lass o' Gowrie / The Lass of Gowrie / Tom Billy's / Clare's Dragoons (1st in set Lakes of Sligo on KoKerry; 3rd in set Newmarket Polkas on 4MD 2; 2nd in set The End of the Plain on KCB 5; for 2nd figure of Sliabh Luachra Set on JRSLCB 2; mislabeled as Tripping on the Mountain on MtRd; 2nd in set Pot Luck on ECoyKD) (the 2nd part of this tune appears as the 2nd part of the BHghs 3 source of Maid of Ardagh #1187) (also in G or A, also as song and as Scottish march)

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

below to hear the first 12 seconds.

Year Recorded	Track #Tune?	[Album code] Artist. Title (Link to Album Info page). Performers (instruments).
~1937	24#1	[CmA 2] The Coleman Archive Vol. 2: The Home Place. Jack Healy (vocals), Killorans Irish Entertainers (band).
~1958	5#2	[KCB 1] The Kilfenora Ceili Band. The Fabulous Kilfenora Ceili Band. P.J. Lynch (fiddle), Gus Tierney (fiddle), Jim McCormack (flute), Gerry Lynch (accordion), P. Mullins, T. Eustace, P. Madigan, Kitty Linnane (piano), G. O'Loughlin (drums).
~1977	2.7#1	[KoKerry] Jimmy Doyle & Dan O'Leary. Traditional Music from the Kingdom of Kerry. Jimmy Doyle (accordion), Dan O'Leary (fiddle).
1978	B.1#2	[ECahill] Eddie Cahill. Ah! Surely. Eddie Cahill (flute).
1992	2.4#2	[SDI 2] Set Dances of Ireland. Volume II. Denis McMahon (fiddle), Paudy Scully (flute), Timmy O'Connor (melodeon), Michael Tubridy (flute), Tommy McCarthy (concertina), Eamon McGivney (fiddle).
~1993	6#3	[4MD 2] Four Men and a Dog. Shifting Gravel. Cathal Hayden (fiddle, banjo), Gino Lupari (percussion, vocals), Kevin Doherty (guitar, vocals), Arty McGlynn (guitar), Conor Keane (accordion), Gerry O'Connor (banjo, fiddle).
~1994	20#1	[SndCmC] The Sound of Coleman Country. Coleman Heritage Group.
~1997	9#2	[KCB 5] The Kilfenora Céili Band. Set on Stone. Aidan McMahon (fiddle), Anne Marie McCormack (fiddle), Anne Rynne (fiddle), Garry Shannon (flute), Anthony Quigney (flute), Conor McCarthy (accordion), John Lynch (banjo), Tim Collins (concertina), Fintan McMahon (piano), Sean Griffin (drums), Paul O'Driscoll (double bass).
~1998	2#1	[JRSLCB 2] Johnny Reidy and the Sliabh Luachra Ceili Band. Music for Set Dancing Vol. II. Johnny Reidy (accordion).
~1999	25#1	[MtRd] The Mountain Road. A Compilation of Tunes Popular in South Sligo. Seamus Quinn (fiddle), James McDonagh (flute).
~2002	2.9#2	[MSCB] Michael Sexton Ceili Band. Michael Sexton Ceili Band. Michael Sexton (accordion), Caroline Tubridy (fiddle), Pat Curtin (flute), Brian Morgan (flute), Ralph Morgan (banjo), George Byrt (piano), Martin Garrihy (drums).
2006	13#3	[Boys 23] Boys of the Lough. Midwinter Live. Cathal McConnell (flute, whistle, vocals), Dave Richardson (concertina, mandolin, cittern), Brendan Begley (accordion, melodeon, vocals), Malcolm Stitt (guitar), Kevin Henderson (fiddle).
2007	7#2	[PotW] John Wynne and John McEvoy. Pride of the West. John Wynne (flute), John McEvoy (fiddle).
~2009	7#3	[SBJM 2] Seamus Begley and Jim Murray. Éirí Go Lá. Seamus Begley (accordion, vocals), Jim Murray (guitar, electric bass, keyboards, backing vocals, accordion).
~2013	8#2	[ECoyKD] Éamonn Coyne and Kris Drever. Storymap. Éamonn Coyne (banjo, guitar), Kris Drever (guitar, vocals, mandolin). For this tune: Éamonn (tenor guitar), Kris (guitar).

Played after	On Albums
Leather Away with the Wattle O	KCB 1, ECahill, KCB 5, MSCB
Finnegan's Wake	SDI 2
Newmarket	4MD 2
Bridgie Con Matt's	Boys 23
Farewell to Whiskey	PotW
Knocknagree Polka	SBJM 2

Played after

On Albums

Leather Away with the Wattle O

KCB 1, ECahill, KCB 5, MSCB

SDI 2

4MD 2

Boys 23

PotW

SBJM 2

Played before	On Albums
[untitled]	KCB 1, KCB 5, MSCB
[untitled]	KoKerry
Tá Dhá Ghabhairín Buí Agam	SDI 2
Kenmare Polka	JRSLCB 2
Tripping on the Mountain	MtRd
Thadelo's	Boys 23

Played before

On Albums

[untitled]

KCB 1, KCB 5, MSCB

[untitled]

KoKerry

Tá Dhá Ghabhairín Buí Agam

SDI 2

Kenmare Polka

JRSLCB 2

Tripping on the Mountain

MtRd

Thadelo's

Boys 23

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 musical matches to this tune as played on the recordings listed above.

Listing of published transcriptions of this tune.
As tune #80 in volume 4 of [B&S] D[avid] Bulmer and N[eil] Sharpley. Music from Ireland. 4 vols.
As tune #222 in [JOL] Terry Moylan. Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra. Dance Music from the Cork-Kerry Border. [available]
As misc #49 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music.
On page 70 of [Cr] Matt Cranitch. The Irish Fiddle Book. [available]
As tune #76 in [IBPS] Pat Conway. Ireland's Best Polkas and Slides. [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?

Tune ID#1081 (Lakes of Sligo)

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Discography

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Bibliography