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The Irish Traditional Music Tune Index

Tune ID#1484 (I Won't Be a Nun)

Transcription of first 2 bars of I Won't Be a Nun about these two bars
These two bars were transcribed by me from how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording LR 1 (details in the Discography below).
Basic musical information on this tune.
Rhythm ?Mode ?
MarchG Major
Titles ? given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
I Won't Be a Nun / I Wont Be a Nun / Won't Be a Nun / I'll Marry and Won't be a Nun / O'Sullivan the Great / O'Sullivan Mor / The Officer on Guard / Governor Taylor's March (as part of dance The Bridge of Athlone in book A) (also with a 3rd part) (compare Irish Freedom March #3104) (also as songs I'll Marry and I'll Never Be a Nun / The Better that He Longed for Never Came according to SE 2; Jimmy O'Brien Moran, however, says the latter song title is actually The Letter That He Longed for Never Came, in an e-mail to me 8 Sept. 2009)
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Discography cd

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 play below to hear the first 12 seconds.
Year
Recorded
Track
#Tune?
[Album code] Artist. Title (Link to Album Info page). Performers (instruments).
~19041.2#1
~194822#2
[LR 1] Leo Rowsome. Classics of Irish Piping. Leo Rowsome (pipes).
~19734#1
[SE 2] Seamus Ennis. The Pure Drop. Seamus Ennis (pipes). For this tune: (C# pipes).
~19742.18#1
[JV] John Vesey. Sligo Fiddler. John Vesey (fiddle). For this tune: The John Vesey Trio: John Vesey (fiddle), Canice Fahy (flute), Tom Standeven (pipes).
~19976#1
[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).
~20004#2
[EOR] Eoin Ó Riabhaigh. Tiomnacht. Handed On. Eoin Ó Riabhaigh (pipes).

Goes Well with . . .

In the above Discography, this tune is:

Played afterOn Albums
Fairies' Revels
LR 1
Shane O'Neill's March
EOR

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 #1813 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #341 in volume 2 of [R] Francis Roche. The Roche Collection of Traditional Irish Music. 3 vols. [available]
As tune #121#5 in [A] Hugh McDermott. Allan's "Irish Fiddler." [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 only the recordings and transcriptions listed above (note that I concentrate on sources after 1900): 1903