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The Irish Traditional Music Tune Index

Tune ID#1690 (Rocky Road to Dublin)

Transcription of first 2 bars of Rocky Road to Dublin about these two bars
These two bars were transcribed by me from how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording SE 2 (details in the Discography below).
Basic musical information on this tune.
Rhythm ?Bars8-bar phrase structureMode ?
Slip jig16ABA Dorian
Titles ? given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Rocky Road to Dublin, The / Rocky Road to Dublin / An Bóthar Carrach go Baile Átha Cliath / The Rocky Road / Black Burke / Black Rock (also with various 3rd parts, also doubled or only 1st part doubled, also in A Mixolydian) (compare as song #5621)
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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).
19323#1
[FidDel] The Fiddler's Delight. Rare 78rpm Irish Fiddle Recordings 1921-1945. Mrs. Sheridan (fiddle).
~194824#1
[LR 1] Leo Rowsome. Classics of Irish Piping. Leo Rowsome (pipes).
19493.11#1
[MDhrty] Mickey Doherty. Garvan Hill - The Fiddle Music of Mickey Doherty. Traditional Fiddle Music from Donegal. Mickey Doherty (fiddle).
~19736#2
[SE 2] Seamus Ennis. The Pure Drop. Seamus Ennis (pipes). For this tune: (C# pipes).
~19732.1#1
[MR 10] Micho Russell. Rarities and Old Favorites 1949-1993. Micho Russell (whistle, flute, vocals). For this tune: (whistle).
~199515#2
[WatReeds] Tommy Keane, Jacqueline McCarthy, with Alec Finn. The Wind among the Reeds. Tommy Keane (pipes, whistle), Jacqueline McCarthy (concertina). For this tune: (B pipes), (concertina).
~19975#1
[CBt] Celtic Beat. Traditional Music from Ireland. Breandan O'Hare (C whistle).
19988#1
[Chlr 1] Chulrua. Barefoot on the Altar. Paddy O'Brien (accordion), Tim Britton (pipes, flute, whistle), Pat Egan (guitar, vocals).
20012#2 (1:45)
[IBrgd 10] The Irish Brigade (and Friends). Live at the Half Time Rec. Mike Wallace (guitar, bodhrán, bass, vocals), Sean Conway (flute, whistle, guitar, vocals), John Wright (bass), Karie Oberg (vocals), Mike Ryan (dumbek). For this tune: Sean Conway (whistle).
~200713#2
[Hmdgr] Paul Brock and Enda Scahill. Humdinger. Paul Brock (accordion), Enda Scahill (banjo, mandolin).
~20095#2
[SMcK] Skip McKinley. Fairy Tales. Skip McKinley (flute).
~201113#3
[DLEM] Denis Liddy and Elvie Miller. Tradaree. Denis Liddy (fiddle), Elvie Miller (piano accordion, piano).
201213#2
[PDArcy] Patrick D'Arcy. Wallop the Spot. Patrick D'Arcy (pipes, whistle). For this tune: (B pipes).
~20132#1
[JAbrt 1] Joey Abarta. Swimming against the Falls. Snámh in aghaidh easa. Joey Abarta (pipes).

Goes Well with . . .

In the above Discography, this tune is:

Played afterOn Albums
Cois Abhainn Na Séad		SE 2
Promenade		WatReeds
Rocky Road to Dublin		IBrgd 10
Barney Brallaghan		Hmdgr
Boys of Ballisodare		SMcK
Mrs. O'Brien		DLEM
My Mind Will Never Be "Aisy"		PDArcy
Played beforeOn Albums
Barney Brallaghan		FidDel
Sailor's Bonnet		MDhrty
Dublin Reel		MR 10
Dan Breen's		Chlr 1
Dusty Miller		JAbrt 1

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 #1116 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #411 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. [available]
As tune #257 in volume 2 of [R] Francis Roche. The Roche Collection of Traditional Irish Music. 3 vols. [available]
As tune #36 in [A] Hugh McDermott. Allan's "Irish Fiddler." [available]
As tune #58 in [CRE 3] Breandán Breathnach. Ceol Rince na hÉireann 3. [available]
On page 79 of [Krsn] Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. [available]
On page 49 of [RW] Robin Williamson. The Penny Whistle Book. [available]
On page 233 of [FF] David Brody. The Fiddler's Fakebook. [available]
On page 221 of [M2] Phil Rubenzer. Midwestern Irish Session Tunes. Millennium Edition.
As slipjig #19 in [Cobb] Dan Cobb. Cobb's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #301 in [Raff] Lesl Harker. 300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty. [available]
As tune #76 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 only the recordings and transcriptions listed above (note that I concentrate on sources after 1900): 1903
Please cite your source when you use information from this document.
© 2000–2025 Alan Ng. Questions? Comments? Please use the easy Feedback Form. Thank you!
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