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The Irish Traditional Music Tune Index

Tune ID#1695 (Mountain Lark)

Transcription of first 2 bars of Mountain Lark about these two bars
These two bars were transcribed by me from how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording MG (details in the Discography below).
Basic musical information on this tune.
Rhythm ?Bars8-bar phrase structureMode ?
Reel32AABBA Dorian
Titles ? given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Mountain Lark, The / Rolling down the Hill / The Old Wheels of the World / The Old 'Wheels of the World' / The Wheels of the World / Wheels of the World / Michael Preston's (mislabeled on Plx 5 as Lord McDonald; 1st in set Dennis Watson's on SHtn 1) (also singled) (compare 1st part with 1st part of St. Ruth's Bush #1822)
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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).
192912#1
[MG] Milestone at the Garden. Irish Fiddle Masters from the 78 RPM Era. Francis Cashin (fiddle), Tom Cawley (fiddle).
~1974A.2#2
[McGrCool] McGreevy and Cooley. McGreevy and Cooley. John McGreevy (fiddle), Seamus Cooley (flute). For this tune: Seamus (flute).
~197721#2
[ItS] In the Smoke. The Star of Munster Trio: John Clifford (accordion), Julia Clifford (fiddle), Billy Clifford (flute).
~19798#1
[Plx 5] Planxty. After the Break. Christy Moore (vocals, guitar, harmonium, bodhrán), Donal Lunny (blarge, guitar), Andy Irvine (vocals, mandolin, mandola, hurdy gurdy, bouzouki), Liam O'Flynn (pipes, whistle), Matt Molloy (flute, whistle). For this tune: Liam O'Flynn (pipes).
19826#2
[Plx 7] Planxty. Words and Music. Christy Moore (guitar, vocals, bodhrán), Andy Irvine (bouzouki, mandolin, vocals, harmonica), Liam O'Flynn (pipes, whistle), Donal Lunny (guitar, bouzouki, bowed psaltery, spinet, dulcimer, bodhrán, synthesizer). For this tune: Liam (pipes), with James Kelly? (fiddle).
~19921#1
[FireAfl] Matt Molloy, Seán Keane, Liam O'Flynn. The Fire Aflame. Matt Molloy (flute), Seán Keane (fiddle), Liam O'Flynn (pipes).
~20019#2
[JW 2] John Williams. Steam. John Williams (accordion, concertina, whistle, flute, bodhrán). For this tune: (concertina, whistle), with Liz Carroll (fiddle).
~20021#1
[RBPOL 2] Ronan Browne and Peter O'Loughlin. Touch Me If You Dare. Ronan Browne (pipes, flute), Peter O'Loughlin (fiddle, flute). For this tune: (pipes), (fiddle).
200313#1
[Mona] Live at Mona's. Ivan Goff (B pipes), Patrick Ourceau (fiddle).
20104#1
[SHtn 1] Shannon Heaton. The Blue Dress. Shannon Heaton (flute).

Goes Well with . . .

In the above Discography, this tune is:

Played afterOn Albums
Seán sa Cheo		McGrCool
Dublin Porter		ItS
Achonry Lasses		Plx 7
Bill Harte's		JW 2
Played beforeOn Albums
Wheels of the World		MG
Chattering Magpie		Plx 5
Spike Island Lassies		Plx 7
Pinch of Snuff		FireAfl
Father Newman's		JW 2
Morning Star		RBPOL 2
Heather Breeze		Mona
Flogging Reel		SHtn 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 #1508 in [1850] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. [available]
As tune #727 in [1001] Francis O'Neill and James O'Neill. The Dance Music of Ireland. 1001 Gems. [available]
As tune #53 in [A] Hugh McDermott. Allan's "Irish Fiddler." [available]
As tune #56 in [WC] Pat Mitchell. The Dance Music of Willie Clancy. [available]
On page 152 of [Krsn] Miles Krassen. O'Neill's Music of Ireland. New and Revised. [available]
As reel #522 in [HN] Henrik Norbeck. Henrik Norbeck's Abc 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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