Tune Search
Sign in or join  to see your:     Home   Playlists   Practice Machine   Stats   Friends   Albums   Preferences   Sign out
The Irish Traditional Music Tune Index

Tune ID#3385 (Tom Billy's)

Transcription of first 2 bars of Tom Billy's about these two bars
These two bars were transcribed by me from how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording KoKerry (details in the Discography below).
Basic musical information on this tune.
Rhythm ?Bars8-bar phrase structureMode ?
Polka32AABBA Major
Titles ? given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Tom Billy's / Sonny Riordan's / Sonny Rearden's / Jim Reardon's / Dan O'Leary's / The Blue Ribbon Polka (1st in set Blue Ribbon Polkas on KoKerry; 3rd in set The Blue Ribbon on NNC 2) (also in G)
To get to your personal tune notes, Log in or Create an account
Note shared with my friends:

Note to myself only:
10 members play this tune.
0 of them are your friends.

Suggest this Tune

To:
Comment to friend:
Map of where members are who play this tune.
Where members are who play this tune.

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).
~19771.1#1
[KoKerry] Jimmy Doyle & Dan O'Leary. Traditional Music from the Kingdom of Kerry. Jimmy Doyle (accordion), Dan O'Leary (fiddle).
199519#1
[JOL 3] Johnny O'Leary. Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra. Dance Music from the Cork-Kerry Border. Johnny O'Leary (accordion).
~19957#2
[MotS 2] Monks of the Screw. Brathar na nÓl. Timmy O'Connor (accordion), Paudy Scully (flute), Tim Browne (fiddle, bouzouki, mandolin), John Drew (mandocello), Dan Curtin (fiddle, feet), Timmy O'Shea (guitar, vocals).
19975#3 (2:32)
[PS 6] Patrick Street. Made in Cork. Kevin Burke (fiddle), Jackie Daly (accordion), Andy Irvine (mandolin, bouzouki, harmonica, vocals), Ged Foley (guitar, backing vocals).
~20009#3
[JLavelle] John Lavelle. @Home Alone. John Lavelle (accordion).
~200412#2
[TCllns 1] Tim Collins. Dancing on Silver. Tim Collins (concertina).
~201011#3
[NNC 2] Niamh Ní Charra. Súgach Sámh / Happy Out. Niamh Ní Charra (fiddle, concertina, vocals, viola). For this tune: (concertina, fiddle).
~20161#2
[MSheehy] Michael Sheehy. The Cat's Rambles. Music from the Sliabh Luachra Tradition.. Michael Sheehy (piano accordion).

Goes Well with . . .

In the above Discography, this tune is:

Played afterOn Albums
Maurice O'Keefe's		PS 6, JLavelle
Patrick O'Connor's		TCllns 1, NNC 2
Leather Away the Wattle O		MotS 2
Weaver's Delight		MSheehy
Played beforeOn Albums
Blue Ribbon		KoKerry, MSheehy
Munster Bank		JOL 3

Bibliography

According to my research, there are zero transcriptions that are musically very similar to this tune anywhere in the indexed books, regardless of tune title. Try my recommended links to other indexes if you need a transcription. To learn to play this tune, simply learn it from another musician or study the recording(s) listed above. See also: Tips for Learning Irish Traditional Music.

Year of the oldest source for this tune, considering only the recordings and transcriptions listed above (note that I concentrate on sources after 1900): 1977
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!
Start at