# Music by Genre > Celtic, U.K., Nordic, Quebecois, European Folk >  Most Popular Irish Tune

## Sandy Beckler

If you were to be asked to name the most popular or representative Irish Tune, the tune that instantly comes to mind....How would you respond?

Sanchan :Wink:

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## Bertram Henze

Kesh Jig

...with the usual reservations. Popular does not mean "played often", because it's been played too much. So you're supposed to be able to play it, but not necessarily start a set in a session with it. Also, there are several candidates (such as the Mason's Apron) and the Kesh Jig is not standing out much among them.

Bertram

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## raulb

The Road to Listovarna

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## Gutbucket

Drowsy Maggie, the Irish Washerwoman, Gerry Owen, the Swallowtail Jig.  These are all tunes the average non-Irish listener might be familiar with.

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## JeffD

Most popular where, in the States, or in Ireland, or in Europe?

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## John Flynn

OK, let me state up front, I am not endorsing this list, just reporting it. I found it online. Supposedly it is the most recorded Irish Tunes as rated by "Irish Tune Info!" It has the caveat that most of these tunes are known by multiple names, so the title you see may not be the title you may have heard it by. Some of them I sure don't recognize. But it is interesting, nonetheless.

1. The Bucks Of Oranmore
2. The Flogging Reel
3. Miss McLeod 
4. The Star Of Munster 
5. Hand me Down The Tackle
6. The Woman Of The House 
7. Steam Packet Hornpipe 
8. The Sligo Maid 
9. The Abbey Reel 
10. The Silver Spear 
11. Toss The Feathers 
12. All Around The World
13. The Little Stack Of Barley 
14. Bonnie Kate
15. The Dublin Lasses
16. Limestone Rock  
17. The Hare In The Heather 
18. George White's Favorite  
19. The Blackbird 
20. The Fox Hunter's Reel     
21. The Salamanca 
22. The Rights of Man 
23. The Bag of Spuds 
24. Boys Of The Lough 
25. The Old Pigeon On The Gate 
26. Rakish Paddy 
27. The Milliner's Daughter 
28. Farrell O'Gara  
29. Colonel Fraser   
30. Maid Of Mount Kisco
31. Paddy O'Rafferty 
32. The Mountain Road 
33. Garret Barry's  
34. The Mason's Apron 
35. The Frieze Breeches 
36. The Green Groves of Erin 
37. The Butcher's March 
38. Dunphy's Hornpipe 
39. Five Mile Chase 
40. Duke Of Leinster 
41. The Galway Rambler 
42. Doctor Gilbert     
43. The Heather Breeze 
44.The Boys Of Bluehill 
45. Jenny's Chickens     
46. The Londonderry Hornpipe 
47. The Spike Island Lassies 
48. Craig's Pipes      
49. The Morning Star 
50. Kitty's Rambles      
 51. The Humours Of Ennistymon      
52. Kerry Reel
53. O'Rourke's Reel     
54. The Ladies Pantalettes
55. Dowd's Number      
56. Scatter The Mud 
57. The Old Copperplate     
58. Out On The Ocean      
59. Sporting Nell      
60. Sean Sa Cheo      
61. Jenny Picking Cockles      
62.The Dogs Among The Bushes    
63. Tear The Calico
64. The Liverpool Hornpipe      
65. Scotch Mary
66. Rambling Pitchfork      
67. Paddy Ryan's Dream     
68. Miss Monahan's Reel     
69. Lord McDonald's Reel      
70. The College Groves      
71. In The Tap Room     
72. The Old Bush   
73. The Scotsman Over The Border      
74. Rose In The Heather
75. Newport Lass

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## steve V. johnson

I wonder... why do you ask?

I read "most popular" as most popular with listeners.  As Bertram notes the "most played" are not often the most popular, with players nor listeners.  I don't know why this is, but as contradictory as it seems, it's true.

"... representative Irish Tune..." ?    aaaahhhhhh........  very difficult .......   

Maybe ... uh ....   "Farewell to Whiskey".   "Ireland, I Would Not Say Her Name"...  (I'm not sure that's the right name.)

It would have to be a slow air or a song, to me...

stv

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## Randi Gormley

Most recorded wouldn't be the most familiar to the non-Irish music-a-holic, though. i can't think that College Groves, say, would be instantly recognizable as The Irish Music Piece everyone's heard. Probably for most recognizable to laymen I'd say Irish Washerwoman or the Garyowen, at least in the U.S., unless you're considering songs like Danny Boy (I know, it's not Irish) or Maggie or (gack) Green Alligators. Personally, I think of Cliffs of Moher, but that's because I like it a lot.

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## JeffD

Yea, most recorded may not have anyting to do with most popularly played. I play a lot of Irish sessions, and I don't recognize a lot of those tunes.

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## Manfred Hacker

Hello there,
I'm not an expert on Irish tunes, but I miss Brian Boru's March in these lists. I like it a lot: A very stately tune with a lot of historical implications.
Any Irish comments on that?
Mandolinistically yours,
Manfred

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## Eddie Sheehy

The Kesh Jig

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## Lou Scuderi

The truth is, as far as I can tell, there is no absolute favorite, just current favorites.  And even these are region (or even sessiun) specific.  All of the tunes are equally popular...or reviled because of their former popularity.  I know an incredible box player who refuses to play the Kesh, but a lot of the newbies seem to love it.  So in answer to your question: play 'em all and decide for yourself.

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## Manfred Hacker

Forgive me my ignorance:
Is the "Kesh Jig" the same as "The Humours of Kesh"?
Thanks
Manfred

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## Gerry Cassidy

There are about 20 tunes you should first learn to join in at most seisiuns. Any of the tunes previously listed would work. Much the same as a Jazzer jam session.

There are thousands of tunes, so to pick just one as the most popular you would get plenty of angst from those with other ideas. No matter which one you'd pick.

Brian Boru's March is a hauntingly wonderful tune, yet a little low key and slow, thus not played at many seisiuns.

The best way to send the majority of your fellow seisiun players on a break is to burst into your best rendition of Danny Boy...  :Laughing:

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## Steve L

> Forgive me my ignorance:
> Is the "Kesh Jig" the same as "The Humours of Kesh"?
> Thanks
> Manfred


No, Manfred...they're both jigs but two different tunes.

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## Bertram Henze

> Forgive me my ignorance:
> Is the "Kesh Jig" the same as "The Humours of Kesh"?
> Thanks
> Manfred


No. Look at the sheet music on session.org for both and see for yourself.

Edit: apparently Steve was faster  :Smile: 

Bertram

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## Alastair Brown

Of course, there's a difficulty in identifying whether a tune actually is Irish. Amongst the examples above, the full and original title of "Miss McLeod" is "Mrs McLeod of Raasay". Raasay is on Skye (where the McLeods had their clan territory). Skye is part of Scotland. Farewell to Whisky is well documented as having been written by Neil Gow, who was a well known fiddler and composer around Blair Atholl, Perthshire, Scotland (so there's no "e" in "whisky"  :Smile:  )   

Alastair

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## PseudoCelt

The Members Page at TheSession has a Tunebook which is a list of the most popular tunes, based on the number of times each tune has been added to a member's tunebook. This list might be a bit more representative of popularity than a list of the most recorded tunes. It may be a bit biased towards beginners, as a seasoned player would be unlikely to add a tune they already know well.

Drowsy Maggie comes top of the list, with The Kesh in second place.

For Manfred:
The Kesh
Humours of Kesh

Patrick

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## steve V. johnson

Good point about origins, Alastair.  But it can be a very fine point, perhaps too fine for a discussion with such a broad original question...

A whole lot of the tunes we play in sessions can be traced to non-Irish origins, mostly Scottish, as with lots of the tunes played in the north of Ireland.  (Tunes by contemporary authors could be said to be 'outside of the tradition', too...  but that's taking it really far.)

In sessions here and in the Ohio and Wabash valleys, we play French tunes, French Canadian tunes, Scottish tunes... We play the Altan set called "the Germans" ... 

So I took the OP's question to apply to 'tunes played in Irish sessions or by Irish trad players'...
If we include stuff like The House Band and Andy Irvine's excursions, we're -all- over the map...
Or not...

If the standard is more like... Irish instrumental tunes most recognized by the public, certainly Kesh is right up there...

Patrick, using theSession tunebook is a pretty good and interesting measure.

I'm sure you all can tell that I'm very confused...  lol!!

stv

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## John Flynn

Wow, that Session list is a good one. I agree, it's better than the list I found. Another good list is in that book/CD set, "121 Irish Session Tunes." Some sessions use that as guidebook. They just refer to it as "The 121."

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## Paul Kotapish

I agree that the session list posted above is a great sample of common repertoire.

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## pkev

Hi,

I think that each musicians repertoire can be really varied depending on their age and experience as well.

The tunes I learned from sessions back in the 70's and 80's kinda still stick with me.

Father o Flynn
Banish Misfortune
Blarney Pilgrim
St Patricks Day
Mooncoin Jig
O`Driscolls Favourite
Shandon Bells
Priests leap
Cloone Hornpipe
Cuckoos Nest
Off to California
Rights of Man
Chief O Neills

Cheers
pkev

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## Eddie Sheehy

When I pick up a mandolin I play:
The Kesh
Merrily Kissed the Quaker
Banish Misfortune
The Red-haired Boy
The Pernod Waltz

The next few tunes tend to vary:
Campbells Farewell to Red Gap
Patrick Was A Gentleman
Ryans Polka

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## Eddie Sheehy

Old Man Dillon
Off to California
John Brown's march
Willow Garden
Kid on the Mountain
Bhios-sa la i bPort Lairge
Mna na h-Eireann

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## steve V. johnson

John Flynn wrote, in part, "...Another good list is in that book/CD set, "121 Irish Session Tunes."

A number of beginners I've known have done well using that book (by whistler L.E. McCullough)
to start with.   It's a book with standard notation and CDs of the tunes.  The tunes are recorded twice each, the first time slowly, and the chords and melody are on each side of the stereo field so that, by using the pan control on your stereo, you can turn down, or off, one or the other and play with the remaining side.  The notation is simple as are the guitar chord diagrams.

Most recently a 12-year-old who's been taking violin lessons for a couple of years, got one of these and after a few months with it is able to do pertty well in our sessions.  Nice.

Walton's also publishes several volumes that are similar, I think theirs have 110 tunes each.
The Walton's CDs only have the tunes once, and at a more real-world session speed.  The chord/melody separation isn't there, and the chord diagrams for guitar a much more sophisticated.   I don't know any guitar players who would play the chords the way they're
notated in the Walton's, but one can still get a good idea of how chords -can- work with the
tunes from it, and playing along with the CDs can be good and fun.   I think that the melody
transcriptions in the Walton's are accurate to the more sophisticated playing on the CDs.

So, IMO, the McCullough/Homespun set is more accessible to those newer to music and Irish music, while the Walton's sets are probably better for people who have been playing a while and
are just coming to Irish music.   I think that both are good for 'woodshedding', when one can't get to sessions, or to play with tunes that aren't regularly played in sessions.   

stv

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## Avi Ziv

It's best to see what tunes are played in your session. In my case, I found a big overlap between our session tunes and the ones in the John Walsh Collection. That was a great start. However very soon I switched to learning tunes by ear from the session itself as well as off of recordings. I do that almost exclusively these days. I still remember learning a particular tune from the "dots" and getting blank stares when I played it at the session. It was so different than the version played that they couldn't recognize it. That was a good lesson.

Avi

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## allenhopkins

Interesting that I don't see many O'Carolan tunes on people's lists.  Around Rochester NY you get a lot of session playing of _Sheebeg Sheemore, Planxty Fanny Power, Planxty George Brabizon, Morgan Megan,_ even _O'Carolan's Concerto_  (the latter not by me, however!).

Here's my "take" on popular local tunes:

_Wind That Shakes the Barley
Swallowtail Jig
Irish Washerwoman
Whiskey Before Breakfast
Red-Haired Boy
Frost Is All Over
Rakes of Mallow
Girl I Left Behind Me (Brighton Camp)
Maureen From Gibberland
Black Rogue
Off to California
Father O'Flynn
Road To Lisdoonvarna
Dingle Regatta
Foxhunters'
Drowsy Maggie
Rights of Man
Staten Island Hornpipe
Boys of Blue Hill
South Wind
My Love Is But a Lassie
All the Way To Galway
Star of the County Down
Kesh Jig
Off She Goes
Haste To the Wedding
Smash the Windows
Lannigan's Ball
The Silvermines
Ricketts' Hornpipe_

We do a fair number of Scottish and Canadian tunes regularly as well, but I tried to emphasize those that I think are Irish origin.

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## mandroid

Singing 'The Wild Rover' with the lads from Galway  went over well .. "Rise up your Skirts!"..

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## Bob DeVellis

Not sure why, but the first few times I heard Cooley's Reel, I remember thinking that the tune captured the essence of Irish-ness for me.  I'm not sure I'd say that now, but it's still a great tune that I enjoy playing on both mandolin and guitar.

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## grags

I can't believe no one has mentioned "The Fields of Athenry."  A beautiful song and considered by many as a national anthem.

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## Steve L

> I can't believe no one has mentioned "The Fields of Athenry."  A beautiful song and considered by many as a national anthem.



We're really talking about tunes here Grags.  Songs are another
kettle of herring.  :Smile:

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## eestimando

There is one very beautiful Irish song called "The town I loved so well", but I guess it is not the most popular one. Although - I am sure: all Irish know this tune. Has anybody heard this one?

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## Eddie Sheehy

Phil Coulter wrote it about Derry.  Gets an airing at most pub sing-a-longs....

The fields of Athenry (which is in Galway) has been adopted by the Munster rugby fans for some unknown reason.  A nice song about deportation and famine.... beats me what it has to do with rugby....or mandolins....

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## DougC

Here in Minneapolis/ St. Paul we have a very large Irish session scene. 

I don't mean to self promote but...
I have self-published a book of our favorite Irish sessiun tunes, about 70 tunes - all standards and a few of our local favorites. It is written in standard notation with a lot of advice for guitar players in the preface. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page, you can see it here 

http://juditheisner.com/get%20stuff.html 

I'm pretty sure Homestead Pickin Parlor has some copies. Most are sold directly by my wife and me at sessiuns. 

I'd have to say Swallowtail Jig is at the top most everywhere around the world.

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## DougC

Avi has the best method. My book was / is for learning and playing the basics. We have what the Irish call a SLOW SESSIUN and note reading is O.K. there. But the music has so many idiomatic phrasing and ornaments like cuts, rolls, and double stops, that the skeleton of the tune is all that ever gets written down. You are supposed to fill in the gaps! So learn from a recording, get some notes or tab and figure out what the heck is going on. The music is mostly modal and not in major keys so it takes a bit of learning to get it right.  Programs like the Amazing Slow Downer and Audacity are essential in learning the stuff.

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## WindinBoy

Red haired boy stays pretty intact from one style to another. It's of Irish orgin as far as I know. Also known as Beggerman

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## Eddie Sheehy

Thanks for info Doug.  Looks like a great resource.

BTW, the Lyrics to the Red-haired Boy (The Little Beggarman or Oul Johnny Doo) were written by Tommy Makem.  I think it's a great example of a tune that started out in Europe, crossed to Amerikay, and then came home again - all the better for its travels.  The Streets of Laredo aka The Bard of Armagh is another that comes to mind ...

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## JeffD

> I do that almost exclusively these days. I still remember learning a particular tune from the "dots" and getting blank stares when I played it at the session. It was so different than the version played that they couldn't recognize it. That was a good lesson.


I have quite the opposite experience. While I have learned the cannon of irish jam tunes, at least the ones that interest me, and I have gone back to the "dots" to find obscure old gems that I have reintroduced at the jam, and some of them have become local favorites. There is gold in them books. Gold I tell you.   :Mandosmiley:

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## allenhopkins

> Red haired boy stays pretty intact from one style to another. It's of Irish orgin as far as I know. Also known as Beggerman


I believe there's a minor-key variant called _Gilderoy_ -- though this example only includes minor chords where the conventional _Red-Haired Boy_ uses the flat 7th...

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## John Flynn

I am surprised that none of these lists (unless I overlooked it) mention "Larry O'Gaff," a jig that always jumps into my head when I think of Irish music and has come up in multiple Irish music workshops I have attended. I found out online that it also has an alternate title that makes me laugh, "Making Babies by Steam," which comes from a famous speech by an Irish politician in the 1800's.

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## tango_grass

I dunno if there is such a thing as the most popular Irish tune...but the Plastic Paddy music piece that pops into most of our heads is The Irish Washerwoman.  A jig I happen to love..but most "true" Irish music purists hate!    Ahh well..more for me to love then!   :Mandosmiley:

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