Category Archives: Irish-American Culture
Harvest Home (D)
The hornpipe “Harvest Home” is also called “The Cork Hornpipe” by people from cork, and called “Baile an FhĂłmhair” by people who prefer its Irish name.  The tune was known in the States in the 1840s. It’s probably more fun to play than to listen to. It requires some work to make the melody flow smoothly […]
An Comhra Donn (D)
The hornpipe “An Comhra Donn” is light-hearted.  I learned from a Belfast concertina player in the mid-1980s and brought to the KC sessions back in 2007. The name is pronounced “Ahn Cowrah Dune” and translates from Irish to English as “The Brown Box” – an Irish euphemism for a coffin.  Comhra (coffin) is not to be […]
Off to California (G)
The hornpipe “Off to California” is #859 in O’Neill’s 1001 – that is, O’Neill’s Dance Music of Ireland (1903). O’Neill apparently heard it in California, and gave it this name. So, unlike many other tunes, this one has only a couple of other names. The origin of this one is unknown as well, though it […]
Out on the Ocean (G)
This jig, “Out on the Ocean,”  is sometimes played in A rather than G – on Planxty’s After The Break (1979), for instance. It is a great tune played either rapidly or slowly.  It seems to have been collected first by George Petrie, whose collection is available online. His best known collection is entitled Ancient Irish […]
The Lilting Banshee (Ador)
The tune we know as “The Lilting Banshee” is listed as “The Miller of Glanmire” in O’Neill’s Dance Music of Ireland (1907) – called “O’Neill’s 1001” because it has 1001 tunes in it, or called “not the yellow one, the other book.” In fact, this tune has many names, and what it’s called will depend […]
Father O’Flynn’s Jig (D)
“Father O’Flynn’s” jig was more often called “Top of Cork Road” until A. P. Grave’s (the father of poet Robert Graves) wrote lyrics for it in 1906, and called it “Father O’Flynn.” The song became very popular and so the tune took on the new name. Unfortunately, after writing it A. P. Graves sold it […]
Denis Murphy’s Polka (D)
The title “Denis Murphy’s Polka” does not tell us much about the tune’s history, unfortunately. Â It may be a tune composed by Denis Murphy, but much more likely is just one of the tunes often played by Denis Murphy. Â The insertion of a person’s name in a title is almost always a way of paying […]
Breeches Full of Stitches (A)
The polka “Breeches Full of Stitches” is a great tune for beginners, or those first learning Irish polkas. Some people play this in G, but Kevin Burke plays it in A Ionian.  So, here it’s in A Ionian. Martin Hayes plays this in his typical slow, deeply emotional way on his first album Martin Hayes […]
The Kesh Jig (G)
“The Kesh Jig” is on the Bothy Band album called The Bothy Band (1975), and thereafter became a popular session tune. Often just referred to as “The Kesh,” it’s not as popular as it once was, in the 1980s for example, mostly because it is considered by some to have been over-played. It probably wouldn’t […]