My favourite would be The Carter Bar from my area (the Scottish/English Border). Fisher's in F is a good blast. A little-known hornpipe I like is The Penicuik Hornpipe.
Caislean an Oir, Bobby Casey's, Stack of Barley (the four stacks for that matter), Poll Ha'Penny, Johnston's - all really good hornpipes that dont get played to often around here. Hornpipes are great.
Just a few suggestions: Pretty Maggie Morrisey, The City of Savannah, The Faries' H, Navvie on the Line, Cronin's, Plains of Boyle
PoB might be a bit overplayed in some places, but it's a good "core" tune in the sense we were using it on the other thread
I love Brendan McGlinchey's 3 part HP (also known as Across the Fence in the tunes section although supposedly Brendan never named it that!) That's a terrrific HP. I also love the 2 hornpipes on the Catherine and John McEvoy cd--the Kilmore Fancy and Felix in Paris--great set of tunes!
The Cuckoo Hornpipe ( has a cuckoo sound in the B part). It's a great box tune particularly.
What's that one with loads of triplets in the B part? Is it the Golden Eagle? You have to play the A part steady or you'd never manage the B part triplets. Matt Molloy plays it.
Drunken Sailor is lovely, G minor (Liz Carroll on Lost in the Loop). Can be a bit repetitive as there are so many parts. Some people say it is related to Johnny Cope, also many parts and lovely. Planxty play it as a song, then hornpipe.
Galway Bay is gorgeous, I think Martin Hayes plays it. It's in O'Neill's.
There are some great hornpipes in Dave Lyth's fiddle styles of Coleman, Morrisson, Killoran book. The Stage is in there (Paddy Glackin on In full spate) and some nice ones in C.
Joe Burke has plenty of good hornpipes on all his old recordings.
All the NE England hornpipes, particularly James Hill's compositions. There are some lovely B & E flatters like The Banks, The Acrobat, The High Level etc.
There are loads of great horpipes, they just don't get played in sessions much. The simple 2 parters occasionally get an outing like Plains Boyle & Cronin's or Kitty's Wedding & Home Ruler.
Have you guys ever heard "Off to California"? That's one hell of a hornpipe! And also, "Boys of Bluehill" is really good, that's another of my favorites.
Tunes do not exist to boost our Coolness Index; i.e. "if you like Tune X, you are a hopeless loser....". When the universe aligns correctly, and the music takes off, it doesn't matter if it the Kesh or the newest hot obscure reel, I'm just happy.
The Home Ruler/ Kitty's Wedding and The Hills of Coore/Humours of Tullycrine. And I still like playing The Rights of Man. Sometimes in that weird key that Paddy Canny plays it in.
Batlady's right. If you can find the groove with a bunch of people it really doesn't matter. Nothing beats that feeling. If it's with Off to California or Harvest Home, so be it! I'm *such* a loser, I know
The Flowing Tide, Eleanor Neary's, Miss Galvin, if they've not been mentioned.
From Northumbria - The Burn Deviot, Rowley Burn, The Barber's Pole and The Beeswing are nice tunes.
A very recent one composed by Kathryn Tickell - Peewits - is a lovely tune; it's on her album "The Sky Didn't Fall". But it's a bit soon to bung it in the Tunes base without asking permission, and I haven't quite sussed the notes anyway.
You're right about that Bannerman. Two parts is enough for most sessions unless you run across a few people who want to compare versions for the other parts, which can be fun in a kitchen setting, not necessarily in a pub.
It seems the longer version must be a piping thing. It's an immensely satisfying tune on the pipes, the third part is great fun with the pedal figure on the bottom D and opportunities for cranning, and the sixth and last part ties the whole thing together in a neat little package, and then boom! Off you go again...there's all kinds of time for staccato triplets, legato and non-legato articulations, variations in the melody itself...but then you're off into solo performance territory there, which is not a bad thing but is definitely bad session manners.
Which reminds me, good old Johnny Cope cropped up, in all it's splendour, last weekend. I hadn't played him for years, but he was still up there, ready to strut his funky stuff - but you certainly wouldn't want to play that six parter more than twice either, Ban the Man.
The Poppy Leaf? And I'm sorry but I love those 6 parter classics played nice and slow on their own (only twice mind), so can I re-iterate The Groves, The Drunken Sailor and Johnny Cope?
I have some older music books, and many of the hornpipes are notated in Bflat. The other tunes are mostly in the expected keys. Why would that key have been popular for hornpipes, and why did it die out?
This is a great list. I had forgotten about some of these tunes; now I'm going to have to spend the weekend resurrecting them.
Stan--Tailor's Twist! I even have it in my tunebook, but I don't remember where I learned it. My brain cells are just shot...misspent youth, I guess. Sigh.
"A spin-off from the which-sets/tunes-to-learn thread, in which hornpipes got a bit of a thrashing." - Well you certainly turned that round - nice work Tish!
I wonder if Bb (and other less usual-keyed) hornpipes in 4/4 reflect the influence of c18 Scottish fiddlers like Oswald, Marshall and the Gows who aspired to Classical elegance, played Classical music and could - I assume - play and compose in the rarer keys, though I can't quote any tunes of theirs on this score. This is certainly true of Scott Skinner at a later date. James Hill, emigrating to Newcastle in 1830 or thereabouts, certainly composed fiddle hornpipes in a wide range of keys; maybe he learned this as a youth in Scotland, though we know very little about his early life.
Come to think of it, many tunes in Playford were originally published in Bb, etc.
Well, if you insist I must share a H'pipe with you,
please select from the following (a short but exhaustive list!);
-The Blackbird(/1996), Cahir's Kitchen, Caisleán an Óir, The Fat Cat (as played by Tommy Peoples!), Her Golden Hair Hanging Down Her Back, The Humours Of Ballyconnell, Garrett Barry's, Johnny Cope, Duncan Johnstone, The Humours Of Tullycrine, Landslide Village, The Liverpool (saved by Cathal Hayden & Seamus ODowd's beautiful interpretation), The Londonderry HP, The Man From Barnagrove, The Meeting Place, Moon Over Friday Harbor, Poll Ha' Penny, The Re-haired Boy, The Rights of Man, The Shan Van Vocht, (Sully's No. 37 ), Walsh's
+ some borderline cases like Cronin's, Higgin's or the odd set-dance type like The Blackbird and the marching ones like Behind The Ditch In Páirc Anna, Frost And Snow, George Rowley's, the Pride of Petravore, The Wren's(/6570)
..while we're on the subject, (more on Hateful Hornpipes at: http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/11946/comments#comment242998 )here's a list of good reels, flings, etc that can be played as hornpipes (but why anyone would want to ruin a perfectly good reel this way is beyond all understanding!)
The Birds In The Tree, George White's Favorite, The Green Gates, the Killarney Wonder,
(This is a Work in Progress! A Labour of Love, no doubt!)
Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
A spin-off from the which-sets/tunes-to-learn thread, in which hornpipes got a bit of a thrashing.
Dow - are there any Irish hornpipes in the non-crap category? Whether or no, are there hornpipes of any extraction that you think are good ones?
Cheshire Grin - which are those really good but underplayed hornpipes you mentioned?
Anyone else care to chime in?
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by Tish
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
My favourite would be The Carter Bar from my area (the Scottish/English Border). Fisher's in F is a good blast. A little-known hornpipe I like is The Penicuik Hornpipe.
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by DonaldK
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Caislean an Oir, Bobby Casey's, Stack of Barley (the four stacks for that matter), Poll Ha'Penny, Johnston's - all really good hornpipes that dont get played to often around here. Hornpipes are great.
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by Splendid Isolation
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Little Stack of Wheat. Willy Walsh's. Byrne's.
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by Steve Shaw
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Just a few suggestions: Pretty Maggie Morrisey, The City of Savannah, The Faries' H, Navvie on the Line, Cronin's, Plains of Boyle
PoB might be a bit overplayed in some places, but it's a good "core" tune in the sense we were using it on the other thread
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by Alex Wilding
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Bobby Casey's
Both Peacock's Feathers
Kitty's wedding
the Home Ruler
Any Stack you like
The Friendly Visit
....
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by Ottery
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
How about a good Co. Antrim set Tish:
The Home Ruler / The Hangman's Rope
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by Ptarmigan
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Hey Donald, please post - The Penicuik Hornpipe. I was reared in Penicuik & don't know this tune .... yet.
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by Ptarmigan
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
the groves
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by ...
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
See? Look at all these great hornpipes! To hell with the begrudgers!
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by Steve Shaw
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
The Chancellor & Paddy O'Sullivan's (For Dow):
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/2687
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/4171
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by Rudall the time
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Chief O Neills is pretty good, and also turning reels into hornpipes works too sometimes like The Scholar and Boys of the Loch, Star of Munster etc.
Never heard it in a session but its interesting to do at home or just jamming.
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by Kess
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Byrnes Hornpipe, The Rights of Man and The Elks Festival.
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by Freddy Frog
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Callaghan's, Cronin's and Kit O'Mahony's.
Also Green Island - see http://comhaltas.ie/music/detail/comhaltaslive_201_3_the_green_island_hornpipe/ which shows the speed dancers prefer. I like the "speed up" bit near the end.
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by Bannerman
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Kess, you can hear Shetlanders Hom Bru playing The Scholar as a hornpipe, along with St Anne's Reel and the Chicago Reel on their Obadeeah album.
I like 'em all. As my old copy of Borstal Boy had it - "Fugh the bregrudgers"
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by Bren
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
"begrudgers" - brugger!
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by Bren
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
I love Brendan McGlinchey's 3 part HP (also known as Across the Fence in the tunes section although supposedly Brendan never named it that!) That's a terrrific HP. I also love the 2 hornpipes on the Catherine and John McEvoy cd--the Kilmore Fancy and Felix in Paris--great set of tunes!
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by fiddlefamily
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
The Cuckoo Hornpipe ( has a cuckoo sound in the B part). It's a great box tune particularly.
What's that one with loads of triplets in the B part? Is it the Golden Eagle? You have to play the A part steady or you'd never manage the B part triplets. Matt Molloy plays it.
Drunken Sailor is lovely, G minor (Liz Carroll on Lost in the Loop). Can be a bit repetitive as there are so many parts. Some people say it is related to Johnny Cope, also many parts and lovely. Planxty play it as a song, then hornpipe.
Galway Bay is gorgeous, I think Martin Hayes plays it. It's in O'Neill's.
There are some great hornpipes in Dave Lyth's fiddle styles of Coleman, Morrisson, Killoran book. The Stage is in there (Paddy Glackin on In full spate) and some nice ones in C.
Joe Burke has plenty of good hornpipes on all his old recordings.
All the NE England hornpipes, particularly James Hill's compositions. There are some lovely B & E flatters like The Banks, The Acrobat, The High Level etc.
There are loads of great horpipes, they just don't get played in sessions much. The simple 2 parters occasionally get an outing like Plains Boyle & Cronin's or Kitty's Wedding & Home Ruler.
Horneypipes are great!
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by Fiddlebabe
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Anybody heard of Showmans Fancy and The Good Natured Gentleman hornpipes? . . their gooduns . .
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by Justintime
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
"playing reels like hornpipes'? Feck off
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by ...
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Yes, let's all start playing Reels as Hornpipes & Hornpipes as Reels ..... for the Craic.
We could even start 2 new tune sections here, for:
1 - Horneels
&
2 - Reelpipes
Yeee Haaaa I bet Lunasa even have some on their next CD!
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by Ptarmigan
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Some of the younger speedsters already play hornpipes like reels Ptarmy, or maybe it's just me showing my age!
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by Bannerman
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Bantry Bay/Smell of the Bog. It's on a recording of John Blake, Lamond Gillespie, and Mick Leahy.
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
http://www.suttnerconcertinas.com/sounds/Tim_Collins_A2-1.mp3
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by slainte
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
This is the tune: http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/4101
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by slainte
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
' Horse Keanes' by Jimmy Keane is a good tune. Foxhunters reel goes well as a hornpipe also
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by thorsdog
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Ptarmy, I like "Reelpipe".
(Mr. Gill's opinions notwithstanding.)
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by Michele Sims
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Most of my favorite hornpipes are already listed here: Galway Bay, Hangman's Rope, Golden Castle, Poll Ha'penny, Walsh's, Stack of Barley.
Did anyone mention The Banks yet? Class!
Staten Island is one of the first hornpipes I learned, and I still enjoy playing it.
Don;t forget Humours of Tullycrine, Boys of Ballycastle, and Dance of the Honeybees.
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by Will Harmon
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Have you guys ever heard "Off to California"? That's one hell of a hornpipe! And also, "Boys of Bluehill" is really good, that's another of my favorites.
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by BE
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Did you guys believe me?????? HAHAHAHAHAHA
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by BE
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
The Ebb Tide (along the lines of Teada's setting) is a great one.
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by Will Harmon
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
I think Off To California is a lovely tune. I mean it.
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by Steve Shaw
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Tunes do not exist to boost our Coolness Index; i.e. "if you like Tune X, you are a hopeless loser....". When the universe aligns correctly, and the music takes off, it doesn't matter if it the Kesh or the newest hot obscure reel, I'm just happy.
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by Michele Sims
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
I like Alexander's, which folks play around here with Byrne's, both of which are pretty good.
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by AlBrown
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Spot on, Ms. Bat.
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by Will Harmon
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
The Green Cockade
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by sergeant fox
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Amen to you, Batlady. That is what it is all about.
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by AlBrown
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
The Home Ruler/ Kitty's Wedding and The Hills of Coore/Humours of Tullycrine. And I still like playing The Rights of Man. Sometimes in that weird key that Paddy Canny plays it in.
Batlady's right. If you can find the groove with a bunch of people it really doesn't matter. Nothing beats that feeling. If it's with Off to California or Harvest Home, so be it! I'm *such* a loser, I know
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by soft black stars
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
The Derry in all its five or six part splendor is a mighty tune.
I'll throw in a vote for Byrne's, too.
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by Hanley
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
The Flowing Tide, Eleanor Neary's, Miss Galvin, if they've not been mentioned.
From Northumbria - The Burn Deviot, Rowley Burn, The Barber's Pole and The Beeswing are nice tunes.
A very recent one composed by Kathryn Tickell - Peewits - is a lovely tune; it's on her album "The Sky Didn't Fall". But it's a bit soon to bung it in the Tunes base without asking permission, and I haven't quite sussed the notes anyway.
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by nicholas
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
At our session "Two will Do" for parts of the Derry which is a great old hornpipe - less is more!
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by Bannerman
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
You're right about that Bannerman. Two parts is enough for most sessions unless you run across a few people who want to compare versions for the other parts, which can be fun in a kitchen setting, not necessarily in a pub.
It seems the longer version must be a piping thing. It's an immensely satisfying tune on the pipes, the third part is great fun with the pedal figure on the bottom D and opportunities for cranning, and the sixth and last part ties the whole thing together in a neat little package, and then boom! Off you go again...there's all kinds of time for staccato triplets, legato and non-legato articulations, variations in the melody itself...but then you're off into solo performance territory there, which is not a bad thing but is definitely bad session manners.
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by Hanley
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
John MacKenzie's Fancy - GHB tune but a mighty a__kicker, for sure.
Poll Ha'Peny too.
I suppose The Blackbird set dance doesn't qualify?
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by wormdiet
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Which reminds me, good old Johnny Cope cropped up, in all it's splendour, last weekend. I hadn't played him for years, but he was still up there, ready to strut his funky stuff - but you certainly wouldn't want to play that six parter more than twice either, Ban the Man.
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by Ptarmigan
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Nobody's mentioned The Tailor's Twist (unless it has another name that I don't know). It's a little gem.
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by E
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
I like the "Wonder Hornpipe" - is it considered cool then? I need an answer ASAP before I commit another faux pas.
# Posted on March 22nd 2007 by Bren
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Of course it's cool - it's a James Hill tune. Make sure to play it in Bb tho'
# Posted on March 22nd 2007 by Dr. Dow
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Agree with Stan re: Tailor's Twist. I also like the Friendly Visit. It's a shame so many Irish musos play them like slow reels tho'.
# Posted on March 22nd 2007 by Dr. Dow
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Yes...such a shame.
# Posted on March 22nd 2007 by bb
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
I learnt President Garfield in Bb only to find that everyone played it in G and looked at me as if I was mental. Not making that mistake again.
# Posted on March 22nd 2007 by Bren
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
The Poppy Leaf? And I'm sorry but I love those 6 parter classics played nice and slow on their own (only twice mind), so can I re-iterate The Groves, The Drunken Sailor and Johnny Cope?
# Posted on March 22nd 2007 by ceoltoir2010
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
I have some older music books, and many of the hornpipes are notated in Bflat. The other tunes are mostly in the expected keys. Why would that key have been popular for hornpipes, and why did it die out?
# Posted on March 22nd 2007 by AlBrown
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Thomond Bridge and Merry Blacksmith (as a hornpipe) are my favorite Irish ones.
The Glen Aln and The Barrington are probably my favorite Northumbrian ones.
# Posted on March 22nd 2007 by geoffwright
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
This is a great list. I had forgotten about some of these tunes; now I'm going to have to spend the weekend resurrecting them.
Stan--Tailor's Twist! I even have it in my tunebook, but I don't remember where I learned it. My brain cells are just shot...misspent youth, I guess. Sigh.
# Posted on March 22nd 2007 by Michele Sims
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Al - maybe something to do with pipes?
# Posted on March 22nd 2007 by Bren
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
"A spin-off from the which-sets/tunes-to-learn thread, in which hornpipes got a bit of a thrashing." - Well you certainly turned that round - nice work Tish!
# Posted on March 22nd 2007 by Ptarmigan
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Why, thank you, Ptarmy.
# Posted on March 23rd 2007 by Tish
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
I wonder if Bb (and other less usual-keyed) hornpipes in 4/4 reflect the influence of c18 Scottish fiddlers like Oswald, Marshall and the Gows who aspired to Classical elegance, played Classical music and could - I assume - play and compose in the rarer keys, though I can't quote any tunes of theirs on this score. This is certainly true of Scott Skinner at a later date. James Hill, emigrating to Newcastle in 1830 or thereabouts, certainly composed fiddle hornpipes in a wide range of keys; maybe he learned this as a youth in Scotland, though we know very little about his early life.
Come to think of it, many tunes in Playford were originally published in Bb, etc.
# Posted on March 23rd 2007 by nicholas
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
i love many already mentioned, along with....
tuamgraney castle
mcgibbneys fancy
the flowing tide
her long dark hair was flowing down her back
the ones that don't work for me are the g-major "i'm a salten sailor in an old spice shaving lotion commercial"-sounding ones.......
# Posted on March 25th 2007 by ceemonster
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
Well, if you insist I must share a H'pipe with you,
please select from the following (a short but exhaustive list!);
-The Blackbird(/1996), Cahir's Kitchen, Caisleán an Óir, The Fat Cat (as played by Tommy Peoples!), Her Golden Hair Hanging Down Her Back, The Humours Of Ballyconnell, Garrett Barry's, Johnny Cope, Duncan Johnstone, The Humours Of Tullycrine, Landslide Village, The Liverpool (saved by Cathal Hayden & Seamus ODowd's beautiful interpretation), The Londonderry HP, The Man From Barnagrove, The Meeting Place, Moon Over Friday Harbor, Poll Ha' Penny, The Re-haired Boy, The Rights of Man, The Shan Van Vocht, (Sully's No. 37 ), Walsh's
+ some borderline cases like Cronin's, Higgin's or the odd set-dance type like The Blackbird and the marching ones like Behind The Ditch In Páirc Anna, Frost And Snow, George Rowley's, the Pride of Petravore, The Wren's(/6570)
# Posted on April 2nd 2010 by birlibirdie
Re: Listmania cont'd - good hornpipes
..while we're on the subject, (more on Hateful Hornpipes at: http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/11946/comments#comment242998 )here's a list of good reels, flings, etc that can be played as hornpipes (but why anyone would want to ruin a perfectly good reel this way is beyond all understanding!)
The Birds In The Tree, George White's Favorite, The Green Gates, the Killarney Wonder,
(This is a Work in Progress! A Labour of Love, no doubt!)
# Posted on April 2nd 2010 by birlibirdie