Key signature: Gmajor
Submitted on March 27th 2003 by Trevor Jennings.
This tune has been added to 93 tunebooks.
Also known as Bridge O'Leary's, Denis Murphy's, Pat Murphy's.
Recordings of a tune by this name:
X: 1
T: Sweeney's
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
R: polka
K: Gmaj
de/d/ Bd|Gd Bd|e/f/g/e/ dB|AG E2|
de/d/ Bd|Gd Bd|e/f/g/e/ dB|1 AG G2:|2 AG G>A||
|:Bd e/f/g/e/|dB AG/A/|Bd e/f/g/e/|dB A2|
Bd e/f/g/e/|dB AG|de/d/ BA|1 AG G>A:|2 AG G2||
Sweeney's Polka
A simple, straight-forward polka played occasionally in sessions in my area, and also for the set dancers. I'm grateful to Henrik Norbeck's collection for the source ABC.
# Posted on March 27th 2003 by Trevor Jennings
we usually play this tune in A.
# Posted on March 27th 2003 by gian marco
It's certainly easier in A on fiddle-tuned stringed instruments. But the key it is played in probably depends on the ratio of fluters to fiddlers in the session.
# Posted on March 28th 2003 by CreadurMawnOrganig
There are a few flutes around in sessions in my area, often at least two in a session, which makes it worth while doing tunes in G. In our local workshops the teacher will, after teaching us a tune in G, sometimes take us through it in A, so we end up being able to play it in either key. In one notable lesson recently, we were learning Lucy Farr's Barndance in G, then in A, and then, because Martin Hayes does it, in B-flat! Lucy Farr is a useful tune if you want to play around with different keys because its melodic structure is fairly simple.
# Posted on March 28th 2003 by Trevor Jennings
Sweeney's in A
T:Sweeney's
M:2/4
L:1/8
S:Fintan Valley
R:polka
Z:g.m.p
K:A
ef/e/ ce|Ae ce|f/g/a/f/ ec|BA F2|ef/e/ ce|Ae ce|f/g/a/f/ ec|BA A2:|:
ce a>f|ec BA|ce a>f|ec B2|ce f/g/a/f/|ec BA|ef/e/ cB|BA A2:|
# Posted on August 8th 2003 by gian marco
PLaying this tune in A need not be a problem for flutes (nor for whistles and pipes). In the third bar, they need only replace the first two quavers with a crotchet on the lower note, and likewise do this wherever those two quavers occur together. This not only removes all G#s from the A version but also adds some rhythmic punch to the tune. (In fact that's the way someone taught me the G version.)
# Posted on July 2nd 2004 by Peter K
Another transcription - as played on a single 'D' row of a melodeon:
T: Bridge O'Leary's
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
S: Tom Doherty
R: Polka
K: A
|:ef/e/ ce|Ae ce|f/f/f/f/ ec|BA F2|
ef/e/ ce|Ae ce|f/f/f/f/ ec|1 BA A2:|
2 BA A>B||
|:ce fa/f/|ec BA/B/|ce fa/f/|ec B>B|
ce fa/f/|ec BA|ef/e/ cB|1 BA A>B:|
2 BA A2||
# Posted on October 1st 2004 by ceolachan
I play flute, and when we play this in A, i grab b D whistle and slide all my fingers up one hole
# Posted on January 10th 2008 by irishflute93
Getting the names straight (or not)
The titles do get swapped around, don't they? This tune shows up (in the key of A) in Bulmer and Sharpley (book 2, tune 73) as Denis Murphy's. And tune 70 in that book, usually known as Denis Murphy's no. 1, is called Sweeney's. Well, what's in a name, as someone once said?
# Posted on April 15th 2011 by rwwt
Pat Murphy's
This is called "Pat Murphy's Polka" on Martin Mulvihill's "Beginning Irish Fiddle".
# Posted on June 30th 2011 by hotsauce
Hey - didn't realize these "other" albums of Martin's were available on iTunes. http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-humors-glen-master-irish/id265419054
These were issued around the time he published his book - do you have that tome, hotsauce? Quite the rarity. Very spidery handwriting but a handy tome nevertheless. Martin must have known he didn't have much time left and wanted to leave a printed/recorded legacy. Aside from his very nice Green Linnet LP, which I digitized years ago.
# Posted on June 30th 2011 by KLR