Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

The Fair-haired Boy

jig

Key signature: Adorian

Submitted on June 2nd 2005 by katiebee.

This tune has been added to 50 tunebooks.

Also known as An Buachaillín Bán, An Buachaillin Ban, The Fair Haired Child, The Fairhaired Boy.

Recordings of a tune by this name:

Best Of Irish Fiddle by Florie Brown
Cavan's Lilter by Séamus Fay
In Full Flight by Gavin Whelan
Inside Out by Mícheál O' Raghallaigh
Irish Folk The Collection Vol.2 by Various Artists
Irish Jigs, Reels And Hornpipes by Willie Clancy And Michael Gorman
Irish Pennywhistle Taught By Cathal McConnell by Cathal McConnell
Reelin'in Tradition by The Mulcahy Family
The House I Was Reared In by Christy McNamara
The Limestone Rock by Micho Russell
The Thing Itself by Maeve Donnelly And Peadar O'Loughlin
Waifs And Strays (Traditional Irish Music From County Clare) by Michael Hynes And Dennis Liddy
Wooden Flute Obsession: Volume 3, Disc 1 by Various Artists

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

X: 1
T: Fair-haired Boy, The
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: Ador
EAA EAA | gfg edB | BAB edB | BAB GED |
EAA EAA | gfg edB | BAB edB |1 BAG A2 G:|2 BAG ABd ||
e2 a bag | eaf ged | BAB edB | BAG GED |
e2 a bag | eaf ged | BAB edB | BAG A B/2 c/2 d |
e2 a bag | eaf ged | BAB edB | BAB GED |
EAA EAA | gfg edB | BAB edB | BAG A3 ||

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Fair-haired boy

I'm fairly sure that I learned this one from the first volume of Ceol Rince na hÉireann - it's a great tune for concertina.

# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by katiebee

Oops

Sorry everyone, it's pretty obvious that the last note is bung - it should be down the octave.

# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by katiebee

Changes

I've fixed the tune up in the ABC notation - the eighth bar should be different on the first repeat, plus there are a couple of other changes.

# Posted on June 2nd 2005 by katiebee

You better hope the tune police (Dow) doesn't come along and find you made a mistake in a tune submission

# Posted on June 3rd 2005 by Donough

No Donough, I actually think she's done a damn good job, especially for a virgin tune poster, and by that of course I don't mean a tune poster who's a virgin, although, I don't know, it's none of my business anyway, and I'm digging myself further into this hole so I'll stop right there. I could nitpick though, and be really geeky and tell KDB how to abbreviate her semiquaver transcription, but I won't. Hmm, hang on let me think for a moment. I've decided I might as well say it cuz I've said it now so I have to. Basically, if you ever want to write stuff like A B/2 c/2 d, you can just get away with shorthand: AB/c/d.

# Posted on June 3rd 2005 by Dr. Dow

Haha I was obviously really drunk when I wrote that last post. Sorry KDB! Anyway, I've come here to cross-reference another similar tune that goes by the name of The Fair-haired Boy http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/3119.

# Posted on May 31st 2007 by Dr. Dow

Also this tune appeared in the tunebook "Begged Borrowed and Stolen", which apparently became something of an Aussie session-goers bible after it was first published in 1979. That might explain why it gets an airing occasionally in Aussie sessions, perhaps more often than other places. Go here to see details of the contents: http://www.celt.com.au/contents_pages/contbbs.html.

# Posted on March 12th 2008 by Dr. Dow

This tune is taught in this youtube video. It seems very similar to several other tunes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErcijXZq0xo

# Posted on October 20th 2011 by Tirno

Kind of like a mixture of liliting banshee and cliffs of moher, with another tune thrown in for the endings

# Posted on October 20th 2011 by Tirno