The Ballydesmond slide

Also known as Maurice Manley’s.

There are 16 recordings of this tune.

This tune has been recorded together with

John Ryan’s (a few times).

The Ballydesmond appears in 3 other tune collections.

The Ballydesmond has been added to 2 tune sets.

The Ballydesmond has been added to 21 tunebooks.

Download ABC

Three settings

X: 1
T: The Ballydesmond
R: slide

M: 12/8
L: 1/8
K: Ador
|:EFG A2 B c2 d e3|G2 E EDE G2 E D2 G|
EFG A2 B c2 d e2 f|1 g3 ded B2 A A2 G:|2 g3 ded B2 A A3||
|:a3 a2 b a2 g e2 f|g3 gfe def g2 d|
efg a2 b a2 g e2 f|g3 ded B2 A A3:|

X: 2
T: The Ballydesmond
R: slide

X: 3
T: The Ballydesmond
R: slide

M: 12/8
L: 1/8
K: Ador
EFG A2B c2d e3|G3 EDE G2E D3|
EFG A2B c2d e2f|1 g2e d2e B2A A2G:|2 g2e d2e B2A A3||
|:efg a2b a2g e2f|g2a g2e def g3|
efg a2b a2g e2f|1 g2e d2e B2A A3:|2 g2e d2e B2A A2G||

Five comments

The Ballydesmond

To my ears, this tune sounds wholesome and distinct enough that it didn’t initially occur to me that it was simply a slide version of one of the Ballydesmond polkas. I didn’t locate any transcriptions of this version on The Session, so I thought I’d post it. I heard it from Danu’s Buan album.

The polka version

For reference: https://thesession.org/tunes/238

Maurice Manley’s

played by :
- John and Julia Clifford, The Humours of Lisheen
- Matt Cranitch and Jackie Daly, The Living Stream

Re: Maurice Manley’s

I learned this tune from an Ithaca NY box player, Mark Bickford, who paired it with one of the Ballydesmonds for a slide/polka set. Very similar melody. https://thesession.org/tunes/238

Maurice Manley’s, X:3

Tweaks to make the first setting more closely match my hearing of Julia Clifford’s playing.

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