The Return To Miltown reel

Also known as The Ferry Banks, The Glorious Farewell To Milltown, The Glorious Return To Milltown, The Glorious Return To Miltown, Return To Milltown, The Return To Milltown.

There are 36 recordings of this tune.

This tune has been recorded together with

The Return To Miltown appears in 1 other tune collection.

The Return To Miltown has been added to 13 tune sets.

The Return To Miltown has been added to 109 tunebooks.

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Ten settings

1
X: 1
T: The Return To Miltown
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
|:D2 FD ADFD|=CE E2 CEGE|D2 FD ADFD|=CDEG =cGE=C|
D2 FD ADFD|=CE E2 CEGE|=F3 D E3 D|1 =CDEG =cGE=C:|2 =CDEG =cGEG||
|:d3 e f2 ed|cdef g2 fe|dcde f2 ed|cAGE ED D2|
d3 e f2 ed|cdef g3 e|f2 fd efed|cAGE ED D2:|
# Added by Kenny .
2
X: 2
T: The Return To Miltown
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Ddor
|:D2AD EDDB,|C2EC FCEC|D2AD EDDB,|CDEG AEGE|
D2AD EDDB,|C2EC FCEC|F2FD E2ED|CDEG AEGE:|
K:Dmix
|:d2de f2ed|(3B^cd ef gfge|d2de f2ed|=cAGE EDD2|
d2de f2ed|(3B^cd ef gfge|fafd eged|=cAGE EDD2:|
3
X: 3
T: The Return To Miltown
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Ddor
|:D2AD EDDB,|C2EC FCEC|D2AD EDDB,|CDEG AEGE|
D2AD EDDB,|C2EC FCEC|FAFD EzED|CDEG AEGE:|
K:Dmaj
|:GAde f2ed|cdef (3gag fe|dDGA f2ed|=cAGE ED~D2|
GAde f2ed|cdef (3gag fe|fafd ezed|=cAGEED~D2:|
4
X: 4
T: The Return To Miltown
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Ador
|:~A2 BA ~A2 BA|G2 BG cABG|~ A2 BA ~A2 BA|GA B/^c/d gedB|
~A2 A/A/A AcBA|G2 BG cABG|c2 cA B2 BA|GA B/^c/d gedB:|
|:eaae ^c2 BA|BAB^c d2 cd|eaae ^c2 BA|Beed BA B/^c/d|
eaae ^c2 BA|BAB^c d2 ed|c2 cA B2 BA|GA B/^c/d gedB:|
5
X: 5
T: The Return To Miltown
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Ddor
|:D2ED D2ED|c2Ec FcEc|D2ED D2ED|cDEG AEGE|
D2ED D2ED|c2Ec FcEc|F2FD E2ED|cDEG AEGE:|
K:Dmix
|:d2de f2ed|(3B^cd ef g2ge|d2de f2ed|cAGE EDD2|
d2de f2ed|(3B^cd ef g2ge|f2fd e2ed|cAGE EDD2:|
K:Ddor
|:D2AD EDAD|C2EC FCEC|D2AD EDAD|CDEG AEGE|
D2AD EDAD|C2EC FCEC|~F3D ~E3D|CDEG AEGE:|
|:~d3e ^f2ed|^cde^f g2fe|~d3e ^f2ed|^cAGE EDD2|
~d3e ^f2ed|^cde^f g2^fe|~f3d e^fed|^cAGE EDD2:|
# Added by Ralex .
6
X: 6
T: The Return To Miltown
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Ddor
|:"Dm"D2 ADED AD|"C"CEED CEGE|"Dm"D2 ADEG AB|"Am"cAGF "C" EDCE|
"Dm"D2 ADED AD|"C"CEED CEGE|"F" F2 FD "C"E2 ED|CDEG "A7"cG EC:|
|:"D" d2de^f2ed^|"A " ^cde^f g2 ge|"D"^f2 fd "A "efed|"C"cAGE "C/E" ED D2|
"D" d2de^f2ed^|"A"^cde^f g2 ge|"D"^f2 fd "C" efed|"A5"cAGE "G"ED D2:|
7
X: 7
T: The Return To Miltown
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Ddor
|:D2AD EDDB,|C2EC FCEC|D2AD EDDB,|CDEG AEGE|
D2AD EDDB,|C2EC FCEC|F2FD E2ED|CDEG AEGE:|
K:Dmaj
|:d2de f2ed|(3Bcd ef gfge|d2de f2ed|=cAGE EDD2|
d2de f2ed|(3Bcd ef gfge|fafd eged|=cAGE EDD2:|
8
X: 8
T: The Return To Miltown
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Ddor
D2ED ADED|C2EC FCEC|D2ED ADED|CDEG cAGE|
D2ED ADED|C2EC FCEC|F2FD E2ED|CDEG cAGA||
K:Dmaj
d3e f2ed|cdef g2fe|dcde f2ed|cAGE EDD2|
d3e f2ed|cdef gfge|f2fd efed|cAGE EDD2||
9
X: 9
T: The Return To Miltown
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Ddor
|:D2D/D/D D2ED|C2EC FCEC|DA,A,/A,/A, DEED|CDEG cAGE|
D2ED D2ED|C2EC FCEC|F2FD E2ED|1 CDEG cAGE:|2 CDEG cA^cA||
K:Dmaj
|:d3e f2ed|cdef g2fe|d3e f2ed|cAGE EDD2|
d2de f2ed|cdef g2fe|f2fd efed|1 cAGE EDDA:|2 cAGE EDDE||
10
X: 10
T: The Return To Miltown
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Edor
|:E2 GE BEGE|DF F2 DFAF|E2 GE BEGE|DEFA dAFD|
E2 GE BEGE|DF F2 DFAF|G3 E F3 E|1 DEFA dAFD:|2 DEFA dAFA||
|:e3 f g2 fe|defg a2 gf|edef g2 fe|dBAF FE E2|
e3 f g2 fe|defg a3 f|g3e fgfe|dBAF FE E2:|
# Added by JACKB .

Thirteen comments

Return To Miltown

There are more than one in Ireland, but only the one that counts musically as far as I know. See you there. This reel is from Donegal.

Posted by .

I know this tune with F-naturals in the A-part and F#s in the B-part (Kenny - as a flute player, you have probably selectively learned the all-F# version). The following setting comes from Henrik Norbeck, and is more-or-less the one most familiar to me.

T:Return to Milltown
M:4/4
K:Ddor
D2AD EDDB,|C2EC FCEC|D2AD EDDB,|CDEG AEGE|
D2AD EDDB,|C2EC FCEC|F2FD E2ED|CDEG AEGE:|
K:Dmix
|:d2de f2ed|(3B^cd ef gfge|d2de f2ed|=cAGE EDD2|
d2de f2ed|(3B^cd ef gfge|fafd eged|=cAGE
EDD2:|

The following is a very closely related tune, The Ferry Banks. This setting comes from Richard Robinson’s Tunebook.

T: The Ferry Banks
M:4/4
K:DDor
D2AD EDAD | CE2D CEGE | D2AD EDAD |CDEG cGEC |\
D2AD EDAD | CE2D CEGE |
F3D E3D |1 CDEG cGEC:|2\
CDEG cGED |: \
K:D
d3e f2ed | cdef g2fe |
dcde f2ed | =cAGE EDD2 |\
d3e f2ed | cdef g3e | =f2fd efed| =cAGE EDD2:|

I learnt this tune in Siobhan Peoples’s and Paul Bradley’s class at the Willie Clancy week - but we learnt it with the parts the other way round - the second part first and vice versa. Also, we learnt it that, in the part which you have first, the F’s are naturals, making that part in D minor - the other part was still in D major though.

Posted by .

Just been messing round with David’s version of this and come up with some ideas:

T:Return to Miltown
M:4/4
K:Ddor
D2AD EDDB,|C2EC FCEC|D2AD EDDB,|CDEG AEGE|
D2AD EDDB,|C2EC FCEC|FAFD EzED|CDEG AEGE:|
K:Dmaj
|:GAde f2ed|cdef (3gag fe|dDGA f2ed|=cAGE ED~D2|
GAde f2ed|cdef (3gag fe|fafd ezed|=cAGE
ED~D2:|

Return to Milltown

Here’s a great version suitable for Scottish pipes by Ross Ainslie and Jarlath Henderson

X: 1
T: Return To Miltown, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Ador
|: ~A2 BA ~A2 BA | G2 BG cABG |~ A2 BA ~A2 BA | GA B/^c/d gedB |
~A2 A/A/A AcBA | G2 BG cABG | c2 cA B2 BA | GA B/^c/d gedB :|
|: eaae ^c2 BA | BAB^c d2 cd | eaae ^c2 BA | Beed BA B/^c/d |
eaae ^c2 BA | BAB^c d2 ed | c2 cA B2 BA | GA B/^c/d gedB :|

The Return To Miltown, X:5

a more flute friendly version… playing those F natural can be tricky but this can be easily played on the flute with some practice ! I’ve learned this reel from Frankie Kennedy on an old tape. He doesn’t play the A in the first part, he plays an E instead.

Posted by .

Re: The Return To Miltown

Compare also “Tap the Barrel” (https://thesession.org/tunes/2336). Alan Ng considers these tunes to be the same; I think their (slight) difference lies in the first part.

The Return To Miltown, X:7

Slightly cleaned up version, similar to X2 above but without the extra stuff at the end, and with F naturals in the first part.

The Return To Miltown, X:9

We used to play this version many years ago, probably inspired by Gerry O’Connor (playing fiddle, not banjo) with Wild Geese.
Excellent tune!