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The Green Fields Of Glentown reel

By Tommy Peoples

Also known as The Green Feilds Of Glentown, The Green Fields Of Glen Town, The Green Hills Of Glentown, The Greenfields Of Glentown, Tommy Peoples’.

There are 49 recordings of this tune.

This tune has been recorded together with

The Green Fields Of Glentown appears in 4 other tune collections.

The Green Fields Of Glentown has been added to 37 tune sets.

The Green Fields Of Glentown has been added to 395 tunebooks.

Download ABC

Nine settings

1
X: 1
T: The Green Fields Of Glentown
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Ador
EA,~A,2 E2DB,|G,B,~B,2 G,A,B,D|EA,~A,2 E2DE|GBeB dBAB|
eB~B2 eBdB|AE~E2 DG,B,G,|A,E~E2 E2DE|GEDB, B,A,~A,2:|
|:A2EA cAEA|G2DB, G,A,B,D|EA~A2 GABd|edBA aged|
bg~g2 afge|dB~B2 GEDB,|A,E~E2 E2DE|GEDB, B,A,~A,2:|
|:A2EA cAEA|aged bage|dG~G2 DGBd|gded Bdgd|
e2Be eBdB|AE~E2 DG,B,G,|A,E~E2 E2DE|GEDB, B,A,~A,2:|
2
X: 2
T: The Green Fields Of Glentown
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Ador
A z EA cAEA|G2DG B,DG,B,|A,A~A2 BAGE|edBA aged|
bg~g2 aged|BG~G2 EDB,G,|A,E~E2 (DE2)F|GEDB, A,B,CD||
3
X: 3
T: The Green Fields Of Glentown
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Ador
D|EA,~A,2 ~E2DB,|G,B,~B,2 G,A,B,D|EA,~A,2 ~E2DE|GBeB dBAB|
eB~B2 eBdB|AE~E2 DG,B,G,|A,E~E2 ~E2DE|GEDB, B,A,A,:|
|:D|~A2EA cAFA|FGDB, G,A,B,D|EA~A2 EABd|edBA aged|
bg~g2 afge|dB~B2 AEDB,|A,E~E2 ~E2DE|GEDB, B,A,A,:|
4
X: 4
T: The Green Fields Of Glentown
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Ador
|:G|~A2EA cA~A2|aged bage|dB~B2 GABd|gfdc Bgfg|
eA~A2 fedB|AE~E2 DG,B,G,|A,E~E2 ~E2DE|GEDB, B,A,A,:|
5
X: 5
T: The Green Fields Of Glentown
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Ador
|:E~A,3 EFDB,|G,~B,2 A, G,2 B,D|~E3D EDB,D|GBeB dBAB|
e~B3 eBdB|A~E3 DB,G,B,|A,~E3 A,EDE|GED ~B,2 ~A,3:|
|:A2EA cAEA|G2DB, G,A,B,D|EA (3AAA EA (3Bcd|edBA aged|
b~g3 a~g2e|d~B3 AEDB,|A,~E3 A,EDE|GED ~B,2 ~A,3:|
A2EA cAEA|a2ge bage|dB (3GGG G2Bd|gedB Agdg|e2Ae
fedB|A~E3 DB,G,B,|~A,3E EDEF|EB,G~B,2 ~A,3:|
6
X: 6
T: The Green Fields Of Glentown
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Ador
|:E~A,3 EFDB,|G,~B,2 A, G,2 B,D|~E3D EDB,D|GBeB dBAB|
e~B3 eBdB|A~E3 DB,G,B,|A,~E3 A,EDE|GED ~B,2 ~A,3:|
|:A2EA cAEA|G2DB, G,A,B,D|EA (3AAA EA (3Bcd|edBA aged|
b~g3 a~g2e|d~B3 AEDB,|A,~E3 A,EDE|GED ~B,2 ~A,3:|
|:A2EA cAEA|a2ge bage|dB (3GGG G2Bd|gedB Agdg|
e2Ae fedB|A~E3 DB,G,B,|~A,3E EDEF|EB,G~B,2 ~A,3:|
7
X: 7
T: The Green Fields Of Glentown
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Ador
EA,~A,2 E2DB,|G,B,~B,2 G,A,B,D|EA,~A,2 E2DE|GBeB dBAB|
eB~B2 eBdB|AE~E2 DG,B,G,|A,E~E2 E2DE|GEDB, B,A,~A,2:|
|:A2EA cAEA|G2DB, G,A,B,D|EA~A2 GABd|edBA AGED|
BG~G2 AFGE|DB,~B,2 GEDB,|A,E~E2 E2DE|GEDB, B,A,~A,2:|
|:A2EA cAEA|AGED BAGe|dG~G2 DGBd|GDED B,DGD|
E2B,E EB,DB,|A,E~E2 DG,B,G,|A,E~E2 E2DE|GEDB, B,A,~A,2:|
8
X: 8
T: The Green Fields Of Glentown
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Ador
eA~A2 E2DE|GB~B2 GABd|eA~A2 E2DE|GBeB dBAB|
eB~B2 eBdB|AE~E2 DGBG|AE~E2 AEDE|GEDB BA~A2:|
|:A2EA cAEA|G2DE GABD|EA~A2 GABd|edBA aged|
bg~g2 afge|dB~B2 GEDB|AE~E2 AEDE|GEDB BA~A2:|
|:A2EA cAEA|aged bage|dG~G2 DGBd|gded Bdgd|
e2Be eBdB|AE~E2 DGBG|AE~E2 AEDE|GEDB BA~A2:|
9
X: 9
T: The Green Fields Of Glentown
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Ador
|:"A5"EA, A,/A,/A, EA,DB,|G,B,B,/B,/B, G,A,B,D|EA,A,/A,/A, E2DE|GBeB dBAB|
eBB/B/B eBdB|AEE/E/E DG,B,G,|A,EE/E/E EGDE|GEDG EA,A,/A,/A,:|
|:"A5"A/B/AEA cAEA|"G5"G/A/GDB, G,A,B,D|"A5"EAA/A/A EABd|edBA "B/G"aged|
"C"bg~g2 afg/f/e|"G"dB{d}Bd AEDB,|"Esus"A,EE/E/ EGDE|GEDG EA,A,/A,/A,:|
|:"A5"A/B/AEA cAA/A/A|"G/B"aged "C"bage|"G"dGG/G/G BGB/c/d|"Esus"gedc B/c/dgd|
"Dsus"e/f/eBe fedB|AEE/E/E DG,B,G,|"F"A,EE/E/E EGDE|"Gsus"GEDG EA,A,/A,/A,:|

Twenty-four comments

doesn

Green Fields of Glentown

This great reel which has been played by many celebrated traditional musicians, including accordionist Sharon Shannon, is one of the many fine compositions by Donegal fiddler Tommy Peoples.

Green fields

Great tune - one of the best

Posted by .

Green Fields of Glentown

Agreed. Tommy Peoples rocks my world 🙂

Natalie MacMasters also plays this tune on her fit as a fiddle album. Great tune - just learnt it two days ago of the cd, then found it in here…. *sigh*, must let my fingers do the searching!!

Noticed that there are no Natalie MacMasters albums on the recordings pages??

posted a natalie macmaster recording, “no boundaries”, just yesterday

The Green Fields of Glentown

If you want to hear a real knock out version of this tune then get a hold of the Frankie Lane recording entitled Dobro on the Geal-Linn label. Rarely have I heard this tune played with such cool swing. Believe me it is polished performance and well worth a listen.

One of the “Big Reels”, surely

From time to time one hears or reads of a special category of tunes called “The Big Reels”, reels that carry a particular charge, and make particular demands of a soloist, at any rate, to the extent that the audience will really, really listen to the way he/she succeeds or fails in performing that particular tune. (“Farewell To Ireland” has got to be one of them.) “Green Fields Of Glentown” has simply got to be one of these big reels.

As played by Howie MacDonald

Heard this great tune on Howie MacDonald’s CD “WhY2Keilidh”. He only plays two parts, the A pretty much as is and a B part as follows:
A z EA cAEA|G2DG B,DG,B,|A,A~A2 BAGE|edBA aged|
bg~g2 aged|BG~G2 EDB,G,|A,E~E2 (DE2)F|GEDB, A,B,CD|.
It’s still pretty darn difficult to play at speed.

The Green Fields Of Glentown

The Nollaig Casey version on Donal Lunny’s album also has only 2 parts:

X: 1
T: Green Fields Of Glentown, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Ador
D|EA,~A,2 ~E2DB,|G,B,~B,2 G,A,B,D|EA,~A,2 ~E2DE|GBeB dBAB|
eB~B2 eBdB|AE~E2 DG,B,G,|A,E~E2 ~E2DE|GEDB, B,A,A,:|
|:D|~A2EA cAFA|FGDB, G,A,B,D|EA~A2 EABd|edBA aged|
bg~g2 afge|dB~B2 AEDB,|A,E~E2 ~E2DE|GEDB, B,A,A,:|

Liz Carroll played a great version of this on an old recording called Irish Traditional Music In America: Chicago.
She called it Eddie Kelly’s, I seem to recall. I still have the LP which I hope to transfer to mp3 format soon.

Green Fields of Glentown 3rd part of Nollaig Casey version

Here is the 3rd part for the version posted by “Dow”. It’s transcribed from “Coolfin”. The first bar can of course also be played like the first bar of the 2nd part :
|:G|~A2EA cA~A2|aged bage|dB~B2 GABd|gfdc Bgfg|
eA~A2 fedB|AE~E2 DG,B,G,|A,E~E2 ~E2DE|GEDB, B,A,A,:|

bar 4 should read |gedc Bgfg| So sorry!

Setting 4

Tommy People’s version, from what I can remember.

“…named after the next townland to mine in Donegal. It is a beautifully hilly area where one can look across the river Foyle to counties Tyrone and Derry. It’s main claim to fame was a slate quarry that operated in the early half of this century. The quarry holes are still there, hundreds of feet deep with very deep water. They are easily accessible and not recommended to anyone afraid of heights.” - Tommy Peoples

Feel free to have a listen to the tune played here by musicians in a Newcastle session (second tune):

https://soundcloud.com/dan-foster-7/black-pats-green-fields-of

play

Posted .

The Green Fields Of Glentown, X:8

Here’s a setting of the tune suitable for flute or D whistle. It can’t match the growl you get down on the fiddle’s G string, but I think it rolls along nicely enough. This setting is a reworking of X:1 above, with a pinch of Bulmer & Sharpley added for spice.