Most-Recorded Highlands
The Top Ten Highlands of the Century

Of related interest:
  • Top 100 Tunes of the Century.
  • Top Ten
  • Rhythm Distribution: How common is this rhythm (tune type) in the bigger picture of all distinct Irish tunes?
  • Recordings by Decade: A graph of the historical distribution of the recordings considered here.

This list ranks the top ten most-recorded highlands out of the 34 distinct highlands on the indexed recordings. The tunes are ranked in descending order of number of recordings. When tunes have the same number of recordings, tunes having the oldest recordings appear first. Note that reuses of a particular cut in later anthologies are counted, which is fair, since the popularity of a recording is a good indicator both of the popularity of the tune and of the likelihood that musicians will learn the tune from that recording.

Click Tune Info below to see tune details and sources.

RankNumber of
Recordings		Explanation
Titles used for this tune (and other notes)
17 – Tune
Info		Transcription of first 2 bars of WatchmakerWatchmaker, The / Neil Gow's Highland [Niel Gow's Highland] / Neil Gow's Wife [Niel Gow's Wife] / John Doherty's / John Gaffney's Fling / Thistle and Shamrock / Con Cassidy's (3rd in set Thistle and Shamrock on MG) (also as reel; misattributed to Frank Higgins in book JKg 3) (compare strathspey Niel Gow's Wife)
24 – Tune
Info		Transcription of first 2 bars of Gurren's CastleGurren's Castle / The Devil in the Kitchen / Hughie Gillespie's / Aodh Mac Giolla Easpaig (as Untitled Highland on JD 4)
34 – Tune
Info		Transcription of first 2 bars of Fermanagh HighlandFermanagh Highland / Moneymusk (compare Moneymusk #3269 and compare 1st part with 1st part of Bucks of Oranmore #241)
43 – Tune
Info		Transcription of first 2 bars of Donegal LassiesDonegal Lassies / Duncan Davidson / Ducan Davidson (also as strathspey)
53 – Tune
Info		Transcription of first 2 bars of Miss CrawfordMiss Crawford (as Reel Gan Ainm on Dnu 4) (also as reel) (compare 1st part with 1st part of Mulvihill's Highland Fling #1369) (composed by A. McAlpin)
63 – Tune
Info		Transcription of first 2 bars of Teelin HighlandTeelin Highland, The / Tom Tailor's (composed by John Cassidy)
73 – Tune
Info		Transcription of first 2 bars of MoneymuskMoneymusk / The Monnymusk (also in G, also in Major) (compare as reel #1336 and compare Fermanagh Highland #2110)
82 – Tune
Info		Transcription of first 2 bars of Dúlamán na Binne Buí Dúlamán na Binne Buí / Dúlaman na Binne Buí (also as reel)
92 – Tune
Info		Transcription of first 2 bars of Little Katey KearneyLittle Katey Kearney / Little Katie Kearney / Con Cassidy's Highland (as reel in book 1850)
102 – Tune
Info		Transcription of first 2 bars of Donegal HighlandDonegal Highland, The / Charlie O'Neill's
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This page was updated on 29 June 2008.
© 2006–2008 Alan Ng, agng@facstaff.wisc.edu. Questions? Comments? Please use the easy Feedback Form. Thank you!
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