BARLEY GRAIN [2]. AKA and see "Barley Meal (The) (2)," "Button that Suits the Cloth (The)," "Ceol an Mhála," "Deiread an Lae," "Elsie Marley," "End of the Day (The)," "Rolling Wave (2)." Irish, Jig (6/8 time). G Major (Howe): F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The tune is an Irish one. The supposed date of Boston music publisher Elias Howe's volume precedes that of the earliest Irish source, Joyce (1873), but Howe's publication dates are approximate. Given that the tunes are identical and the explicit source information given by Joyce and Petrie, the tune has an Irish provenance which Howe is copying.
Additional notes Source for notated version : - collected by both George Petrie and P.W. Joyce from the whistling of farmer James Quane or Quain (Coolfree, on the borders of counties Cork and Limerick). Joyce collected the tune in 1854, and Quain told him that it was considered a very old tune, and that it was known to only very few people.
Printed sources : - Howe (1000 Jigs and Reels), c. 1867; p. 29. P.W. Joyce (Ancient Irish Music), 1873, No. 2, p. 4. Stanford/Petrie (Complete Collection of Petrie's Irish Music), 1905; Nos. 293 & 294, p. 73.
