From time to time, I get out my copy of "O'Neill's Music of Ireland" and open it to a random page to see what's on it. This time I had the good luck to turn to page 84. In my edition this is part of the Songs & Airs section, and it contains numbers 478 - 483.

The first one, The Fairies' Well, is a good one because the tune starts with a interesting set of chromatic notes. (Ignore the little run which is a mere pickup.) A lot of people think that Irish trad doesn't do this, but it does.

Next we have Let Us Be Drinking. The A part is nothing special, but the B part is really cute.

Then, The Goat's Song. It's a good F/Dm tune with a B part that's so Irish you can hardly believe it.

Next, George Gubbins' Delight, a good tune which looks like a reel. However, it's in the Songs section and it's marked "Slow." So try it that way. It's in the key of C. What do you think of the F# and G# in the B part?

Number 482 is The Summer is Come, a beautiful slow air. If you download this from the site I'm going to give you, and if you have a music-editing program, then you have to change the tempo from 120 to about 50 to have it sound right.

Finally, Sweet Molly Malone. The tune here is different from what I learned as a kid, and I like it better.

If you don't have the book, you can go to a nifty site whose URL I will post next and listen or download as you wish.