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When I think polka, a few different images spring to mind (accordions, lederhosen, Lawrence Welk), but an Irish folk band is not usually one of them. Nevertheless, the popular style of traditional dance music from central Europe did make its way across the English Channel and influenced folk music on the British Isles, producing a good number of well-known tunes in the region.
A while back, I posted tabs for “John Ryan’s Polka,” a popular and somewhat challenging piece that I hope you took the time to learn. If you found it a bit too difficult, however, “Egan’s Polka” might be more to your liking.
I wasn’t able to dig up much on the history of the tune. It’s been around for a long time; it goes by many different names (The Kerry Polka, Daly’s Polka, Limerick’s Polka, etc.); and a lot of people can’t stand it.
Given that it’s a pretty basic tune, it seems that it pops up frequently in session playing (what non-folk musicians might call a jam session), and the more experienced players out there are tired of it.
But that shouldn’t stop you from learning it and having some fun on your own!
“Egan’s Polka” Playing Tips
Polka’s are always in 2/4 time, giving them the distinctive oom-pa sound that everyone knows (once again, accordions and lederhosen everywhere). The oom-pa beat should be in your head as you play a polka, but it doesn’t really need to come through in your playing of the melody line. That back beat is provided by the rhythm section, be it a guitar in an Irish session or a tuba in an oom-pa band.
I’ve provided two Level 1 tabs for “Egan’s Polka,” one in the original key of D and one in the key of G. Transposing the tune to G makes it much easier to play on ukulele, and it can actually be played even if you haven’t converted to low G tuning yet. The only tricky bits are the string skipping in measures 1, 2, 5, and 6, and the stretch up to the fifth fret in measure 9.
I find the arrangement in D a bit clunkier. It has string skipping in the same measures, but the open strings are eliminated, meaning you now have some tricky fretting to deal with in addition to skipping strings. But if you want to be able to play the song in the original key, you at least have the option.
Click the link or the ‘Download’ button below to see the sheet music if your browser doesn’t display the embedded PDF. Download links for the sheet music in either key are below the embed.
“Egan’s Polka” in G, Sheet Music Download
“Egan’s Polka” in D, Sheet Music Download
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