"Colonel John Irwin" is also known as "Planxty Irwin", in Gaelic "Pleraca Iarbain" is an Irish plnxty in 6/8 time and D Major (Brody, Haverty, Matthiesen, O'Neill), C Major (Complete Collection..., O’Sullivan) or G Major (Barnes, Cranitch, Ó Canainn, O'Flannagan). The parts are played: one part (Ó Canainn), AB (Complete Collection, Cranitch, Haverty, O’Sullivan), AAB (Matthiesen, O'Neill/Krassen), AABB (Barnes, Brody, O'Flannagan, O'Neill/1850, Tubridy). It was composed by Turlough O'Carolan for a patron, Colonel John Irwin (1680-1752) of Tanrego House (situated on Ballysodare Bay, in the townland of Tanrego West), County Sligo. The melody continues to be one of Carolan's most popular compositions today and has frequently been recorded. The air was adapted by Thomas Moore for his song "Oh! Banquet Not". Donal O’Sullivan thought the air and song was composed around the year 1713 after Irwin’s return from overseas wars, as O’Carolan’s song to the tune mentions Irwin’s military exploits in Flanders. The Irwin family were originally English grantees of lands in Ireland under the Cromwellian Settlement in the mid-17th century, expanded in settlement of arrears of military pay. They were neighbors of the Crofton family of Longford House, Catholic gentry, who lived a few miles south. Although the Irwins fought for the Williamite side during the Jacobite wars, the Croftons gave them refuge when they were in need. It was printed in Brody's Fiddler’s Fakebook (1983), Bunting's A General Collection of Ancient Music of Ireland (1809), Clinton's Gems of Ireland: 200 Airs (1841), Complete Collection of Carolan's Irish Tunes (1984), Cranitch's Irish Fiddle Book (1996), P.M. Haverty's One Hundred Irish Airs vol. 3 (1859), S. Johnson's The Kitchen Musician No. 3: Carolan (1983) (revised 1991, 2001), Matthiesen's Waltz Book I (1992), Ó Canainn's Traditional Slow Airs (1995), O'Flannagan's The Hibernia Collection (1860) (as "Irish Planxty"), Krassen's O'Neill's Music of Ireland (1976), O'Neill's Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies (1903), O'Sullivan's Carolan: Life, Times and Music of an Irish Harper, vol. 1 (1958), J.T. Surenne's Songs of Ireland Without Words (1843) and Tubridy's Irish Traditional Music, vol. 1 (1999). It was recorded by Jordi Savall on The Celtic Viol, vol. II (2010), Fennigs All Stars on The Hammered Dulcimer Strikes Again (1977), John McCutcheon on Barefoot Boy with Boots On (1981) and Shanachie on The Planxty Collection (1989).