does anybody have any suggestions for some slow haunting tunes that arent irish traditional ?
Here’s a “slow haunter” called She Said No (1.1 megabyte MP3 file), which I think of as more of a Scottish-inspired tune than an Irish one…I composed it around 1987 when I was spending some time around Skye and the western Highlands. I didn’t have a name for it at first, but when I played it for Chris Abell (the whistle and flute maker), he said “it sounds like she said no,” and so I thought, fine, there’s the title!
This recording was made about 10 years later at the home of Tommy Byrnes in Massachusetts. Tommy added the obligatory “Celtic Mist” synthesizer sounds and stuck a mic out the window to catch a thunderstorm that happened to be passing by that evening as we were recording. The tapping sounds you hear are water dropping onto the tin roof of a toolshed out in his yard; you can also hear robins singing and calling from time to time.
Total Celtic schmaltz, but I do like the tune and play it every now and then.
Pibroch. Some of them would fit on a low whistle nicely.
Brad–
Today is my birthday, and it’s a glorious morning here in California. Your song was the first thing I sat down and listened to. Thank you for that! (Schmaltz can be a good thing!) 
Well thanks, and by coincidence it happens to be my birthday today too, so happy birthday to us (and to Virginia Woolf, Robert Burns, and Somerset Maugham)!
‘She moved through the fair’ isn’t Irish, I think.
‘The Water is Wide’
Scarbourough Fair
Way Haul Away-- Sea Chanty
(when I was a little boy, or so my mother told me,
that if I did not kiss the girls my lips would
get all moldy)
A wonderfully happy birthday to you guys! 
Philo
Very nice playing…very relaxing…very haunting.
I think The Bunny Hat is very haunting if played at half speed.
Lovely piece. Nicely played.
I totally agree!
Congrats Brad! Don’t be so hard with yourself, everyone needs that “schmalz” from time to time.
Silvano
That was lovely. IMHO, “she” must have been crazy.
Very nice
Well the thing is, I asked her very politely to go jump off a cliff, and she said no! (‘8)’)
Seriously, there was no “she” in the picture as far as I remember. It’s just that when I played it, Chris (Abell) said, “it sounds like she said no.”
Total Celtic schmaltz, but I do like the tune and play it every now and then.
That was lovely! Schmaltz or not, that is a lovely tune and very well played.
Maybe there’s a place for the rare-to-occasional bit of Celtic schmaltz? (particularly if more of it sounded this good!)
–James
Happy birthday, gents!
I think I’ve commented on Brad’s tune elsewhere on the board but I certainly don’t mind repeating myself on this subject: beautiful.
Carol
Wayfaring stranger is one of my favorites.
Thanks Carol and everyone else.
By the way, the flute on that recording was made by Skip Healy. I remember it for its powerful tone, it had the most awesome bottom D and plenty of soul. It was the right flute for this tune.
black is the color of my true love’s hair
oh shenendoah
my funny valentine
The Osprey (scottish)
Bachelor’s Farewell (Scottish)
Moran’s Return (Scottish)
i don’t play ITM mainly because i’m not familiar with ITM and have enough music going on already. i agree with the jim stone especially regarding shenadoah. i’ve played that song on piano and guitar and it’s a bit peculiar to play at least for me but that song really sounds great and smooth on harmonica, whistle, and flute. i like the slow haunting songs myself and off the top of my head:
- blue skies by irving berline (i have that memorized)
- scarbough fair is fairly common but el condor pasa, another simon and garfunkel song, is a peruvian song. (i learned that from these whislte websites. the first time i played that on a bamboo whislte, i knew why the incas composed that song)
- country gospel that includes "i’ll fly away, will the circle be unbroken, how can i keep from singing (a quaker song) and were you there when they crucified my lord. regarding religious songs, i think we three kings is hysterical on the whistle but only because i am thinking the funny words in my head.)
- nights in white satin by the moody blues.
- stormy weather (i have know idea who wrote that song)
- black coffee (another song i don’t know the author but it’s another 40’s jazz song.)
i like to play songs in styles different than the most common style, just about any song could be haunting if played right.
Thanks Brad, you gave me two minutes of good Scottish memories.