"Speed the Plough", also known as "Speed the Plow" is an Irish reel in A Major. It is played in standard or AEae fiddle tunings. The parts are played AABB. A note in O'Neill (1913) states the air was composed in 1799 by John Moorehead of Armagh, Ireland, a famous violinist who came from a musical family and who acquired some renown in the latter 18th century. One of the earliest recordings of the melody was in 1909 when Cecil Sharp waxed it on a cylinder from the playing of John Locke, described as a “gipsy fiddler”. The tune was recorded by the Beers Family on a long out-of-print LP entitled “Introducing the Beers Family.” The liner notes (by Robert Sherman) indicated that Beers learned his "Speed the Plow” from his maternal grandfather, George Sullivan. Sullivan was born in Ireland, but raised in America and was the champion old-time fiddler of North Freedom, Wisconsin. The banjo tablature is by John Letscher. There are many versions of reels named "Speed the Plough" which are not at all like this one. It was printed in Silberberg's 93 Fiddle Tunes I Didn’t Learn at the Tractor Tavern (2004) and The Complete Fiddle Tunes I Either Did or Did Not Learn at the Tractor Tavern (2007) and Songer's Portland Collection (1997). It was recorded by The Beers Family on Introducing the Beers Family (1965) and Bigfoot on I've Got a Bulldog (2012). Various versions were recorded by Malcolm Dalglish and Grey Larsen, Aly Bain, Seamus Ennis, De Dannan, Michael Cooney and various Irish musicians.