The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #115394   Message #2469740
Posted By: Snuffy
19-Oct-08 - 05:46 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Biddy Mulligan, the Pride of the Coombe
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: mrs mulligans the pride of macrome
The version Ronnie Drew recorded with the Dubliners has quite a few changes from the version in the DT: e.g. the peas are split rather than sweet, and she's only stood there for 35 years, not 64. But the main change is that it's been cut down to two verses and the order of the remaining (half-)verses has been changed.

You may travel from Clare to the county Kildare
From Dublin right down to Macroom
And where would you see a fine widow like me?
Biddy Mulligan the pride of the Coombe.


I'm a scrap of a widow, that lives in a place
In Dublin, that's known as the Coombe.
And me comfort and ease, sure no king could excel
Though me palace consists of one room.
By Patrick Street corner, for thirty-five years,
I've stood by my stall, that's no lie.
And while I stood there, there was no-one would dare
To say black was the white of my eye.

You may travel from Clare to the county Kildare
From Dublin right down to Macroom
And where would you see a fine widow like me?
Biddy Mulligan the pride of the Coombe.


I sell apples and oranges, nuts and split peas,
Bullseyes and sugar sticks sweet.
On a Saturday night I sell second-hand clothes,
From me stall on the floor of the street.
Now I have a son Mick, and he plays on the pipe,
He belongs to the Longford Street band;
It would do your heart good just to see them march out
Of a Sunday to Sandymount Strand.

You may travel from Clare to the county Kildare
From Dublin right down to Macroom
And where would you see a fine widow like me?
Biddy Mulligan the pride of the Coombe, me boys,
Biddy Mulligan the pride of the Coombe.