Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: kendall
Date: 16 Aug 08 - 07:27 PM

The way I first heard it was: the last verse, a three legged stool with a table to match and a girl in the corner without any snatch.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,EBarnacle
Date: 17 Aug 08 - 12:40 AM

Did the linked song about the old sailor tonight at a festival party. Realized that the melody and line scan are very similar to Betsy from Pike.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,Dave MacKenzie
Date: 17 Aug 08 - 07:44 PM

Any words put a jig will have the same line scan. I can't remember the tune name, but "Sweet Betsy from Pike" pops up songwise as "The Ould Orange Flute", "I Don't Mind if I Do"etc.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,Doug
Date: 20 Apr 09 - 09:58 PM

The "Rocky & Bullwinkle" version:

"Oh, the 'taters are old and the meat is a fright,
Ev'ry thing is left over from Saturday night--
We sweep it all up,put it into a pot
And tell you it's real Irish stew that you've got."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: clueless don
Date: 21 Apr 09 - 09:09 AM

Thank you, GUEST,Doug!

Don

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,Tinker in Chicago
Date: 21 Apr 09 - 05:21 PM

Jacquie Manning, now half of the duo Small Potatoes, used to sing a solo act as The Queen of Tarts, and she'd sing:

Oh, if you need a Druid to lighten your mu-id
and not to get cru-id or pose in the nu-id,
We'll eat all your foo-id and drink all your flu-id
and then we'll get stew-id and fall on the floor.

My wife and I do the air as an instrumental but occasionally stop playing, sing the above, and start up again, just to watch audiences say, "Wha?"

Subject: Lyr Add: THE CHEMISTS DRINKING SONG (J A Carroll)
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 22 Apr 09 - 12:49 AM

THE CHEMISTS DRINKING SONG (John A. Carroll)
(Tune:The Irish Washerwoman )

Para-dimethyl- amino- benzaldehyde,
Sodium citrate, ammonium cyanide,
Mix 'em together, toss in some benzene,
And top it all off with some tri-chloro-eth'lene.

Got loaded last night on some fufuryl alcohol,
Followed it up with a gallon of propanol,
Tanked up on hydrazine all afternoon,
Then I spat on the floor and blew up the saloon.

Para-dimethyl- amino- benzaldehyde,
Powdered aluminum, nitrogen iodide,
Chlorates, permanganates, nitrates galore,
Just swallow one drink and you'll never need more.

Oh, whiskey, tequila and rum are too tame,
The stuff that I drink must explode into flame,
When I breathe I dissolve all the paint in the room,
And rattle the walls with a ground-shaking BOOM.

Para-dimethyl- amino- benzaldehyde,
Go soak your head in a good strong insecticide,
Slosh it around and impregnate your brain,
With dichloro-diphenal, trichloro-ethane.



Go For it.

Seamus

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: PoppaGator
Date: 22 Apr 09 - 03:44 PM

This version was quoted above, TWICE:

Did you ever go into an Irishman's shanty
where money is scarce but whiskey is plenty...

The way I heard it as a child, quoted above only once, not only rhymes, but also has a bit more logic to it:

Did you ever go back to an Irishman's shanty
where whiskey is plenty but water is scanty...

Trouble is, I don't remember ever having heard more than just those two opening lines!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: sharyn
Date: 23 Apr 09 - 10:40 AM

My Mom used to sing:

There's a place down in Deblin where everyone goes
To see the old washwoman washing her clothes:
She rubs and she scrubs and she rub-a-dub dubs
Till she rubs and she scrubs them right down to the nub.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: sharyn
Date: 23 Apr 09 - 10:41 AM

Sorry-- that's "Dublin," of course (typo)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,K
Date: 04 Oct 09 - 10:44 PM

I remember hearing this from my mother, who learned it from my grandfather who had travelled across the US with his banjo in the 1920's, but I only recall the one verse.

Oh, d'you ever go down to the wash woman's shanty
where water is scarce and whiskey is plenty
a-wade in the dirt, clear up to your knees
There's a bed in the corner all covered with fleas.

There's a three-legged stool and a table to match
and a door that flies open without any latch.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: Mr Happy
Date: 15 Dec 09 - 09:30 AM

Great early [1912ish!] instrumental here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp8KSmJA0kc

Subject: Lyr Add: STARVING TO DEATH ON MY GOVERNMENT CLAIM
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Dec 09 - 02:16 PM

Someone mentioned "Starving To Death On My Government Claim," a song that sprang from homesteading days on the American prairie. Straight from the D.T., as follows:

Starving to Death on My Government Claim (Lane County Bachelor)^^^

My name is Frank Bolar, an old bach'lor I am
I'm keeping old batch on an elegant plan,
You'll find me out west in the County of Lane
Starving to death on my government claim.
    My house it is built of the national soil
    The walls are erected according to Hoyle,
    The roof has no pitch, but is level and plane
    And I never get wet till it happens to rain.

    Then hurrah for Lane County, the land of the free
    The home of the bedbug, mosquito and flea,
    I'll sing loud her praises and never complain
    While starving to death on my government claim.

My clothes they are ragged, my language is rough,
My bread is case-hardened, both solid and tough;
The dough it is scattered all over the room
And the floor would take fright at the sight of a broom.
    My dishes are dirty, and some in the bed
    Are covered with sorghum and government bread;
    But I have a good time and I live at my ease
    On common-sop sorghum, old bacon and grease.

    Then hurrah for Lane County, the land of the West
    Where the farmers and laborers are always at rest;
    Where you've nothing to do but sweetly remain
    And starve like a man on your government claim.

How happy am I when I crawl into bed
And a rattlesnake rattles a tune at my head;
And the gay little centipede, void of all fear
Crawls over my pillow ind into my ear.
    And the nice little bedbug, so cheerful and bright
    Keeps me a-scratching full half of the night,
    And the gay little flea with toes sharp as a tack
    Plays "why don't you catch me?" all over my back.

    But hurrah for Lane County, where blizzards arise
    Where the winds never cease and the flea never dies;
    Where the sun is so hot if in it you remain,
    'Twill burn you quite black on your government claim.

How happy am I on my government claim,
Where I've nothing to lose and nothing to gain;
Nothing to eat and nothing to wear,
Nothing from nothing is honest and square.
    But here I am stuck, and here I must stay
    My money's all gone, and I can't get away;
    There's nothing to make a man hard and profane
    Like starving to death on a government claim.

Then come to Lane County, there's room for you all
Where the winds never cease and the rains never fall.
Come join in the chorus, and boast of her fame
While starving to death on your government claim.
    Now don't get discouraged, you poor hungry men,
    We're all here as free as a pig in a pen;
    Just stick to your homestead and battle your fleas
    And pray to your Maker to send you a breeze.

Now a word to claim holders who are bound for to stay
You may chew on your hardtack till you're toothless and gray;
But as for me, I'll no longer remain
And starve like a dog on my government claim.
    Then farewell to Lane County, farewell to the West
    I'll travel back East to the girl I love best;
    I'll stop in Missouri and get me a wife
    And live on corn dodgers the rest of my life.

This version was apparently from Burl Ives^^^

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,Ballyholme
Date: 15 Dec 09 - 02:29 PM

The late Dominic Behan wrote a good set of words to this tune. It involved a funeral at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin but for the life of me I can't remember what he called it.

"Where you ever up there on the Glasnevin Bend,
Where the wind cut your face and the rain wouldn't end ....."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: beeliner
Date: 15 Dec 09 - 03:23 PM

The B side of Larry Williams' 1957 hit "Bony Moronie' was titled 'You Bug Me Baby' and used the Irish Washerwoman melody, slowed down.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: pattyClink
Date: 16 Dec 09 - 02:16 PM

Has anybody tried singing the lyrics in the DT and above?

We are all familiar with the insrumental tune which fits well the first 4 lines of each verse. But each verse then has three more lines.
Is there a "B" part to the tune we don't know? (the midi in the DT seems to just repeat the tune we know) Or, do we repeat the A part but just skip over its third phrase and go right to the end phrase?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Dec 09 - 05:37 PM

HI Ballyholme,
The Dominic Behan song you are thinking of is "The Sodding", written when his Oul' Lad fell of his perch.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Mar 10 - 06:20 PM

My grandfather was Irish, and my mom learned this from him. She woke me up with this song every St. Patrick's day until I moved out of the house. She still calls and leaves it on voicemail on March 17th...

Did you ever go into an Irishman's shanty?
The water is scarce but the whiskey is plenty.
There's a three-legged stool and table to match,
A door upon hinges without any latch.

You go in the kitchen, you're dirt to the knees.
You go in the bedroom, you're covered in fleas.
You bite and you dig and you scratch and you crawl -
but holy St. Patrick you can't sleep at all!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 19 Mar 10 - 03:15 AM

I sing O'Rafferty's Pig to the tune of the Irish Washer Woman.

DC

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 19 Mar 10 - 09:35 AM

Going back exactly 10 years minus 1 day to Sandy Paton's post: what he is remembering is the song that Seamus Ennis used always to sing at the end of an evening when whoever was MC-ing would call on the residents to round off with the shortest song they knew. Ewan MacColl would always come up with a pathetic little song that ended "Poor little innocent child", tho I recall no more about it. Then Seamus would sing, to tune of The Irish Washerwoman, some variant of the one Sandy quotes ~ not always with identical names or words, but always same plot. Version I have carried with me the last 52 years (it was 1958 when Sandy was in London) went

O'Dwyer is dead and Maguire don't know it
Maguire is dead and O'Dwyer don't know it
Maguire and O'Dwyer are lying in one bed
And neither one knows that the other one's dead

~Michael~

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,Bruce Taylor
Date: 11 Apr 10 - 12:15 AM

When I was a boy I heard it like this;

Did you ever go into an Irishman's shanty
And see your uncle on top of your aunty
A three legged table, a stool to match
A hole in the floor for the chickens to scratch

The tune was so fine when played on a fiddle. The second verse was always played without any accompanyist singing and the tune was not that of the first verse but more lively.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,JJ Dion
Date: 11 Apr 10 - 02:44 AM

The "B" section can be sung using this potentially disturbing Lyric:
You look in the corner, & there you will see:
3 little "divils" a-milkin' a flea.
One at his head, & one at his tail,
& the littlest divil a-holdin' the pail!

Then there's this one:
Oh, a sup of good whiskey will make you glad;
Too much of the "cray-ture" will make you go mad!
If you take it in reason, 'twill render you wise;
If you drink to excess, it'll be your demise!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Mar 11 - 10:02 AM

I heard it as a girl...

Have you ever been into and Irishman's Shanty,
Where whiskey is handy and brandy is dandy,
a three legged chair and a table to match,
a stick on the door and they call it a latch.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Oct 12 - 06:22 AM

I was in grade school in the 1960s in Scotland - we too sang:

Ohh her washing was known to the whole of the country
From old Donegal to the borders of the Bantry
And women and children from every far county
Were singing the praises of Biddy Malone.

She was spruce, she was spry and she always would try
To help the poor folks in the villages by


I can't remember the rest and and I can't find this version anywhere.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,PapaT
Date: 16 Mar 15 - 07:38 PM

how about an old version I heard;

Did you ever go into an Irishman's shanty
Where food is scarce and whisky is plenty
A three legged stool and a table to match
And eggs in the cupboard already to hatch.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,Maureen
Date: 17 Mar 15 - 01:27 AM

Following on from the 2 posts above, I remember this version from when I was at school in Hong Kong in 50s/60s:

Ohh her washing was known to the whole of the country
From old Donegal to the borders of the Bantry
And women and children from every far county
Were singing the praises of Biddy Malone.

She was spruce, she was spry and she always would try
To help the poor folks in the villages by

And there in the evening she sat at her door
with tales of her washing and (sounded like) rory o'moore??

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,Maureen
Date: 17 Mar 15 - 01:37 AM

and more:

She rubbed and she scrubbed and stamped with her feet
And laughed at the colleens who came down the street
Looking hoity and toity and ever so neat
Although with her washing they could not compete

And everyone stared as it lay on the green
So ... and ... so marvellous and clean
and whispered the secret the country did know
Ah there's no one like Biddy could make such a show

And there on a stormy and ... night
You'll see Biddy's washing come scurrying by
And some say that Biddy was blown to the sky
Where she still hangs out her washing to dry

That was dredging the memory!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: Lighter
Date: 17 Mar 15 - 07:37 AM

"Rory O'More" was a celebrated Irish rebel of the 16th century, and "Rory O'Moore" was another of the 17th.

Samuel Lover's 1837 bestseller "Rory O'More: A National Romance" was reprinted for decades and spread O'More's name far beyond Ireland.

The double jig called "Rory O'More" possibly comes from Lover's operatic version of the story, also published in 1837.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Apr 15 - 10:35 PM

Did you ever go into an irishman's shanty where water was scarce and whiskey was plenty a three legged stool and a table to match an old irish cook to sling out the hash.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,Gerarde
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 09:23 AM

I too was at school in Scotland in the late 50's and early 60's

I think the last verses are

What came over Biddy oh they cannot say
But these are the tales that they'll tell you today
How Biddy and washing just vanished away
on a very fine morning in glorious May

She was washing her clothes in the river that day
and tramping her blankets as if it were play
When down came a spate and washed Biddy they say,
Right out to the ocean and far,far away.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: Thompson
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 09:52 AM

In the musical version of Playboy of the Western World there was a song to the tune that started

I was out digging spuds in a stony old field,
In a stony old dry devil's patch of a field;
I was digging and digging from dawn until day…

…and then? I can't remember the rest.