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30 Mar 00 - 11:32 AM (#203927) Subject: Song ID help--Irish? Parody? other? From: SingsIrish Songs I received a plea for help, so I am posing the question to you fellow Mudcatters. The person seeking the song lyrics wrote:
"OK, all I have are a few pieces of lyrics, but this is supposedly an Irish song (maybe more of a "Tin Pan Alley" type Irish song rather than a traditional one...). Anyway, it's something like
"You'll see British politicians and [something something something] Does anyone have any ideas? I checked the following vintage sheet music sites but was unsuccessful: Lester Levy, Library of Congress' Music for a Nation, and Duke Univ's Historic American Sheet Music. Thanks, Mary |
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30 Mar 00 - 11:34 AM (#203931) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song ID help--Irish? Parody? other? From: SingsIrish Songs I was wondering if it could be a "Where the River Shannon Flows" parody.....
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30 Mar 00 - 11:59 AM (#203940) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song ID help--Irish? Parody? other? From: SDShad I think SingsIrish is onto something, as the chorus of "WHERE THE RIVER SHANNON FLOWS" (click here) ends with "For there's not a colleen sweeter where the River Shannon flows". I did an Altavista Search for "Chinese Laundry" and "River Shannon" and it yielded no wisdom, just a couple of song or album lists that include "Uncle Josh in a Chinese Laundry" and "Where the River Shannon Flows." So it sounds kinda obscure, but obscure doesn't always daunt the good crew at Mudcat. Chris |
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30 Mar 00 - 12:04 PM (#203942) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song ID help--Irish? Parody? other? From: dick greenhaus When I was young (we're probably talking Jurassic, here) we sang:
The dirty rotten Irish, they never wash their clothes, Clearly a parody |
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30 Mar 00 - 12:39 PM (#203976) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song ID help--Irish? Parody? other? From: Ringer Clearly |
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30 Mar 00 - 04:24 PM (#204112) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song ID help--Irish? Parody? other? From: SingsIrish Songs Chris, thanks for your searches...I think this one may take some time... And Dick, I recall having heard that one you mentioned. Perhaps what the person is after is something like that... We'll see if anyone else comes up with anything... Mary |
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03 Apr 00 - 02:33 AM (#205932) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song ID help--Irish? Parody? other? From: SingsIrish Songs Any other takers before I let this thread "die"????? Thanks, Mary |
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03 Apr 00 - 02:38 AM (#205934) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song ID help--Irish? Parody? other? From: Sorcha Well, the beat almost feels like a parody of the hated "Unicorn Song"....... |
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24 Jan 12 - 05:04 PM (#3295662) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Parody of 'Where the River Shannon Flows' From: GUEST,C. Nunn I am doing the very same search now... My dad(may he rest in peace) sang a few words to this song once in a while. I always asked him to sing the whole song to me, but he said it wasn't appropriate for a girl to hear! lol!! He was in the Navy on board a sea-plane tender in WWII. So now I am in search if these elusive lyrics... I wonder if anyone who fought in WWII would have written them down somewhere... Maybe we will never know. |
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24 Jan 12 - 05:06 PM (#3295663) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Parody of 'Where the River Shannon Flows' From: GUEST,C. Nunn I forgot.. The way Dad always sang it was "Oh, there are no Chinese laundries wher the River Shannon flows.... Where the dirty, dirty Irish go to wash their clothes..." That's all he would sing... |
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24 Jan 12 - 05:42 PM (#3295676) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Parody of 'Where the River Shannon Flows' From: MartinRyan Several references online nowadays, of which the oldest I see is from "Captain Billy's Whizz bang" of 1922 or so. BUT - none of them quotes more than the two lines we started with, with minor variation. Are we convinced there was more? Regards |
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03 Feb 13 - 09:26 PM (#3475461) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Parody of 'Where the River Shannon Flows' From: GUEST My grandfather sang: Oh, there are not chinese laundries where the river shannon flows, For the dirty stinkin' irishmen, they never wash their clothes. They put them on in springtime, and they've rotted off by fall, For the dirty stinkin' irishmen, they never wash their clothes. |
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07 Apr 13 - 09:32 PM (#3500265) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Parody of 'Where the River Shannon Flows' From: GUEST,sarex Oh ye'll find na Chinese laundries where the Shannon River flows for those dirty rotten Irish, they never wash their clothes you'll find no end of sewage and dung of every kind but ye'll na find clean white washing hanging out on any line. Oh the men are filthy scoundrels and drunk for all their lives they sell their kids for whiskey then beat up on their wives they breed with sheep and cattle and do it all the time then wash their filthy privates off in pails of turpentine. (more to follow) |
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17 Mar 14 - 05:37 PM (#3610393) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Parody of 'Where the River Shannon Flows' From: GUEST My father, too, would sing just two lines of this, and I've been trying to figure out it's origin. He was an Army man, so maybe this was some sort of crass joke men in the military would pass around? He was in the Army in the 50s. The way I heard it was: "Oh there are no Chinese laundries where the River Shannon flows... The Irish are a dirty bunch, they never wash their clothes..." if there was more, I don't remember. This was not derogatory in our home, btw... my dad's grandparents came from Ireland. |
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17 Mar 14 - 06:15 PM (#3610406) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Parody of 'Where the River Shannon Flows' From: MartinRyan Keep it coming, please... |
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18 Mar 14 - 02:47 PM (#3610663) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Parody of 'Where the River Shannon Flows' From: GUEST prefer the original- if a few more folkies listened and learned from John McCormack folk clubs would be more enjoyable... |
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27 Jul 14 - 01:30 PM (#3645706) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Parody of 'Where the River Shannon Flows' From: GUEST,mike g there was also a reference to "whiskey that flowed like buttermilk" would curdle... |
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27 Jul 14 - 01:33 PM (#3645708) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Parody of 'Where the River Shannon Flows' From: GUEST,mike g my family was from ireland and sang the song a few times when i was young, mainly to raise the ire of an unsuspecting irisman who didnt realize they were in fact irish. |
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22 Oct 14 - 10:39 AM (#3671255) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Parody of 'Where the River Shannon Flows' From: GUEST,WH I heard it as two Jewish men talking about where they wanted to be buried. One said in Israel near the wall and the other said in Ireland. When asked by the first man he replys "When the devil comes a lookin to find where I repose, he'll never think of looking where the river Shannon flows. |
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23 Oct 14 - 11:47 AM (#3671552) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Parody of 'Where the River Shannon Flows' From: Jim Dixon The following song appears at the head of Chapter 30: "Irish Jewry in the 17th and 18th Centuries" in From Strangers to Citizens: The Integration of Immigrant Communities in Britain, Ireland, and Colonial America, 1550-1750 by Randolph Vigne and Charles Littleton (London: Huguenot Soc. of Great Britain and Ireland, 2001), page 276: (To the tune of "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling") Three Jews, they were a-talkin' 'Bout the day when they would die, And where they would be buried Beneath God's glorious sky. Lewinsky said "Jerusalem", "New York" said Rubinstein, But, when it came to Cohen he said: "The Irish isles are mine. "Sure, I long to lay my weary head Beneath those leafy boughs In an Irish cemetery Where the three-leafed shamrock grows, For the devil he'll be lookin' For to find me, I suppose, And he'd never think to look for me Where the River Shannon flows." This ditty from the Lower East Side in New York City, composed in 1879*, when the Jews and the Irish were competing for who was at the bottom rung of the social ladder, is false. The first recorded mention of a Jewish presence in Ireland.... [* However, "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" is copyright 1912, and "Where the River Shannon Flows" in 1905, so there is something wrong here. Maybe it was at first sung to a different tune, or not sung at all; maybe it was just a printed poem.] |
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26 Apr 15 - 01:16 PM (#3704310) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Parody of 'Where the River Shannon Flows' From: GUEST,Jim NH "Levinsky chose Jeruslem New York for Rubenstein But when it came tp Levy He said this is where I'll recline: Where h River Shannon flows That's where I shall repose...... Note: My mother told me about this. |
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09 Jun 15 - 02:28 PM (#3715562) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Parody of 'Where the River Shannon Flows' From: GUEST,guest, gregory. just back from Doolin The version of this ditty I knew goes like this: There were three Hebrews a plannin on the day that they would die Trying to decide on where their bodies would lie. Yablonski chose Jerusalem, New York for Rubenstein, but when it came to Cohen, he said I know the spot for mine. In an Irish cemetery, is the spot where I'll repose. With the River Shannon flowing and a shamrock on my nose. Now, I know the devil 'll be looking to find me I suppose, but he'll never think of looking where the River Shannon flows. |
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22 Jan 19 - 11:47 PM (#3973017) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Parody of 'Where the River Shannon Flows' From: GUEST There were three Jews a-thinking Of the place they'd like to die, but rather undecided of the of the place they'd like to lie... Albinski chose Jerusalem, America for Finestein, but when it came to Cohen, he said neither one for I. Where the river Shannons' flowing by body shall repose, in an Irish cemetery, shamrock growing on me nose... The devil will be looking for Cohen I suppose... But He'll never think of looking, where the river Shannon flows... Margaret McFadden, my Irish grandmother used to sing me those exact words from her father in Donegal |
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24 Jan 19 - 09:44 AM (#3973260) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Parody of 'Where the River Shannon Flows' From: beachcomber This was , quite obviously, one of those racist songs that the Cities of Eastern USA were full of, in the early years of the last century. I suppose that it could be termed a folk song, because the politics of the time saw to it's propagation as well as lots of similar racism. Of course all that is history now, isn't it ? |
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07 Mar 21 - 10:31 PM (#4096575) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Parody of 'Where the River Shannon Flows' From: GUEST,McMahon I remember the song being sung by an Uncle. History? I hope not. |
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02 Aug 21 - 07:10 AM (#4115115) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Parody of 'Where the River Shannon Flows' From: GUEST,Guest.Scott My uncle sang a slightly different version... 'Oh the Irish are a dirty bunch they never wash their cloths, for there are no Chinese laundries where the River Shannon flows. My Irish ancestors lived along an arc from Boyle to Roosky, Co. Roscommon, Ireland within a few miles of the Shannon river. Have to wonder if a Grandfather taught him the song. |
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02 Aug 21 - 04:25 PM (#4115165) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Parody of 'Where the River Shannon Flows' From: Mark Ross And then there is Joe Hill's Where the Fraser River Flows. |