The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #10657   Message #2131740
Posted By: Joe Offer
23-Aug-07 - 03:22 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Darling Girl from Clare (Percy French)
Subject: Lyr Add: THE DARLIN' GIRL FROM CLARE (Percy French
So, this is a composite from the typing of SingsIrish, Frank Maher, Wes W., and Quincy - as I found the lyics in The Songs of Percy French, selected and edited by James N. Healy, Ossian Publications, 1996.

THE DARLIN' GIRL FROM CLARE
(Percy French)

We were sitting on the wall upon a Sunday
To watch the girls go by,
And thinking we'd be marrit to one, one day,
When Kate Flynn caught our eye.
Oh, man, she was the makin's of a fairy,
And it made each boy-o swear!
There's not one girl in the wide, wide world,
Like the girl from the County Clare.

CHORUS
And every man had got the finest plan,
You ever see now - barrin' me now,
Every day there's one of them would say
That she'll agree now, you'll see now.
All night they'd fight as to which of them was right,
In the colour of her eyes and hair,
But not a word from me was ever heard,
About the darling girl from Clare.

Says Fagin, "'Tis the father I'll be plazin',
I'll tell him of the land I've tilled,
I'll tell him of the cattle I have grazin'
And the house I mean to build;
And whin he sees the 'arable' and 'pasture'
And the fat stock feedin' there,
And the hens and the chickens,
Ye may go to the dickens
For the girl from the County Clare.

CHORUS 2
And every man had got the finest plan,
Ye ever see now - barrin' me now,
Every day there's one of them would say
That she'll agree now, you'll see now.
*Thinks I, "well then now,
Though I haven't ere a cow
Of brass I've got my share,
And so I know the way they ought to go
About the darling girl from Clare.

Sez Sharkey "She'll be coming to the shop there
To buy some sort of thing
I'll ax her if she has a mind to stop there,
And should I buy the ring
An' whin she sees the curtains on the window
An' the old clock on the stair
Keepin' time to the minit
No one else will be in it
With the darling girl from Clare!"

CHORUS 3
So every man had got the finest plan
Ye ever see now - barrin' me now,
Every day there's one of them would say
That she'll agree now, you'll see now.
Thinks I, "Ye may stop
Till yer dead in yer shop,
An' not a hair she'll care,
Wid all yer gold
Ye's never hold a hold
Upon the darlin' girl from Clare."

I never said a single word about her,
But I met the girl that day,
I told her I could never live widout her,
And what had she to say?
She said that I might go and see her father.
I met him then and there,
An' in less than an hour,
We were fightin' for the dower,
Of the darlin' girl from Clare.

CHORUS 4
So every man had got the finest plan
Ye ever see now - barrin' me now,
Ev'ry day there's one of them would say
That she'll agree now - you'll see now.
But late last night
When the moon was bright,
I axed her if she'd share
Me joy an' me sorra'
An' begorra! on tomorra'
I'll be married to the Girl from Clare.


*original lines were:



The tune, as printed, didn't sound right to me until I went up half a step on "watch the girls" to B-flat. The MIDI is my (edited/corrected) version.

Click to play



Written and composed by Percy French (1854-1920). There is also a female version he composed for his singing partner of later years, Mary Laffan.