the Whiffenpoofs Mavourneen

Subject: the Whiffenpoofs' Mavourneen
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 01 May 13 - 01:23 PM

I had a real treat last Sunday evening. I went down to the cathedral and heard the Yale Whiffenpoofs in concert. They were delightful - gracious, humorous, charming. And really, really good singers.

I have known 'the Whiffenpoof Song' for many years. I'm happy to say that they did a great performance of it, not doing it in the funereal way I've heard it on radio. They knew it was tongue in cheek, and they got that across, even to the kids in the audience.

That song has the words

...the magic of their singing, of the songs we knew so well
'Shall I Wasting' and 'Mavourneen' and the rest...

Somehow I had always thought that it was MavourNEEN, but they sang MaVOURneen. I was inspired to do a little research and find this mysterious MaVOURneen song.

It's a song from 1837, 'Kathleen Mavourneen.' (see Wikipedia for more history). It's got a fine tune, one my husband knows and loves (news to me). So I've made a MIDI of it in the key of C, and I'm practicing it on piano. It's not a folksong, it's more like an aria, but I'm getting it.

This was all made harder by my determination not to learn the words. I consider them sappy to the max and not worthy of the music. Other people are welcome to feel differently.

The Whiffenpoofs did not sing 'Kathleen Mavourneen,' they only mentioned it in their famous song. They did some Yale fight songs, a lot of pop music that I couldn't understand - and a heartbreakingly beautiful 'Down by the Salley Gardens.'

I'm glad I went.

Subject: RE: the Whiffenpoofs Mavourneen
From: Tiger
Date: 01 May 13 - 02:06 PM

I'd like to find out for sure, but I don't think that's the Mavourneen they're singing about.

Subject: Lyr Add: WHIFFENPOOF SONG
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 01 May 13 - 02:41 PM

The Whiffenpoof Song

To the tables down at Mory's
To the place where Louie dwells
To the dear old Temple bar we love so well

Sing the Whiffenpoofs assembled
With their glasses raised on high
And the magic of their singing casts its spell

Yes, the magic of their singing of the songs we love so well
"Shall I Wasting" and "Mavourneen" and the rest
We will serenade our Louie while life and voice shall last
[From: http://www.elyrics.net ]
Then we'll pass and be forgotten with the rest

We're poor little lambs who have lost our way
Baa, baa, baa
We're little black sheep who have gone astray
Baa, baa, baa

Gentleman songsters off on a spree
Doomed from here to eternity
Lord have mercy on such as we
Baa, baa, baa
Lyrics from eLyrics.net

Subject: RE: the Whiffenpoofs Mavourneen
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 01 May 13 - 03:09 PM

Not Sure, but I believe the "Mavourneen" in question is from Victor Herbert's Babes in Toyland (alt. title: Barney O'Flynn)

Subject: RE: the Whiffenpoofs Mavourneen
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 01 May 13 - 03:18 PM

From the site http://www.whiffalumni.com/early_repertoire :

Another song with surprising roots is Mavourneen. Together with Shall I, Wasting, this was one of the two songs celebrated in the 1909 Whiffenpoof Song lyrics as 'the songs we love so well.'
Now assumed by all to be a traditional Irish ballad, Mavourneen is, in fact, the tag for Barney O'Flynn from Babes in Toyland, written by Victor Herbert only six years earlier in 1903. Together, Velia and Mavourneen show a different, more contemporary aspect of the Whiffenpoof repertoire, influenced by the musical theatre of the day and promptly transforming new songs into classics.

Subject: RE: the Whiffenpoofs Mavourneen
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 01 May 13 - 03:46 PM

Oops. Not Kathleen Mavourneen, then?

Subject: RE: the Whiffenpoofs Mavourneen
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 02 May 13 - 11:13 AM

I've found a video of a soprano doing "Barney O'Flynn"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p8tAW7Bdcw

On Youtube I counted 18 videos of Kathleen Mavournoon, many of them associated with men. There's one Barney O'Flynn, and the song seems designed for a trained, soaring soprano. I'm beginning to wonder if the person who said the Whiffenpoofs sang 'Barney O'Flynn' was correct.

I'm going to see if I can find the music for 'BF' and make a set of them.

Subject: RE: the Whiffenpoofs Mavourneen
From: GUEST,An Old Whiff
Date: 06 May 13 - 01:46 AM

Yes, it's this verse, sung very slowly in 4-part barbershop style:

Mavourneen, Mavourneen,
sure one kiss could be no sin,
for I love you, Alana,
your poor slave is Barney O'Flynn.

Subject: RE: the Whiffenpoofs Mavourneen
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 06 May 13 - 08:51 AM

Okay.

Did you tour the world, Old Whiff? The group I saw had toured the Americas and were ready to hit the other continents.

I loved their shoes. I love my husband, too, but when I told him about the W's shoes, he grew pale and sweat appeared on his brow.

Subject: RE: the Whiffenpoofs Mavourneen
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 06 May 13 - 12:25 PM

Mudcat has a thread on "Kathleen Mavourneen," (darling Kathleen in rough translation), the Crouch and Crawford song of 1837.

No, it is not the song meant, that one is by Victor Herbert as posted by Charlie Baum.

Subject: RE: the Whiffenpoofs Mavourneen
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 06 May 13 - 12:29 PM

Sorry- NOT a song, but a reference by Herbert in his "Babes in Toyland."