Origins: Irish Wedding

Subject: Origins: Irish Wedding
From: GUEST,Julia L
Date: 13 Sep 26 - 07:04 PM

Anyone familiar with this?

Irish Wedding
Jack McNally Stacyville ME 5/9/1942
Helen Hartness Flanders
HHF1762, D24A02

In fair Dublin City a young man he did dwell
He courted a damsel in which he loved well.
One night he rode out his young love to see
And for to get married they both did agree

Ladlie Fal de dal day Ladlie Fal de di-o

Oh supper was ready and that in good taste
and plenty of…. lace
At the head of the table there was an old cake
And over the side there was a beefsteak

At the foot of the table the praeties was baked
And the noggins of butter was all in good taste
Ladlie Fal de dal day Ladlie Fal de di-o

… all gone
.. to old Ireland along with his horse
Ladlie Fal de dal day Ladlie Fal de di-o

At that the old man would grow red in the face
If you marry my daughter and that’s a disgrace
For she is a lady and you are so poor
You are bread and water … sure.
Ladlie Fal de dal day Ladlie Fal de di-o

The young man he jumped up in surprise and amaze
Which caused the old fellow upon him to gaze
Saying, “What is the difference in .. and ..
And the bogs old Ireland where there are so poor

Ladlie Fal de dal day Ladlie Fal de di-o

Come hand round your bottle and let us drink then
We’ll have the knot tied before the night’s end
I’ll give you a cow and five little sheep
And a fine little bed whereon you may sleep

Ladlie Fal de dal day Ladlie Fal de di-o

Up jumped the old woman she says it’s all wrong.
If you give them our cow we’ll not have butter long
For butter is selling it’s at good demand
For I can get ten pence a pound in me hand

Ladlie Fal de dal day Ladlie Fal de di-o

Oh, then up jumped Ladlie, he says it’s all right
If you give him our cow I’m sure it’s alright
For I give him my sister and she is worth more
Than any damned old cow around your barn door

Ladlie Fal de dal day Ladlie Fal de di-o

Oh supper was over and night did appear
At last this young man called the bed to be near
So I left the room for I thought it was and best
Them that stayed longer may tell you the rest

Subject: RE: Origins: Irish Wedding
From: Robert B. Waltz
Date: 13 Sep 26 - 07:14 PM

I suspect it's what Gray called "Irish Song" and Eckstorm and Smyth called "The Gay Wedding" (the latter being Roud #23383). Both claim to have had a "Gaelic" chorus; neither of them took it down.

If you've transcribed the recording, could you identify the tune? I have suspicions, but I won't bias anybody. :-) Neither of the two collections I listed gave a melody.

Subject: RE: Origins: Irish Wedding
From: GUEST,Julia L
Date: 13 Sep 26 - 08:21 PM

Thanks Robert- I have The Irish song / Gay Wedding from Roland Palmer Gray's "Songs and Ballads of the Maine Lumberjacks" But it's a different song than the Irish Wedding collected by Flanders- seems political

Neither of these states a tune; I do have an audio recording of the song in question and have transcribed it. The tune a minor jig that I do not recognize.

For the record, this from Gray-
Irish Song

Sung by Murray of Holden, Maine, who says it was written by a
fellow named Nesbeth, and that it had a chorus in Irish, which
was not safe to sing in some parts of Bangor. Picked up in 1914
by W. M. Hardy.

1 It 's of a gay wedding,
As you soon shall hear,
Got up in good style,
An' it ain't far from here.

2 It's Arthur De Laney
Tamson to Killrye;
He was the darlint,
The dancing bug boy.

3 Three hundred gay fellows
That day marched along,
All with their great cudgels
Both brave and strong.

4 You '11 think them the locusts
From the E-gyptian plains,
And like the wild devils
Let loose from their chains

This from Eckstorm & Smyth / Minstrelsy of Maine
THE GAY WEDDING

Taken down, in 1914, by Mr. Walter M. Hardy, of Brewer, Maine, from
the singing of a woodsman named Murray, originally from Prince Edward
Island, who said that ‘it was written by a fellow named Nesbeth,’ and
that ‘it had a chorus in Irish which it wouldn’t be safe to sing in some
parts of Bangor.’

1 It’s of a gay wedding,
As you soon shall hear,
Got up in good style,
And it ain’t far from here.

2 It’s Arthur De Laney,
Grandson to Killroy;
He was the darlint,
The dancin’ bug boy.

3 Three hundred gay fellows
That day marched along,
All with their great cudgels,
Both brave, stout and strong.

4 You’d think them the locusts
From the E-gyptian plains,
And like the wild devils
Let loose from their chains.

Mr. David F. Preble, of Guilford, Maine, said, in 1925,
that he had heard this sung in the woods, but not for the
last eight or nine years. Professor Gray prints it, under
the title ‘Irish Song,’ from the same original as the
above, but with the sixth line wrong.

Subject: RE: Origins: Irish Wedding
From: Robert B. Waltz
Date: 13 Sep 26 - 08:49 PM

Julia L. wrote: The tune a minor jig that I do not recognize.

OK, then both my guesses were wrong. :-)

Old songsters have a lot of songs titled "(The) Irish Wedding" -- too many for me to keep track of. :-/ The Ballad Index has two such songs, and it is clearly not the other one (Roud #17123).