Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty

Subject: Irishman's shanty
From:
Date: 12 Mar 00 - 04:45 PM

Did ye ever walk into an irishman's shanty
where water was scarce and whiskey was plenty,
a three-legged stool and a table to match,
and a door without hinges that hung from a latch???

Subject: RE: BS: Irishman's shanty
From: Amos
Date: 12 Mar 00 - 05:37 PM

No, never have I...why you ask?

Subject: RE: BS: Irishman's shanty
From: GUEST,"magee"
Date: 12 Mar 00 - 05:43 PM

Just curious to be sure...:) Did ye not know this time of year brings these things ta mind?

Subject: RE: BS: Irishman's shanty
From: GUEST,"magee"
Date: 12 Mar 00 - 05:55 PM

Alrighty then. It was worth a shot - and it 'twas a bit different than, say, OH DANNNYYYYY BOOYYYYYY...but I find too much disinterest (or maybe all have gone to eat). At any rate, good night, sweet Irish dreams...and all that.

Subject: RE: BS: Irishman's shanty
From: alison
Date: 12 Mar 00 - 11:27 PM

Don't give up yet........ sometimes it takes a while to get a response.... and in the meantime.. people will probably make "jokes"....... (its just something that happens here.... please don't take it personally)

call back again tomorrow and you might have a few more replies..... sorry I don't know this..... but there are a few people out there with a great repertoire of Irish stuff who might.

Welcome to Mudcat

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: BS: Irishman's shanty
From: Amos
Date: 13 Mar 00 - 12:29 AM

I'm sorry, magee -- what was it you wanted related to the lyric you posted? I don't know the song myself...

Subject: Lyr Add: AN IRISHMAN'S SHANTY^^
From: GUEST,BAKALENAKOF
Date: 13 Mar 00 - 03:16 AM

Did you ever go down to an Irishman’s shanty
Where water was scarce, & whiskey was plenty?
Did you ever go down
And see-ee-ee
How dirty & ragged the Irish can be?

With lice in their heads, as fit to crack corn,
Did you ever go down & see how forlorn
Did you ever go down
And see-ee-ee
How dirty & ragged the Irish can be?

I need the words to "Mississippi Sawyer"...also "Lady Mary.”

Subject: RE: BS: Irishman's shanty
From: alison
Date: 13 Mar 00 - 03:29 AM

Hi Bakalenakof,

you will get better results if you start a new thread for each song you are after. go to "create a new thread" and follow the instructions. try to put the title or some words that you know into the thread name. so that it is easy for you to find again.

we tend not to type in capital letters here as capitals are used for "shouting" on the 'net.

good luck with your search.

Welcome to mudcat....

slainte

alison

Subject: Lyr Add: AN IRISHMAN'S SHANTY^^
From: rainbow
Date: 14 Mar 00 - 01:52 AM

mckinney is dead and mccarty don't know it
mccarty is dead and mckinney don't know it
they both sleep together in the very same bed
and neither one knows that the other one's dead....

(from my grandmother's singin')

... lorraine

Subject: Lyr Add: AN IRISHMAN'S SHANTY^^
From: kendall
Date: 14 Mar 00 - 10:13 AM

did you ever see an Irishman's shanty
when water was scarce and whiskey was plenty
a 3 legged stool with a table to match
and a girl in the corner without any s....h

Subject: RE: BS: Irishman's shanty
From: Amos
Date: 14 Mar 00 - 10:47 AM

Sash? Stash? Swath? Oh, kendall, you're so obscure! BG.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Irishman's shanty
From: kendall
Date: 14 Mar 00 - 01:12 PM

snatch forchrissake..dont you kids know any archaic words? lol

Subject: RE: BS: Irishman's shanty
From: Amos
Date: 14 Mar 00 - 01:36 PM

Thanks for the clarification, kendall -- we finally got ya to spit it out, so to speak...:>) (I don't think it's archaic yet...have you been miscounting those centuries again, k? Maybe you're still a young fart and just messed up the math?)

Subject: Lyr Add: IRISHMAN'S SHANTY
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 02 Apr 10 - 11:34 PM

From Canteen Songster (Philadelphia: Simpson & Co., 1866), page 91:

[I have left the spelling intact.]


IRISHMAN'S SHANTY.
Sung by Lew Simmons, of Carncross & Dixey's Minstrels.

Did ye ever go int'ill an Irishman's shanty?
Och! b'ys, that's the place where the whiskey it plenty;
With his pipe in his mouth, there sits Paddy so free,
No king in his palace is prouder than he!

CHORUS: Arrah; me honey! w-a-c-k! Paddy's the boy.

There's a three-legged stool, with a table to match,
And the door of the shanty is locked with a latch:
There's a nate feather mattrass all bustin' with straw,
For the want of a bedstead it lies on the floor.

There's a snug little bureau without paint or gilt,
Made of boords that was left when the shanty was built;
There's a three-cornered mirror hangs up on the wall,
The divil a face has been in it at all.

He has pigs in the sty and a cow in the stable,
And he feeds them on scraps that is left from the table;
They'd starve if confined, so they roam at their aise,
And come in the shanty whinever they plaise.

He has three rooms in one—kitchen, bed-room, and hall,
And his chist it is three wooden pegs in the wall;
Two suits of old clothes makes his wardrobe complete,
One to wear in the shanty, that same for the street.

He can relish good victuals as ever ye's ate,
But is always continted with praties and mate;
He prefers them when cowld (if he can't get them hot),
And makes tay in a bowl when he can't get a pot.

There is one who partakes of his sorrows and joys,
Attends to the shanty, the girls and the boys;
(The brats he thinks more of than gold that's refined),
But Biddy's the jewel that's set in his mind.

The rich may divide their enjoyments alone,
With those who have riches as great as their own;
But Pat hangs the latch-string outside of his door,
And will share his last cent with the needy and poor.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Sep 10 - 11:44 AM

My father used to sing this song to me when I was a child. I've asked many family members on his side if they knew it but no one did. The only difference is the line. "A string on the door that was used for a latch."

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 25 Sep 10 - 09:24 PM

Now Mrs. McCarthy have you a daughter?
Yes oh yes and a pretty one too
She went out to make her water
She'll be back in a moment or two

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 11 Mar 11 - 09:14 AM

My Mom always sang the ditty this way to me & my brother:

Did ye ever walk into an irishman's shanty
where money was scarce and whiskey was plenty,
a three-legged stool and a table to match,
and a hen in the corner all ready to hatch.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 11 Mar 11 - 05:03 PM

Did you ever go into an Irishman's shanty
Where water was scarce and whiskey was plenty
A three legged stool; a table to match
A hen in the corner all ready to hatch

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 11 Mar 11 - 05:06 PM

Sorry Guest, Guest, I missed your post!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Apr 11 - 11:36 AM

Hello all,

I learned the first part of this song from my mother's mother when I was something like 5 years old, and never forgot the first line, which follows:

"Did you ever step into an Irishman's shanty
Where water is scarce and whisky is handy . . .(?)"

I only have the haziest of memories about the three legged stool and that's all. Not too bad considering I am now 49 years old. When I first heard this song from my gran, I didn't know what Irish meant, nor what a shanty was, or why an Irishman would live in one, nor what being Catholic or Irish Catholic meant, nor even that there had ever been a potato famine. But every few years this song churns up in my memory, and thanks to all of you kind people here I finally have many of the actual words or variations to this jig or reel. Much obliged
and best regards,
Steven

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty
From: kendall
Date: 05 Apr 11 - 02:51 PM

I know this is supposed to be humor, but I'm having a hard time with the implication that the Irish are somehow sub human.

When I think "Irish" I think of Seamus Kennedy and Tommy Makem, not some thug who drinks, beats his wife and looks for a fight.

When I think Italian I think Leonardo DaVinci,Michelangelo, Galileo,and Botticelli.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty
From: GUEST,MAD JACK OF IRAQ
Date: 15 Sep 12 - 12:05 PM

and the bed where he sleeps is all covered with fleas...The fleas are as big as a keral of corn, they don't bite him or vetch him or make him forlorn..cause the Irishmans Fleas he took by their ear, he Smashed them, an Bashed them, and beat them severe, then he fetched them a clout, right out on the floor, and the Irishmans not bothered by fleeeeas no more.                      Gentrys buttermilks hot, shepherds buttermilks cold, the Irismans buttermilk's 7 years old, an the skippers (mice) are skippin all over the floor, and the wiggle tails makin his buttermilk roar !

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty
From: Cool Beans
Date: 15 Sep 12 - 02:41 PM

Everyone knows this is sung to the tune of "The Irish Washerwoman," right?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty
From: GUEST,burke willsey
Date: 21 Nov 12 - 02:25 PM

Did you ever go into an Irishman's shanty
Where water was scarce but the whisky was plenty
A three-legged stool and a table to match
And a hole in the corner for chickens to scratch.

Did you ever go into an Irishman's shanty
To see just how dirty the Irish can be
The skippers are runing all over the floor
And the wiggle-tails making the buttermilk roar

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty
From: GUEST,Fred McCormick
Date: 21 Nov 12 - 04:29 PM

Do we have to put up with this shit? Songs like this are demeaning, racist and very, very offensive. They are best forgotten about, along with all the other racial stereotyping songs about Blacks, Jews, Asians, Chinese and the rest of the ethnic groups who were kicked in the teeth by various combinations of racism, imperialism, and warped and twisted notions of white power and white supremacy.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 21 Nov 12 - 06:30 PM

The sheet music can be seen in Indiana University's "IN Harmony" collection:

THE IRISHMANS SHANTY: A Favorite Comic Song, With Imitations, as sung by Matt Peel.
Albany: E. Hobart & Co. ©1859.

Fred McCormick: I hope you will find some comfort in knowing that the original lyrics are inoffensive (unless you are offended by frank descriptions people of very modest means), and that in the original, Paddy is described as free, proud, loving, and generous.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty
From: GUEST,Fred McCormick
Date: 22 Nov 12 - 01:14 PM

Thanks for the reassurance. I hadn't come across The Irishman's Shanty before, but there are several ballads along the lines of "stop discriminating against poor Pat". Presumably this is another one. I just wish people would include a disclaimer if they need to post something with offensive lyrics.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty
From: GUEST,David Ames
Date: 28 Nov 12 - 12:13 PM

Growing up I heard this and wondered what the rest of the lyrics were.

Did you ever go into an Irishmans shanty
Where money is scarce and whiskey is plenty
They eat with their razors and fight with their knives
To keep the big bed bugs from taking their wives

And no, I never in my life looked down on the Irish. They would have ruled the world if not for Whiskey

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty
From: GUEST,donahue
Date: 01 Mar 13 - 11:54 AM

Did ye ever walk into an Irishman's shanty
Where money was scarce but whiskey was plenty

A three legged stool and a table to match
the door of the shanty hung on by a latch

you go to the parlor to get out some pies
and watch the green maggots roll up their red eyes

This is the version my dad and pap always sing!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty
From: GUEST,Beachcomber
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 09:16 AM

Interesting indeed, Guest Donohue, to hear that there are still people abroad, like your Dad (God bless him) who either don't realise or give a shit, when they give gratuitous offence.
Racism engendered songs such as this in attempts to justify the treatment meted out to those who were to be exploited and kept down. I'm happy to be able to inform you that they proved unsuccessful.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 02:52 PM

I think that the root of humour is being able to laugh at oneself! A thin skin takes offense when others laugh along! Erin gu brath!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 01:54 AM

Should a 'racist songs demeaning others' thread be started for songs like this? There must be many valuable uncollected songs sneering at Jews, black people, Poles, Irish, etc that could be saved and shared.

What's happened to Mudcat in the last year or so, by the way? It used to be quite a scholarly place - fun too - with a huge number of people posting; it seems to be draining away. Where's everyone gone?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty
From: GUEST,Beachcomber
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 07:06 AM

Look, I'm afraid that you've missed the point of the "humour" in such utterings Sandy. You can see where that "turn the other cheek" attitude has got us , and I am not just referring to "Irish Jokes", I include this type of put-down against English, Scottish, Welsh., you name them, as well.
Yes,I am offended (but far from mortally wounded), as an Irish person, that we should be stereotyped as "dirty" "ragged" lice-ridden etc, , whether in song or prose or in the media, by derogatory clap trap "humour".
However if some prefer to play the part of "court jester" for ever I hope that their skin remains as thin as that of the balloons on their giggling sticks if that is what it takes to accept insult without offence, god knows there are many like that.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 01:04 PM

My intent was to neither approve or condem the song itself! Only to reflect that it probably originated from Irish people, native or expatriate, expressing an internal humour. My native Cape Breton Island has been a collection point for Scottish, French and Irish dispora of earlier times and their history of eviction and exile is certainly no joke, but there remains a fantastic sense of humour! Political correctness of the over zealous can be a two edged sword that would stifle some things that in fact keeps the culture alive! I am sorry that anyone would find offense in that but it is not in any way of my creation!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 03 Mar 13 - 11:45 PM

I doubt this song originated from Irish people. Irish people may mock many things about themselves, but the image of the 19th-century Irish - desperate, terrified people fleeing famine and humiliation, having at home been starved of education and unable to improve their homes or landholdings for fear of eviction by landlords who would use their improvements to get a higher rent, riddled by depression and desperate poverty, refused work because they were Irish, turning to crime as their only recourse, living in an internal society where often their only chance of rising out of poverty, endemic illness, constant danger of death and the bullying of the 'legal' and civil service forces that often acted as their enemies through prejudice, where a dangerous living might be made by bootlegging or gun-running or acting as the servants and messengers of those who had clawed their way up by way of pimping or serving the wants of the rich for illegal services - the idea that these people would find it amusing to mock the deriding image others held of them as dirty and drunken is risible.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 04 Mar 13 - 09:17 AM

By the way, if you're interested in some background to these attitudes - to the way of life that the Irish had been forced to, and to the attitudes of their landlords to them - you could do better than read a contemporary version, by the Quaker Mary Leadbeater. You can download the ebook of her pamphlet The Landlord's Friend here.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 04 Mar 13 - 10:42 AM

Guest JIT,
Thanks for the link to The Landlord's Friend!
Just to make myself perfectly clear the song that I am referring to is that posted by Jim Dixon near the start of this thread. (02 Apr 10 11:34.) The tune is Irish and I don't see the words as being offensive, but only a bit self-effacing. Now some other idiots have concocted lyrics that do offend and some examples are listed deeper into the thread. I am thinking that perhaps it is not the original song but the parodies that you take issue with.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 04 Mar 13 - 10:47 AM

Oh, quite right - Jim Dixon's original is affectionate and does have that "insider" feeling.

I hope you like The Landlord's Friend. Great book! You might also like Leadbeater's Ballitore Journals, which are diaries going right through 1798, when she had neighbours lynched outside her door by Yeomen and blunderbuss-toting United Irishmen seeking guns and money in her house. ("Where does your daddy keep his money?" they asked the children; the five-year-old said she didn't know, the three-year-old said "In his britches pocket!")

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 04 Mar 13 - 01:45 PM

Thanks JTT!
When I look back on my postings I can see where the misunderstanding arose. It is too bad but thanks for making me set the facts straight!
As a descendant of Scotland's Highland clearances and a fellow Gael, I associate closely with Ireland's struggles. Many of the songs that I sing are Irish rebel songs, such as Kevin Barry, James Connolly, The Rising Of The Moon, and The Wearing Of Ther Green. I also have a deep love for the songs of humour such as The Irish Wake, Rosin The Bow, The Irish Rover, and the Moonshiner.
Thanks again!
          Sandy

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty
From: GUEST,DrWord
Date: 04 Mar 13 - 02:37 PM

Thanks for the thread, all contributors! The title caught my eye, as I've known one verse for over fifty years--and yes, it is a parody, though not quoted here. I hope you'll find, JTT, that the scholarship and spirit of Mudcat is alive and well, as in this thread.
keep on pickin'
dennis

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 04 Mar 13 - 03:01 PM

Yes, it certainly seems so, DrWord and Sandy.

There's a lot less traffic on the Cat than a few years ago, though, isn't there? Old names are missing too.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Sep 16 - 01:58 PM

Have ye ever walked into an Irishmans shanty
Where money is scarce and liquor is plenty
With a big wooden door and a table to match
And a hole in the floor for the devil to scratch.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irishman's Shanty
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Feb 20 - 05:40 PM

The version my mom used to sing went:

Did you ever go into an Irishman's shanty?
Where whiskey is plenty but money is scanty
A three-legged stool and a table to match
The door of the shanty hangs on by the latch.