Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman

Subject: Irish Washer Woman
From: angel
Date: 20 Mar 00 - 05:22 PM

Does anyone have the lyrics to this song? Irish Washer Woman.

Thanks, Angel

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Mar 00 - 05:57 PM

It was an instrumetal tune published in Dublin about 1785. The earliest song to the tune is George Colman's "Corporal Casey".

Subject: Lyr Add: AN IRISHMAN'S SHANTY^^
From: Frank Maher
Date: 20 Mar 00 - 08:26 PM

The Only Lyrics I've ever heard Were

Did You ever go Into an Irishman's Shanty,
Where Water is scarce and the Whisky is Plenty,
A Three Legged Stool and a Table to Match,
And a Stick in the Door,instead of a Latch.......

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 20 Mar 00 - 09:49 PM

G'day Angel,

Here in Australia, we had a song called "The Currency Lass" - a tale of early colonial courtship (~1820s) set to that tune. It's not what you are looking for, but I can scan in the words some time. It should be of interest to someone out there.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 20 Mar 00 - 09:56 PM

Didn't we use to sing these words to the first part of that tune?

Oh, McGinty is dead and McCarty don't know it;
McCarty is dead and McGinty don't know it.
They's both of them dead in the very same bed,
And there's neither one knows that the other is dead.

Sandy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Mar 00 - 10:07 PM

Incidently, the original name of the tune was "The Wash Woman". It was soon published outside of Ireland with the identifier 'Irish' in front of the title and that was subsequently taken as part of the title.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: Timehiker
Date: 20 Mar 00 - 10:21 PM

The Corries used the tune for a song called The Wedding of Lackey McGraw. I could never decifer the words through the accent though.

Take care, Timehiker

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: ddw
Date: 20 Mar 00 - 10:47 PM

My favorite song to that tune is "Do Virgins Taste Better" by R. Farran. It's in the DT.

david

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 20 Mar 00 - 11:35 PM

Bob, you have me intrigued! Is it 'but the lass I adore the one for me, is the lass from the female factory' or is that one Currency Lads? Regards, John

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: alison
Date: 21 Mar 00 - 01:56 AM

Percy French wrote one called "McBreen's heifer" to this tune..... would it be the one you're looking for?

About a man being offered a choice between two daughters to marry, and a heifer being included with the uglier one to make her more appealing.

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: bill\sables
Date: 21 Mar 00 - 04:45 AM

My dad used to sing the words;
There was a man up a tree climbing so high
There was a man up a tree chasing a butterfly
Fly away Roger with only one eye

I never quite understood the words but they seemed to be some sort riddle can anyone explain it
Cheers Bill

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 21 Mar 00 - 07:24 AM

G'day;

John in Brisbane: That is the one - I won't vouch for official names.

Timehiker: The Wedding of Lauchie M'Graw was one of Harry Lauder's songs (often found in a variety of variant names). I recently published a version sung by an old Queenslander bloke, Fred Richards, to a tune played by Sydney/NSW character, Joe Yates, in Mulga Wire #134, August 1999.

This had its own tune ... but this doesn't stop anyone from using an old favourite like Irish Washerwoman.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,skarpi Iceland
Date: 21 Mar 00 - 07:28 AM

I am at work at the moment but I have the lyric at my home. There is a lyric Called Irish Washer Woman. I will contact this thread tonight when I home. All the best skarpi Iceland.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 21 Mar 00 - 07:34 AM

G'day Angel,

The Varsovienne (generally Varsovienna in Australian country areas) is remarkably resilient here. Dozens of different tunes collected in Australia, many country areas where it is still danced.

Of the many tunes, only three sets of words come to mind: "Put Your Little Foot", "Kick Your Leg Up, Sal Brown" and "The Babes in the Woods". I don't know all the words to any variant - I only play the music!

BTW: Research on historical principles, instead of believing what the French have to say, indicates the true origins are Swedish. They have the best versions, with a 3-part structure comprising: The "Turn around and point" section, a Mazurka and a Circular Waltz. All parts are in 3/4 but have quite distinct character.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: alison
Date: 21 Mar 00 - 09:44 AM

Hey bob, you want the Varsovienna thread... I've cut and pasted your replies into the other thread.

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: Midchuck
Date: 21 Mar 00 - 10:04 AM

The only ones I'm familiar with are a variant of the ones Sandy Paton gave:

McTavish is dead and his brother don't know it,
The brother is dead and McTavish don't know it...

Peter.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,Sian in Wales
Date: 21 Mar 00 - 10:26 AM

An historical note: it's a tune which has been traced back to a Welsh composition, *Sidanen*, composed by a Welsh courtier for Elizabeth 1.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,Bruce O.
Date: 21 Mar 00 - 12:01 PM

It's related to Sedany (Sidanen)/Dargeson but isn't the same tune. Lodovick Lloyd's ballad on Queen Elizabeth was to the tnne of 'Welshe Sidanen', but Lloyd didn't compose the tune. Song and tune are on my website. The note on the tune in 'Folk Music Journal', pointing out Lloyd's connection to the tune, was by me.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: MMario
Date: 21 Mar 00 - 12:10 PM

"Twas the Night Before Christmas" scans nicely to Irish Washerwomen as well..

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,Philippa
Date: 21 Mar 00 - 01:34 PM

there's an American pioneer song, Starving to Death on a Government Claim, with lines such as
How happy I am when I crawl into bed
and the rattlesnake rattles his tail round my head
And the dear little flea with tacks on his toes
Plays why don't you catch me? wherever he goes.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: Jacob B
Date: 21 Mar 00 - 01:40 PM

Sandy, Midchuck,

The version I know is

McTavish is dead and his brother don't know it
His brother is dead and McTavish don't know it
They're both of them dead and they're in the same bed
And neither one knows that the other is dead

McTavish he suffered from chronic arthritis
His brother he suffered from peritonitis
They both of them died and oh my how we cried
Cause neither one knew that the other had died

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,Bruce O.
Date: 21 Mar 00 - 03:07 PM

The great similarity of "Irish Washerwoman" and "Sedany" can be seen using the display program on my website on file COMBCOD2.txt. "Irish Washerwoman" (7 copies) have tune ref# 2402, and "Sedany" and "The Melody of Cynwyd" (Jones' Welsh Bards, 2nd part, 1800) have reference #40104. Option 3 of the program find them and they can be saved, and the stressed notes of the tunes can be plotted on the same graph with option 0. You will see that the 5th note of "Corporal Casey" is a bit different from the common versions of "Irish Washerwoman".

PS: "A Sup of Good Whiskey" originally had it's own tune, (also stressed note and mode coded in my code files) but I have a recording of it by Patrick Galvin to the tune of "The Irish Washerwoman" and it fits beautifully.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: Lesley N.
Date: 21 Mar 00 - 07:27 PM

An addition to Bruce's reference. Dargason/Sedany was put to the words, "The Hawthorn Tree" which is in Ritson's Ancient Songs under Class IV, (from Edward VI to Elizabeth) as A Mery Ballet of the Hathorne Tre, to be sung to the tune of Donkin Dargeson.

One Hundred Songs of England says Dargeson may be a reference to an "old piece played by the Children of the Revels at Blackfriars in 1606 entitled "The Isle of Gulls." The couplet it gives from "Isle" has a reference to a place named Dargison. There is also mention that "Gifford speaks of some child's book of knight-errantry in which a dwarf named Darison,who served as a page to the hero in her adventures." I don't know who or when Gifford is, it's not clear.

100 Songs also says the tune in the book for the Hawthorn Tree was taken from The Dancing Master (1650-51), where it is called Dargason, or the Sedany (the Sedany being a country dance). The similarity to IWW is, indeed, unmistakable.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 21 Mar 00 - 07:49 PM

Er G'day ... Alison,

You're right - I was in the wrong thread! It was not my night: I seem to have pinched a nerve (or some more medically correct explanation) down at Jamberoo and, since Saturday, I have been feeling unsteady and queasy - like motion sickness that won't go away and it's about time I went off to a doctor about it.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,Bruce O.
Date: 21 Mar 00 - 08:05 PM

The Hawthorne tree ballad is also on my website (unexpurgated, and probably by George Peele). Also there is my theory that Sidanen was the Fair Lady of Sinadon in the metrical tale or ballad of Libius Disconius (Percy Folio MS). The dwarf in this in not named Dargason, however. I suspect Gifford saw some different version of the tale. The tale takes place in Northern Wales, and it's just possible that Snowden came from Sinadon. How about it, you Cymri out there? Where did the name Snowden come from? Somewhere I think I have a note of the tune being played at Christmas time in Wales in the late 16th century.

Incidently, Sedanny is the primary, not secondary, name of the tune in the 1st edition of 'The Dancing Master'. The tune was also known as that for the "Baldwin Song" on the Isle of Man.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 21 Mar 00 - 08:09 PM

for a start, if you search for washerwoman in the DT, you'll get some hits, but that's only the beginning: scroll down to where it says play.exe IRISHWSH. The stuff in caps is the name of the tunefile. Now try a search for *IRISHWSH (there's really an unprintable character between the play.exe part and the tune filename, and the wildcard takes care of the whole thing) and you'll get nine sets of lyrics that work.

There';s a lot more to DigiTrad than searching for titles.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 25 Mar 00 - 10:46 AM

G'day,
A.A. Milne's "The Old Sailor" fits this tune. Click here for an earlier thread started by an old Mudcat friend.

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: Lyr Add: Chu Vankuvro au Vankuvero?
From: Haruo
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 08:27 PM

I just posted on La Lilandejo a song by Marta Evans to a medley of "Irish Washerwoman", "Tancuj, Tancuj" and "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean", which deals (in the Washerwoman portion) with the burning issue in regional Esperanto circles circa 1982 'Should "Vancouver" (BC) be Esperanticized as "Vankuvro" or "Vankuvero"?!' (the remainder of the song consists of an ode to Vancouver and an invitation to attend the Universal Esperanto Congress, which was held in Vancouver in 1984 (and was the cause of all the controversy about how to say the town's name). I, longing for a useful rhyme for "Luvro" [the Louvre], was on the ultimately losing "Vankuvro" side; Marta, arguing that there were no rhymes for "Vankuvro" except the highly useless "Luvro", was on the winning "Vankuvero" side. She stayed at my place while working on Kantfesto I (where the song appeared) and we sat up several nights drinking and arguing the point. (Well, I drank, anyhow; she was more a "glass of wine with dinner" type as I recall.)

Liland

PS I'm also starting a Japanese index to Esperanto hymns online if any of you want to bookmark it ;-); to complement the German one.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: masato sakurai
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 11:18 PM

Claude Simpson says: "Strong traces of 'Dargason' remain in the familiar 'Irish Washerwoman' and in the American play-party song, 'Skip to My Lou'" (The British Broadside Ballad and Its Music). They are all relatives, aren't they? But you could not say "Skip to My Lou" is the words for "Irish Washerwoman". There are at least 2 CDs, where we can listen to "Dargason" played in old style: Country Capers (Arabesque Z6520); An American Journey (Angel CDC 7243 5 55522 2 8).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: Art Thieme
Date: 13 Aug 01 - 07:21 PM

O.K.,

I suspect I must post this---even though it's in bad taste.
It's a set of words I got many years ago from Michael Cooney. I've no idea where he found it. But I did include it in my collection of songs on the life, times and assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. That collection is now in the Library Of Congress Archive Of Folk Culture.

The little song, to the tune of THE IRISH WASHERWOMAN is simply titled TEDDY'S SONG.

Oh, your mother is old,
And your father is dead,
And your brother is dead,
And your brother is dead,
And your brother is dead,
And your kid has one leg,
And your wife is a drunk,
And your car doesen't float.

(art thieme)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 13 Aug 01 - 09:31 PM

As I learned "The TK Song" back in Boston

Oh, your mother is old,
And Your father Is dead,
And your brother is dead,
And your brother is dead,
And your brother is dead,
And Kopechne is dead,
And your wife is a drunk,
And your kid has one leg

Whichever scans best to your tune????

John

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 26 Apr 04 - 07:11 PM

Hmmm...

I had to do a search on my faster work machine to dig back 4 - 5 years for this - after being nagged about failing to deliver the Aussie song I mentioned way up above! The song is 'properly called Botany Bay Courtship and commonly "The Currency Lad" / "The Currency Lass" ... and variants. It was sung in Sydney theatres in the 1830s and The Irish Washerwoman is the most likely tune to have been used.

I'll use this post to 'refresh' the thread ... and post in the scanned words and history from my home machine - tonight!

Regards,

Bobn Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: David Ingerson
Date: 26 Apr 04 - 08:06 PM

I learned these words from a book called "50 great Irish songs" or something of that ilk, back when I was first learning Irish songs, many years ago. Unfortunately, I still seem to know them. Here they are:

Oh, an Irisher washwoman hasn't an equal,
She rubs better, scrubs better than other people,
She sings a bit, jigs a bit all the day long,
And her heart's like a shamrock, it sings a great song.

Oh, the neighbors all listen to Mrs. McCleary,
And swear that a washwoman's life is not dreary,
She wiggles and jiggles an eyeful of Ireland,
The pride of the Irish, the washwoman queen.


I have no idea where these words came from but I'll see if I can find the book tonight and see if it says anything about origins.

David

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 27 Apr 04 - 02:16 AM

Incidently guest it's earliest title was ' The Irishwoman ' [ O'Neill ] but as the names of Irish dance tunes only reflect that moment in time, it doesn't really matter.
eric

Subject: Lyr Add: BOTANY BAY COURTSHIP (1832 Aussie song)
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 27 Apr 04 - 08:56 AM

G'day again,

This is an old Australian song for which the common tune is The Irish Washerwoman. It was reported in a newspaper in 1832 ... presumably written down by a journalist as a nice little oddity!

BOTANY BAY COURTSHIP
Anon.               (Usually sung toThe Irish Washerwoman)

The Currency Lads may fill their glasses,
And drink to the health of the Currency Lasses;
But the lass I adore, the lass for me,
Is a lass in the Female Factory*.

O! Molly's her name, and her name is Molly,
Although she was tried by the name of Polly;
She was tried and was cast for death at Newry,
But the judge was bribed and so were the jury.

She got "death recorded." in Newry town,
For stealing her mistress's watch and gown;
Her little boy Paddy can tell you the tale,
His father was turnkey of Newry jail.

The first time I saw the comely lass
Was at Parramatta, going to Mass;
Says I, "I'll marry you now in an hour,"
Says she, "Well, go and fetch Father Power."

But I got into trouble that very same night!
Being drunk in the street I got into a fight,
A constable seized me - I gave him a box -
And was put in the watch-house and then in the stocks.

O! It's very .unaisy. as I may remember,
To sit in the stocks in the month of December;
With the north wind so hot, and the hot sun right over -
O! Sure, and it's no place at all for a lover!

"It's worse than the treadmill", says I, "Mr Dunn,
To sit here all day in the .hate of the sun!"
"Either that or a dollar," says he, "for your folly," -
But if I'd a dollar I'd drink it with Molly.

But now I am out again, early and late
I sigh and I cry at the Factory gate,
"O! Mrs R----, late Mrs F-----n,
O! Won't you let Molly out very soon?"

"Is it Molly McGuigan?" says she to me,
"Is it not?" says I, for she knowed it was she.
"Is it her you mean that was put in the stocks
For beating her mistress, Mrs Cox?"

"O! Yes and it is, madam, pray let me in,
I have brought her a half-pint of Cooper's best gin,
She likes it as well as she likes her own mother,
O! Now let me in, madam, I am her brother."

So the Currency Lads may fill their glasses,
And drink to the health of the Currency Lasses;
But the lass I adore, the lass for me,
Is a lass in the Female Factory.

(Notes from .OLD BUSH SONGS and Rhymes of Colonial Times., Enlarged and Revised from the Collection of A.B. Paterson, Edited by Douglas Stewart & Nancy Keesing, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1957)

From the "Botany Bay Eclogues" in the Sydney Gazette of 14th July 1832. "An excellent new song, as it ought to be sung in the Theatre Royal, Sydney, by Mr Bert Levy, in the character of the Ticket-of-leave Holder". The point of this song is that the Parramatta Female Factory was the place to which the lower class of settler went in search of a wife. Thomas Dunn had been chief constable at Sydney, but had retired to Parramatta to enjoy light duty and a pension.
The reference to Mr Bert Levy and his theatre - he was actually Barnett Levy and he had just received the licence of Governor Bourke to perform in his saloon in the Royal Hotel, George Street (where Dymock's now stands) which he had fitted up as a theatre, "such pieces only, as had been licensed in England by the Lord Chamberlain".
The two ladies mentioned with long dashes in their names sound like Mrs Fulton and Mrs Rossi, two members of the Committee of the Institution. Cooper was Sir Daniel Cooper.

* Further note from me:

Female Factory: This was a large prison / workhouse at Parramatta, specifically to house female convicts not assigned as servants to some free settler. A variety of craft work, clothmaking and clothing manufacture took place at the Factory (and my Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd Edition 1933 / rev. 1973, lists:

"Paramata, 1834. [Paramata (prop. Parramatta in New South Wales,] A light dress fabric having a weft of combed merino wool and a warp formerly of silk, but now usu. cotton.")

The Factory was also a holding prison for "3rd class female convicts" – those returned to custody for offences or intransigence … a rather fearsome lot by all accounts!

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: David Ingerson
Date: 27 Apr 04 - 05:42 PM

Well, I found the origins of the words I posted yesterday and my face is a little red. It was in Songs the Irish Love to Sing: Irish Songbook, published by Charles Hansen, Inc. The words were by, well, one Charles Hansen and the music "by" Jeremiah Dugan, all copyrighted in 1947. Presumably Jere wrote the piano accompaniment.

Maybe publishing children's band methods, like the one I went through on clarinet as a kid, was ole Charlie's day job and he really wanted to be an Irish song writer. Then again, maybe not. I don't really know much about him.

By the way, the fourth line should read:

"And her heart's like a shamrock, it sings a gay song."

(Just don't tell the New York Hibernians that shamrocks sing gay songs! Or maybe DO tell them!)

David

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,Paul Bellah
Date: 11 Mar 07 - 10:14 PM

My grandmother Ann Quinn Reid sang it thus:

Oh, pat says he
what says she
where is my
hat says he
there says she
where says he
under the
chair says she
oops says she
no says she
that is no hat
says she
that is my cat
named patty Macgee

Your suppose to sing it faster and faster and faster without stumbling.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,meself
Date: 11 Mar 07 - 10:21 PM

Pete Seeger points out that We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder is more or less the same tune slowed down ...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: clueless don
Date: 12 Mar 07 - 07:59 AM

I have always liked the tune (listen to the rendition on Paddy Glackin's "In Full Spate" album!) I remember an episode of Rocky and Bulwinkle (don't know whether it was "Rocky and His Friends" or "The Bulwinkle Show") where Bulwinkle sang a short song to the tune. I haven't been able to find the lyrics. The first line ends with "...a fright", the second line ends with "...left over since Saturday Night", the third line ends with "..in a pot" (or possibly "...in the pot"), and the last line is something like "and tell you it's real Irish stew that they've got."

Anybody know it?

Don

Subject: Lyr Add: CORPORAL CASEY
From: GUEST,O'Gallagher
Date: 25 Jan 08 - 05:25 PM

When I was at home I was merry and frisky,
My dad kept a pig and my mother sold whisky,
My uncle was rich, but never would by aisey
Till I was enlisted by Corporal Casey.
Och! rub a dub, row de dow, Corporal Casey,
My dear little Shelah, I thought would run crazy,
When I trudged away with tough Corporal Casey.

I marched from Kilkenny, and, as I was thinking
On Shelah, my heart in my bosom was sinking,
But soon I was forced to look fresh as a daisy,
For fear of a drubbing from Corporal Casey.
Och! rub a dub, row de dow, Corporal Casey!
The devil go with him, I ne'er could be lazy,
He struck my shirts so, ould Corporal Casey.

We went into battle, I took the blows fairly
That fell on my pate, but they bothered me rarely,
And who should the first be that dropped, why, and please ye,
It was my good friend, honest Corporal Casey.
Och! rub a dub, row de dow, Corporal Casey!
Thinks I you are quiet, and I shall be aisey,
So eight years I fought without Corporal Casey.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: Hrothgar
Date: 26 Jan 08 - 02:25 AM

My father's cavalry regiment had this as a cantering tune, if I remember rightly.

It is also used for the cowboy song "The Railroad Corral" (which also used "Bonnie Dundee", another cavalry canter).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 26 Jan 08 - 03:10 AM

Pete Seeger had it in his banjo tutor as an example of 6/8 time. I wonder if he had any words?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,georgia
Date: 24 Mar 08 - 11:43 AM

My grandparents were from County Wicklow and they taught us this song. The only lyrics I can recall are these:

Did you ever go into an Irishman's shanty
where money is scarce but whiskey is plenty
a three-legged stool and a table to match
a door and a window without any latch

Oh the pig's in the parlor
the hen's in the kitchen
................
................

And I've sadly forgotten the rest!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 12:54 AM

Isaac Asimov pointed out that there was some chemical whose name you could sing to the tune. I think it was para-dichloro-amino-benzaldehyde.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,Tom
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 12:38 AM

My mother used to sing this one verse to us when I was a small boy. Its a slight variation from Georgia's recollection above.

Have you ever been into an Irishman's shanty
Where whiskey is plenty and water is scanty
There's a three legged stool and a table to match
And a hole in the floor for the chicken to scratch

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: Will Fly
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 03:23 AM

Here's a lyric from Lancashire:

Oh, Theophilus Sprocket invented a rocket
And sailed to the moon with his lunch in his pocket,
And nothing was heard, not a whisper or word,
Of Theophilus Sprocket, the lunch or the rocket

Astronomers wives, peering into the skies,
Gave incredulous cried of alarm and surprise,
For the moon's face was blue - and that was quite true -
'Twas the face of Theophilus Sprocket.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: skarpi
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 03:26 AM

i have a lyric here somewhere ,called " Irish Washer woman
and its with the tune ,

I ´ll put in when I find it

All the best Skarpi

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,beachcomber
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 01:47 PM

Wonder just who were the people who had nothing better to do than write such lyrics and why ?
Just curious.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: Joe_F
Date: 15 Aug 08 - 09:48 PM

On the evidence, they could have done worse.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,Dave MacKenzie
Date: 16 Aug 08 - 07:03 PM

Back in the 1950s, we were using a songbook in primary school (possibly published by Curwen) which had words beginning:

Her washing was known through the whole of the country
From old Donegal to the borders of Bantry.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: kendall
Date: 16 Aug 08 - 07:27 PM

The way I first heard it was: the last verse, a three legged stool with a table to match and a girl in the corner without any snatch.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,EBarnacle
Date: 17 Aug 08 - 12:40 AM

Did the linked song about the old sailor tonight at a festival party. Realized that the melody and line scan are very similar to Betsy from Pike.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,Dave MacKenzie
Date: 17 Aug 08 - 07:44 PM

Any words put a jig will have the same line scan. I can't remember the tune name, but "Sweet Betsy from Pike" pops up songwise as "The Ould Orange Flute", "I Don't Mind if I Do"etc.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,Doug
Date: 20 Apr 09 - 09:58 PM

The "Rocky & Bullwinkle" version:

"Oh, the 'taters are old and the meat is a fright,
Ev'ry thing is left over from Saturday night--
We sweep it all up,put it into a pot
And tell you it's real Irish stew that you've got."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: clueless don
Date: 21 Apr 09 - 09:09 AM

Thank you, GUEST,Doug!

Don

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,Tinker in Chicago
Date: 21 Apr 09 - 05:21 PM

Jacquie Manning, now half of the duo Small Potatoes, used to sing a solo act as The Queen of Tarts, and she'd sing:

Oh, if you need a Druid to lighten your mu-id
and not to get cru-id or pose in the nu-id,
We'll eat all your foo-id and drink all your flu-id
and then we'll get stew-id and fall on the floor.

My wife and I do the air as an instrumental but occasionally stop playing, sing the above, and start up again, just to watch audiences say, "Wha?"

Subject: Lyr Add: THE CHEMISTS DRINKING SONG (J A Carroll)
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 22 Apr 09 - 12:49 AM

THE CHEMISTS DRINKING SONG (John A. Carroll)
(Tune:The Irish Washerwoman )

Para-dimethyl- amino- benzaldehyde,
Sodium citrate, ammonium cyanide,
Mix 'em together, toss in some benzene,
And top it all off with some tri-chloro-eth'lene.

Got loaded last night on some fufuryl alcohol,
Followed it up with a gallon of propanol,
Tanked up on hydrazine all afternoon,
Then I spat on the floor and blew up the saloon.

Para-dimethyl- amino- benzaldehyde,
Powdered aluminum, nitrogen iodide,
Chlorates, permanganates, nitrates galore,
Just swallow one drink and you'll never need more.

Oh, whiskey, tequila and rum are too tame,
The stuff that I drink must explode into flame,
When I breathe I dissolve all the paint in the room,
And rattle the walls with a ground-shaking BOOM.

Para-dimethyl- amino- benzaldehyde,
Go soak your head in a good strong insecticide,
Slosh it around and impregnate your brain,
With dichloro-diphenal, trichloro-ethane.



Go For it.

Seamus

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: PoppaGator
Date: 22 Apr 09 - 03:44 PM

This version was quoted above, TWICE:

Did you ever go into an Irishman's shanty
where money is scarce but whiskey is plenty...

The way I heard it as a child, quoted above only once, not only rhymes, but also has a bit more logic to it:

Did you ever go back to an Irishman's shanty
where whiskey is plenty but water is scanty...

Trouble is, I don't remember ever having heard more than just those two opening lines!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: sharyn
Date: 23 Apr 09 - 10:40 AM

My Mom used to sing:

There's a place down in Deblin where everyone goes
To see the old washwoman washing her clothes:
She rubs and she scrubs and she rub-a-dub dubs
Till she rubs and she scrubs them right down to the nub.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: sharyn
Date: 23 Apr 09 - 10:41 AM

Sorry-- that's "Dublin," of course (typo)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,K
Date: 04 Oct 09 - 10:44 PM

I remember hearing this from my mother, who learned it from my grandfather who had travelled across the US with his banjo in the 1920's, but I only recall the one verse.

Oh, d'you ever go down to the wash woman's shanty
where water is scarce and whiskey is plenty
a-wade in the dirt, clear up to your knees
There's a bed in the corner all covered with fleas.

There's a three-legged stool and a table to match
and a door that flies open without any latch.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: Mr Happy
Date: 15 Dec 09 - 09:30 AM

Great early [1912ish!] instrumental here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp8KSmJA0kc

Subject: Lyr Add: STARVING TO DEATH ON MY GOVERNMENT CLAIM
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Dec 09 - 02:16 PM

Someone mentioned "Starving To Death On My Government Claim," a song that sprang from homesteading days on the American prairie. Straight from the D.T., as follows:

Starving to Death on My Government Claim (Lane County Bachelor)^^^

My name is Frank Bolar, an old bach'lor I am
I'm keeping old batch on an elegant plan,
You'll find me out west in the County of Lane
Starving to death on my government claim.
    My house it is built of the national soil
    The walls are erected according to Hoyle,
    The roof has no pitch, but is level and plane
    And I never get wet till it happens to rain.

    Then hurrah for Lane County, the land of the free
    The home of the bedbug, mosquito and flea,
    I'll sing loud her praises and never complain
    While starving to death on my government claim.

My clothes they are ragged, my language is rough,
My bread is case-hardened, both solid and tough;
The dough it is scattered all over the room
And the floor would take fright at the sight of a broom.
    My dishes are dirty, and some in the bed
    Are covered with sorghum and government bread;
    But I have a good time and I live at my ease
    On common-sop sorghum, old bacon and grease.

    Then hurrah for Lane County, the land of the West
    Where the farmers and laborers are always at rest;
    Where you've nothing to do but sweetly remain
    And starve like a man on your government claim.

How happy am I when I crawl into bed
And a rattlesnake rattles a tune at my head;
And the gay little centipede, void of all fear
Crawls over my pillow ind into my ear.
    And the nice little bedbug, so cheerful and bright
    Keeps me a-scratching full half of the night,
    And the gay little flea with toes sharp as a tack
    Plays "why don't you catch me?" all over my back.

    But hurrah for Lane County, where blizzards arise
    Where the winds never cease and the flea never dies;
    Where the sun is so hot if in it you remain,
    'Twill burn you quite black on your government claim.

How happy am I on my government claim,
Where I've nothing to lose and nothing to gain;
Nothing to eat and nothing to wear,
Nothing from nothing is honest and square.
    But here I am stuck, and here I must stay
    My money's all gone, and I can't get away;
    There's nothing to make a man hard and profane
    Like starving to death on a government claim.

Then come to Lane County, there's room for you all
Where the winds never cease and the rains never fall.
Come join in the chorus, and boast of her fame
While starving to death on your government claim.
    Now don't get discouraged, you poor hungry men,
    We're all here as free as a pig in a pen;
    Just stick to your homestead and battle your fleas
    And pray to your Maker to send you a breeze.

Now a word to claim holders who are bound for to stay
You may chew on your hardtack till you're toothless and gray;
But as for me, I'll no longer remain
And starve like a dog on my government claim.
    Then farewell to Lane County, farewell to the West
    I'll travel back East to the girl I love best;
    I'll stop in Missouri and get me a wife
    And live on corn dodgers the rest of my life.

This version was apparently from Burl Ives^^^

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,Ballyholme
Date: 15 Dec 09 - 02:29 PM

The late Dominic Behan wrote a good set of words to this tune. It involved a funeral at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin but for the life of me I can't remember what he called it.

"Where you ever up there on the Glasnevin Bend,
Where the wind cut your face and the rain wouldn't end ....."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: beeliner
Date: 15 Dec 09 - 03:23 PM

The B side of Larry Williams' 1957 hit "Bony Moronie' was titled 'You Bug Me Baby' and used the Irish Washerwoman melody, slowed down.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: pattyClink
Date: 16 Dec 09 - 02:16 PM

Has anybody tried singing the lyrics in the DT and above?

We are all familiar with the insrumental tune which fits well the first 4 lines of each verse. But each verse then has three more lines.
Is there a "B" part to the tune we don't know? (the midi in the DT seems to just repeat the tune we know) Or, do we repeat the A part but just skip over its third phrase and go right to the end phrase?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Dec 09 - 05:37 PM

HI Ballyholme,
The Dominic Behan song you are thinking of is "The Sodding", written when his Oul' Lad fell of his perch.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Mar 10 - 06:20 PM

My grandfather was Irish, and my mom learned this from him. She woke me up with this song every St. Patrick's day until I moved out of the house. She still calls and leaves it on voicemail on March 17th...

Did you ever go into an Irishman's shanty?
The water is scarce but the whiskey is plenty.
There's a three-legged stool and table to match,
A door upon hinges without any latch.

You go in the kitchen, you're dirt to the knees.
You go in the bedroom, you're covered in fleas.
You bite and you dig and you scratch and you crawl -
but holy St. Patrick you can't sleep at all!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 19 Mar 10 - 03:15 AM

I sing O'Rafferty's Pig to the tune of the Irish Washer Woman.

DC

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 19 Mar 10 - 09:35 AM

Going back exactly 10 years minus 1 day to Sandy Paton's post: what he is remembering is the song that Seamus Ennis used always to sing at the end of an evening when whoever was MC-ing would call on the residents to round off with the shortest song they knew. Ewan MacColl would always come up with a pathetic little song that ended "Poor little innocent child", tho I recall no more about it. Then Seamus would sing, to tune of The Irish Washerwoman, some variant of the one Sandy quotes ~ not always with identical names or words, but always same plot. Version I have carried with me the last 52 years (it was 1958 when Sandy was in London) went

O'Dwyer is dead and Maguire don't know it
Maguire is dead and O'Dwyer don't know it
Maguire and O'Dwyer are lying in one bed
And neither one knows that the other one's dead

~Michael~

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,Bruce Taylor
Date: 11 Apr 10 - 12:15 AM

When I was a boy I heard it like this;

Did you ever go into an Irishman's shanty
And see your uncle on top of your aunty
A three legged table, a stool to match
A hole in the floor for the chickens to scratch

The tune was so fine when played on a fiddle. The second verse was always played without any accompanyist singing and the tune was not that of the first verse but more lively.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,JJ Dion
Date: 11 Apr 10 - 02:44 AM

The "B" section can be sung using this potentially disturbing Lyric:
You look in the corner, & there you will see:
3 little "divils" a-milkin' a flea.
One at his head, & one at his tail,
& the littlest divil a-holdin' the pail!

Then there's this one:
Oh, a sup of good whiskey will make you glad;
Too much of the "cray-ture" will make you go mad!
If you take it in reason, 'twill render you wise;
If you drink to excess, it'll be your demise!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Mar 11 - 10:02 AM

I heard it as a girl...

Have you ever been into and Irishman's Shanty,
Where whiskey is handy and brandy is dandy,
a three legged chair and a table to match,
a stick on the door and they call it a latch.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Oct 12 - 06:22 AM

I was in grade school in the 1960s in Scotland - we too sang:

Ohh her washing was known to the whole of the country
From old Donegal to the borders of the Bantry
And women and children from every far county
Were singing the praises of Biddy Malone.

She was spruce, she was spry and she always would try
To help the poor folks in the villages by


I can't remember the rest and and I can't find this version anywhere.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,PapaT
Date: 16 Mar 15 - 07:38 PM

how about an old version I heard;

Did you ever go into an Irishman's shanty
Where food is scarce and whisky is plenty
A three legged stool and a table to match
And eggs in the cupboard already to hatch.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,Maureen
Date: 17 Mar 15 - 01:27 AM

Following on from the 2 posts above, I remember this version from when I was at school in Hong Kong in 50s/60s:

Ohh her washing was known to the whole of the country
From old Donegal to the borders of the Bantry
And women and children from every far county
Were singing the praises of Biddy Malone.

She was spruce, she was spry and she always would try
To help the poor folks in the villages by

And there in the evening she sat at her door
with tales of her washing and (sounded like) rory o'moore??

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,Maureen
Date: 17 Mar 15 - 01:37 AM

and more:

She rubbed and she scrubbed and stamped with her feet
And laughed at the colleens who came down the street
Looking hoity and toity and ever so neat
Although with her washing they could not compete

And everyone stared as it lay on the green
So ... and ... so marvellous and clean
and whispered the secret the country did know
Ah there's no one like Biddy could make such a show

And there on a stormy and ... night
You'll see Biddy's washing come scurrying by
And some say that Biddy was blown to the sky
Where she still hangs out her washing to dry

That was dredging the memory!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: Lighter
Date: 17 Mar 15 - 07:37 AM

"Rory O'More" was a celebrated Irish rebel of the 16th century, and "Rory O'Moore" was another of the 17th.

Samuel Lover's 1837 bestseller "Rory O'More: A National Romance" was reprinted for decades and spread O'More's name far beyond Ireland.

The double jig called "Rory O'More" possibly comes from Lover's operatic version of the story, also published in 1837.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Apr 15 - 10:35 PM

Did you ever go into an irishman's shanty where water was scarce and whiskey was plenty a three legged stool and a table to match an old irish cook to sling out the hash.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: GUEST,Gerarde
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 09:23 AM

I too was at school in Scotland in the late 50's and early 60's

I think the last verses are

What came over Biddy oh they cannot say
But these are the tales that they'll tell you today
How Biddy and washing just vanished away
on a very fine morning in glorious May

She was washing her clothes in the river that day
and tramping her blankets as if it were play
When down came a spate and washed Biddy they say,
Right out to the ocean and far,far away.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Washer Woman
From: Thompson
Date: 25 Jul 17 - 09:52 AM

In the musical version of Playboy of the Western World there was a song to the tune that started

I was out digging spuds in a stony old field,
In a stony old dry devil's patch of a field;
I was digging and digging from dawn until day…

…and then? I can't remember the rest.