Lyr Req: Old Dunn's Dunn (Dunne Song)

Subject: Lyr Req: Old Dunn's Dunn
From:
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 10:22 AM

I heard this song on Saturday night. Didn't quite get most of the words, but it had one line:

Young Dunn, will be Dunn, when old Dunn's done

and another line

There was Old Dunn, Young Dunn and Old Dunn's son

Does anyone recognize this?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Dunn's Dunn
From: Bernard
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 10:27 AM

Yes - Steve Turner used to do it... don't know what happened to him, though. Must be twenty years ago...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Dunn's Dunn
From: Bernard
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 10:38 AM

Try here... I'm certain it's the same Steve Turner...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Dunn's Dunn
From: Nerd
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 10:47 AM

Tommy Sands used to sing this one, too. It's sometimes classified as a kids' song. I haven't been able to find the words online, though!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Dunn's Dunn
From: Sorcha
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 10:51 AM

I posted them in this thread

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Dunn's Dunn
From: Nerd
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 11:10 AM

Sorcha: do you know if it's accurate that Tommy Sands wrote the song? That's what your post in the other thread implies, and it's certainly a possibility.

There is an old "wellerism" in Ireland:

"Well Done!" said old Dunn when young Dunn was born.

This may be where Tommy (or whoever) got the idea.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Dunn's Dunn
From: Sorcha
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 11:53 AM

I don't know. My lyrics sheet says Tommy Sands? but I can't remember where I got it. I know I have it on a recording somewhere but can't find it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Dunn's Dunn
From:
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 12:31 PM

Thanks Sorcha. I tried it on the Search, but didn't think of DunnE. Such are the idiosyncracies of English name spelling.

Heck! English spelling!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Dunn's Dunn
From:
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 01:24 PM

Nerd, it looks like you'll have to ask McGrath. From Sorcha's posting, he just copied it from the previous thread:

Mr. Done and Overdone

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Dunn's Dunn
From: Sorcha
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 01:40 PM

I finally found my tape and it's not a commercial tape. I think I recorded it at a live concert or copied it from another tape. Seems like it is either Mick Moloney or Robbie O'Connell......I can't remember.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Dunn's Dunn
From: GUEST,MCP
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 04:28 PM

IIRC Cathal McConnell (Boys of the Lough) used to sing it.

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Dunn's Dunn
From: Celtaddict
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 06:09 PM

The Mourne Ramblers, whoever they are, recorded it, and Danny O'Flaherty recorded it on "Celtic Folk Live Vol. 4" in about 1998, (still readily available on www.celticnationsworld.com) alas reporting only that he got it from their tape.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Dunn's Dunn
From: Stewie
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 09:22 PM

As I indicated in the other thread, it is not by any member of the Sands Family.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Dunn's Dunn
From: Sorcha
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 09:36 PM

I have asked my friend to see if she has the commercial recording with credits. She has not gotten back to me yet about that.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Dunn's Dunn
From: Stewie
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 09:47 PM

Sorcha, I indicated in the other thread that a commercial recording, EMI (Ireland)LEAF 7012, gives 'Trad'.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Dunn's Dunn
From: artbrooks
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 09:53 PM

Seamus Kennedy has it on his By Popular Demand, Vol 1 as "Trad."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Dunn's Dunn
From: Sorcha
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 10:11 PM

Oh, sorry Stewie. Missed that.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Dunn's Dunn (Dunne Song)
From:
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 07:50 AM

Thanks to the request for the lyrics, I remembered that I specifically asked Tommy Sands if he had written this ditty. His reply was that it was an old song when he first learned it, but it was Traditional in his home and not a recent song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Dunn's Dunn (Dunne Song)
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 04:13 AM

There was old Dunn and young Dunn and all the other younger Dunns in and out they'd run!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Dunn's Dunn (Dunne Song)
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Aug 18 - 12:52 AM

i once was well acquainted with a man called mr. dunn
a very jovial man was he and full of harmless fun ,,,,,

everyone in ireland knows this song

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Dunn's Dunn (Dunne Song)
From: GUEST,SteveT
Date: 12 Aug 18 - 04:17 AM

Here’s the information from the other thread as provided by Frank Jeal who’s sadly no longer with us to answer any further questions. I believe Tommy Sands may have got it from Brian Mullen who learned it from Frank.

“OK, Here's the story of "Mr Dunne" as I know it!    The song was originally collected as a pub song in Dorset by Richard Valentine , probably from the Dorchester area where he lived. Richard came up to Oxford in about 1959 . He was a fine folk singer and he and I occasionally sang duets at the Heritage club. Richard was loosely attached to the Oxford Uni. Morris Men , of which I was a member , and on a morris tour he wrote out the words of Mr Dunn on the back of an envelope. After the tour I went to learn the words , but found that the envelope had got damp and one line was illegible , so I rewrote that one line. That was significant, as to me that line is instantly recognisable , and acts like a "radioactive marker". I can immediately tell if the version in question has been 'through my hands'. I should say that all the versions I have seen in recent years including the ones on this thread, have my line in it ! When I went to Bangor in 1962 I took the song with me , and many of my friends in the Bangor morris may have learnt it. I then moved to Dublin where I also sang it around the pubs etc. One Irishman who had been in Bangor , and learnt the song there was Brian Mullen., from Derry. He admitted to me that he had passed it on to the Sands family, when I rang him , having heard their recording of it on Radio Eirinn.
So , the song was originally collected in England. I believe it was used in Dorset as a 'challenge' song, - if you could sing it you were still sober enough to be served !.
In recent years I was contacted by a genuine Mr Dunne who was writing a history of the (Irish) Dunne family, He had heard Cathal MacConnell sing it , and Cathal suggested he contact me for the words. So the words have now made it into a formal history of the Dunne family!!
What really matters though is that the song caught on, travelled widely and given lots of people a good laugh !!”