Origins: Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral: Irish lullaby

Subject: Too-a-loo-ra-loo-ra: Irish lullaby
From: TSmith
Date: 31 Jan 97 - 09:31 AM

What are the lyrics to this beautiful lullaby. It is listed on the database but will not open up. I appreciate your help. Also, do you know the Irish lullaby lyrics to "Be Thou My Vision"?

Subject: Lyr Add: TOO-RA-LOO-RA-LOO-RAL (THAT'S AN IRISH...
From:
Date: 31 Jan 97 - 09:37 AM

I hope this is the right one:

TOO-RA-LOO-RA-LOO-RAL (THAT'S AN IRISH LULLABY)

Over in Killarney
Many years ago,
Me Mither sang a song to me
In tones so sweet and low.
Just a simple little ditty,
In her good ould Irish way,
And I'd give the world if she could sing
That song to me this day.

CHORUS: "Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, Too-ra-loo-ra-li,
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, Hush now, don't you cry!
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, Too-ra-loo-ra-li,
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, That's an Irish lullaby."

Oft in dreams I wander
To that cot again,
I feel her arms a-huggin' me
As when she held me then.
And I hear her voice a-hummin'
To me as in days of yore,
When she used to rock me fast asleep
Outside the cabin door.

(Recorded by Bing Crosby - That's An Irish Lullaby)

Bye
Ezio, Italy

Subject: RE: Too-a-loo-ra-loo-ra: Irish lullaby
From: Bert Hansell
Date: 31 Jan 97 - 12:02 PM

My Father sings a WWII songs to the tune of the chorus. I don't know if there's any more to it.

Bert.

The girls that work in the arsenal,

they're working night and day,

piling up munitions for the soldiers far away

and when our war is over, our governor he will say

"Girls you've done your duty, you deserve a holiday"

Subject: RE: Too-a-loo-ra-loo-ra: Irish lullaby
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 31 Jan 97 - 04:23 PM

thanx- At least one of them fits MY definition of folk.

Subject: RE: Too-a-loo-ra-loo-ra: Irish lullaby
From: Bert Hansell
Date: 04 Feb 97 - 11:40 AM

Dick,

Yes, I know that my verse probably isn't really folk. I've never heard anyone else sing it and I don't know where my Dad got it from.

I'd love to hear YOUR definition of folk though.

Bert.

Subject: RE: Too-a-loo-ra-loo-ra: Irish lullaby
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 04 Feb 97 - 09:33 PM

Hi- Oddly enough, it's your parody verse that I'd call folk. I don't have a single definition: it depends on what aspect I'm considering. The Digital Tradition defines folk music as anything anyone likes enough to send in. More generally, I guess I consider folk music as music sung or played socially for an audience that shares the culture that produced the tune or song. I realize that this definition excludes virtually all performed folk music; I agree with that exclusion.

Subject: RE: Too-a-loo-ra-loo-ra: Irish lullaby
From: Bert Hansell
Date: 05 Feb 97 - 10:00 AM

I like your definition, especially the part 'sung or played socially'. The only problem I have with that parody as being folk is that I don't really know if anyone is singing it anymore.

I personally think that a song has to be able to survive on its own merit. Which kind of means that if anyone is singing it or listening to it and it's no longer 'in the charts' it's probably folk music.

I also agree that 'virtually all perfomed folk music' probably isn't. Most of what I am hearing in Philadelphia is personal one time stuff.

Subject: RE: Too-a-loo-ra-loo-ra: Irish lullaby
From: Michelle Klinnert
Date: 25 Feb 97 - 09:09 PM

This is the song that my mother sang to me.

Over in Killarny, many years ago.
My mother sang a ditty in accent soft and low.
Just a simple little ditty in her good old Irish way.
And I'd give the world to see her,
If once more she would say:

Too-a-loo-ra-loo-ra, Too-a-loo-ra-li,
Too-a-loo-ra-loo-ra, hush now don't you cry.
Too-a-loo-ra-loo-ra, Too-a-loo-ra-li,
Too-a-loo-ra-loo-ra. It's an Irish lullaby.

Michelle

Subject: Lyr Add: TOO-RA-LOO-RA-LOO-RAL (THAT'S AN IRISH...
From: moira girard
Date: 17 Mar 97 - 04:54 PM

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Over in Kilarny, many years ago
Me mother sang a song to me
In words so sweet & low.
Just a simple little ditty
In her good old Irish way.
And I'd give the world if once more
I could hear me mother say:

Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra, Too-ra-loo-ra-lai
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra, Hush now don't you cry
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra, Too-ra-loo-ra-lai
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra, It's an Irish Lullaby

Oft in dreams I've wandered, to that cot again
I feel her arms a-huggin' me as when she held me then
And I hear her voice a-callin' to me as in days of yore
When she used to rock me fast asleep inside the cabin door

(Repeat refrain.)

---

I moved this message here from another thread on the same topic.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: Tune Add: TOO-RA-LOO-RA-LOO-RAL (...IRISH LULLABY)
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 17 Nov 98 - 09:23 PM

My uninformed knowledge is that this was made popular by Bing Crosby in Going My Way - and the lyrics are in the DT.

Sequenced by Barry Taylor.

Regards John

---

Click to play

To play or display ABC tunes, try concertina.net

ABC format:

X:1
T:Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral
M:3/4
Q:1/4=115
K:C
B7/2A/4B/4A2|G4A2|B2d4|-d6|e6|-e7/2^d/4^f/4^d2|
e4^f2|g6|-g23/4^f/4|g4^f2|g7/2e/4^f/4e2|d2B4|
-B23/4B/4|e4A2|A4B3/2A/4B/4|A6|-A23/4A/4|
B7/2A/4B/4A2|G4A7/4A/4|B2d4|-d6|e6|-e7/2^d/4^f/4^d2|
e4^f2|g6|-g23/4^f/4|g4a2|g7/2e/4^f/4e2|d2B4|
-B4AG|B4G2|G4A3/2G/4A/4|G6|B7/2A/4B/4A2|G4A2|
B2d4|-d6|e6|-e7/2^d/4^f/4^d2|e4^f2|g6|-g23/4^f/4|
g4^f2|g7/2e/4^f/4e2|d2B4|-B23/4B/4|e4A2|A4B3/2A/4B/4|
A6|-A23/4A/4|B7/2A/4B/4A2|G4A7/4A/4|B2d4|
-d6|e6|-e7/2^d/4^f/4^d2|e4^f2|g6|-g23/4^f/4|
g4a2|g7/2e/4^f/4e2|d2B4|-B4dd|e4g2|a4g3/2g/4a/4|
g6|-g6||

---

I moved this message here from another thread on the same topic, and converted John's MIDIText to a MIDI file.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: too ral loo ral loo ral chords
From: masato sakurai
Date: 18 Feb 02 - 09:54 AM

Sheet music with piano arrangement from Levy (turn the pages):

Title: Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral. That's An Irish Lullaby.
Composer, Lyricist, Arranger: Lyric and Music by J.R. Shannon.
Publication: New York: M. Witmark & Sons, 1913.
Instrumentation: piano and voice
Form of Composition: strophic with chorus
First Line: Over in Killarney, many years ago, me Mither sang a song to me
First Line of Chorus: Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, Too-ra-loo-ra-li

~Masato

---

I moved this message here from another thread on the same topic.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Origins: Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral: Irish lullaby
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Mar 05 - 04:03 AM

I double-checked the lyrics in the Digital Tradition. There's a scanning error - the word "I'd" that came out "l'd" - but the lyrics otherwise match the sheet music (but there is also a mistake in the spelling of the title). Corrections have been noted by Jim Dixon in the "DT Attributions/Corrections" thread. I converted John's MIDIText to a MIDI and inserted a link to his Barry Taylor MIDI in his post. I didn't find Barry's ornamentation in the sheet music, so I did my own transcription from the 1913 sheet music.

---

Click to play (Joe's Transcription)

To play or display ABC tunes, try concertina.net

Subject: RE: Origins: Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral: Irish lullaby
From: GUEST,scarletclyde
Date: 25 Sep 08 - 02:22 PM

Hello,does someone have the piano sheet of this song ? I need it to make a gift. Thanks a lot.

Subject: RE: Origins: Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral: Irish lullaby
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 25 Sep 08 - 02:39 PM

I can remember very little from my first couple of years in the late 40s but I remember this as one of three lullabies my mother sang to me. Another was
Go to sleep my baby,
Close your pretty eyes,
Angels watch you while you're sleeping
You're my sweetheart.

Come to think of it she sang them both to pretty much the same tune as I remember.

Subject: RE: Origins: Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral: Irish lullaby
From: Snuffy
Date: 25 Sep 08 - 07:13 PM

It starts like Go to Sleep My Baby / Wyoming Lullaby. Are you sure of lines 3 & 4?

Subject: RE: Origins: Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral: Irish lullaby
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 26 Sep 08 - 05:19 PM

No. It was 60 years ago. Those 2 lines could be later in the song or I could be confusing 2 songs. I could always ask her I suppose. She's still around and singing. I've probably got the sheet music somewhere.

Subject: RE: Origins: Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral: Irish lullaby
From: GUEST,Phillip
Date: 26 Mar 10 - 02:58 PM

Subject: RE: Origins: Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral: Irish lullaby
From: GUEST,Lisa Talini-Zarro
Date: 25 Apr 10 - 10:02 PM

an absolutely beautiful song that i used to sing to my children and am now singing to my twin grandsons. the only thing that i sing differently from the lyrics above is...

When she used to rock me fast asleep beside the cabin door.

other than one word it is exactly the same. i hope that this song does not disappear with time but is remembered.

Subject: RE: Origins: Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral: Irish lullaby
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Oct 11 - 02:53 AM

Does anyone have the .abc notation for this?
The abc posted above is defective.
Thanks!

Subject: RE: Origins: Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral: Irish lullaby
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Oct 11 - 06:19 PM

The ABC notation above came from a converter that didn't always do a perfect job. You can find the sheet music here (click) at the Levy Sheet Music Collection.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Origins: Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral: Irish lullaby
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Oct 11 - 08:52 AM

and of course, I'm remembering an old punchline:

Tour the Urals, Lura?
Too raw, Lura! Lie.