Lyr Add: Waxies Dargle

Subject: Alternate last verse of Waxies Dargle
From: Denis
Date: 14 Jan 98 - 06:21 PM

I heard a version of The Waxies Dargle that included this alternate verse. I'm missing some of the lyrics but it went something like:

I took me dear ould mother-in-law
a swimming in the ocean
and the way she kicked and splashed about
well she made a great commotion
and I oh I laughed har har hee hee
something something something
for one of her legs was made of cork
and upside down she floated.

Does it ring any bells with anyone?

---

I moved this message here from another thread, where it was all alone and neglected.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: Lyr. Corr: Waxie's Dargle
From: Mrrzy
Date: 22 Sep 04 - 01:58 PM

In the first verse, it should read:
...But he wouldn't lend me a half a crown
To go to the Waxie's Dargle...

Subject: RE: Lyr. Corr: Waxie's Dargle
From: Sorcha
Date: 22 Sep 04 - 02:01 PM

Mrz, is this a correction, a request, or what?

Subject: RE: Lyr. Corr: Waxie's Dargle
From: MartinRyan
Date: 22 Sep 04 - 03:14 PM

It's a correction to a long-lived gap in the DT!

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr. Corr: Waxie's Dargle
From: GUEST,milk monitor
Date: 22 Sep 04 - 03:16 PM

It's a really big 'Irish' pub just off Leicester Square with a real tree growing right up the middle. I know that doesn't help at all does it? The last time I was in there Rod Stewart came in with friend/minder. Rod was notable by his stature...absolutely tiny and wearing stack heels.

Subject: RE: Lyr. Corr: Waxie's Dargle
From: GUEST,ClaireBear
Date: 22 Sep 04 - 03:27 PM

You studious harvesting elves have probably figured it out already, but the lyric that requires correcting is in the DT under "Waxies Dargle" (no apostrophe).

Subject: RE: Lyr. Corr: Waxie's Dargle
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Sep 04 - 06:21 PM

I couldn't find Folksongs and Ballads Popular in Ireland the source of the DT version. Here is the complete DT version, with the missing words Mrrzzy supplied, pluse a typo correction or two that I made. Seems to me it's correctly Waxies Dargle (no apostrophe), as shown in the DT.

THE WAXIES DARGLE

Says my aul' wan to your aul' wan
"Will ye come to the Waxies dargle?"
Says your aul' wan to my aul' wan,
"Sure I haven't got a farthing.
I've just been down to Monto town
To see uncle McArdle
But he wouldn't lend me half a crown
For to go to the Waxies dargle."

Cho: What are ye having, will ye have a pint?
Yes, I'll have a pint with you, sir,
And if one of us doesn't order soon
We'll be thrown out of the boozer.

Says my aul' wan to your aul' wan
"Will ye come to the Galway races?"
Says your aul' wan to my aul' wan,
"With the price of my aul' lad's braces.
I went down to Capel Street
To the Jew man moneylenders
But they wouldn't give me a couple of bob on
My aul' lad's suspenders."

Says my aul' wan to your aul' wan
"We have no beef or mutton
But if we go down to Monto town
We might get a drink for nuttin'"
Here's a piece of good advice
I got from an aul' fishmonger:
"When food is scarce and you see the hearse
You'll know you have died of hunger.

From Folksongs and Ballads Popular in Ireland, Ossian Publications
Note: Waxies are candlemakers; Waxies Dargle is their annual excursion to Bray.
Tune is Brighton Camp, or Girl I Left Behind Me.
RG

@Irish @drink @poverty @food
filename[ WAXDARGL
TUNE FILE: BRGHTON
CLICK TO PLAY
RG

---

Here's a version that's just a bit different:

Waxies Dargle

Says my aul' wan to your aul' wan,
"Will you come to the Waxies Dargle?"
Says your aul' wan to my aul' wan,
"Sure I haven't got a farthing.
I've just been down to Monto town
To see young Kill McArdle,
But he wouldn't give me half a crown
To go to the Waxies Dargle."

CHORUS
What will you have, will you have a pint?
I'll have a pint with you, sir,
And if one of you doesn't order soon
We'll be thrown out of the boozer.

Says my aul' wan to your aul' wan,
"Will you come to Galway Races?"
Says your aul' wan to my aol wan,
"With the price of my aul' lad's braces.
I went down to Capel Street,
To the Jew man moneylenders,
But they wouldn't give me a couple of bob
On my oul' lad's [red] suspenders."

CHORUS

Says my aul' wan to your aul' wan,
"We have no beef or mutton,
But if we go down to Monto Town,
We might get a drink for nuttin'.
Here's a piece of advice
I got from an aul fishmonger,
When food is scarce, and you see the hearse,
You'll know you have died of hunger."

CHORUS

from the Very Best Irish Songs and Ballads, Walton Manufacturing, 1999


Note: The waxies (candle makers) held an annual outing to the seaside town of Bray, County Wicklow, 12 miles south of Dublin.

Joe's note: Today, you can take an outing to Bray on the DART Rapid Transit from Dublin, a beautiful train ride along the shore of the Irish Sea.

-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr. Corr: Waxie's Dargle
From: BanjoRay
Date: 22 Sep 04 - 06:32 PM

I always thought the first four lines went:

Says my aul' wan to your aul' wan
"Will ye come to the Waxies dargle?"
Says your aul' wan to my aul' wan,
"Sure I haven't got the price of a gargle."

This is what Noel Murphy always sung.
Cheers
Ray

Subject: RE: Lyr. Corr: Waxie's Dargle
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 22 Sep 04 - 07:55 PM

2nd verse, last lime, sings better with 'On my oul lad's red suspenders.' A couple of websites have it this way.

The Pogues' lyrics, with a clip in MP3, here: Waxies Dargle

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Waxies Dargle
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 23 Feb 14 - 12:30 PM

Andy Irvine writes;

By this time [June 1967], Johnny [Moynihan] and myself were hooked into Sweeney's Men and the only possible replacement, apart from Paul Brady, who was unavailable in The Johnstons, was Terry Woods and his twelve string guitar.

Sweeney's [Men] was now a going concern and we made another single [November 1967]. The Waxie's Dargle was a Dublin song with only a couple of verses but we augmented it with a chorus:

What are ya havin'? Will ya have a pint?
I'll have a pint with you, sir
And if one of youse doesn't order soon
We'll be thrown out of the boozer

It went to number two.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Waxies Dargle
From: MartinRyan
Date: 23 Feb 14 - 06:53 PM

This thread seems a bit confused - several conflated?

Anyway, in my head, the first verse has always been:

Says my aul' wan to your aul' wan,
"Will you come to the Waxies Dargle?"
Says your aul' wan to my aul' wan,
"Sure I haven't got a fardel.
I've been down to Monto town
To see young Kit McArdle,
But he wouldn't give me half a crown
To go to the Waxies Dargle."

A "fardel" is a small bundle - so, effectively, supplies for the outing! It keeps the rhyme with McArdle, of course.

Now all I have to do is remember where the hell I might have heard that word. Frank Harte?

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Waxies Dargle
From: GUEST,Mark Bluemel
Date: 24 Feb 14 - 02:28 AM

The scansion, metre, rhyme scheme and general structure of that first verse made me immediately want to sing it to the tune of "Iko Iko"...

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Waxies Dargle
From: GUEST,concerend
Date: 24 Feb 14 - 05:03 AM

What a load of crap MarkBluemel.. nothing like it!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Waxies Dargle
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 24 Feb 14 - 09:41 AM

The first lines are certainly similar.

The waxies' Dargle dates from the mid-19th century, and I imagine the song does too. Iko Iko was written in 1953 about the parades in New Orleans.

My grandma and your grandma
Were sittin' by the fire.
My grandma told your grandma
"I'm gonna set your flag on fire"

Hey now! Hey now!
Iko, Iko, unday
Jockamo feeno ai nan?
Jockamo fee nan?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Waxies Dargle
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 24 Feb 14 - 09:44 AM

Oh yes - intolerant replies should be posted on the BBC Folk Awards thread.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Waxies Dargle
From: GUEST,Concerened
Date: 24 Feb 14 - 10:22 AM

Yes.henryp..and people who know shite about music should join them..

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Waxies Dargle
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 24 Feb 14 - 01:14 PM

Oy, I've just posted in that thread! (Asking them to use the shite word less often!)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Waxies Dargle
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 24 Feb 14 - 04:23 PM

Stay here. It's a much more refined thread, isn't it?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Waxies Dargle
From: GUEST,concerened
Date: 24 Feb 14 - 04:42 PM

Nothing to do with "refined" Mr.Smartarse ..supposed to be a music site.....well, for us that have more than a passing acquaintance with the subject.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Waxies Dargle
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 24 Feb 14 - 05:20 PM

Crap and shite...that passes for criticism today.

Perhaps we do need reform in our schools.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Waxies Dargle
From: GUEST,concerened
Date: 24 Feb 14 - 06:09 PM

By the c3 intellect on this site, most of you seem to have gone to Reform Schools LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Waxies Dargle
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 24 Feb 14 - 06:16 PM

Be careful. The Folk Police are watching you.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Waxies Dargle
From: GUEST,Bill Kennedy
Date: 15 Jul 15 - 09:32 PM

re: the message about Andy Irvine and Sweeney's Men, the melodic mandolin and bouzouki tremolo at the end of the recording with all the bar noises and conversations in the background, was added by Johnny Moynihan. The tune is Fritz Kreusler's "The Old Refrain", a melancholic song one might have heard in a bar in Dublin, especially since Deanna Durbin sang it in a film. The joke is, if you are dinging the last lines to the melody you end up with"When up to the heavens I take my lay, the angels too will say: TIME, GENTLEMEN, PLEASE!"

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Waxies Dargle
From: GUEST,Bill Kennedy
Date: 15 Jul 15 - 09:42 PM

as to the first of the posts by Denis, this a a parody of "The Girl I Left Behind Me" which is the same tune as "Waxies Dargle":
My Dear Old Mother-In-Law
(same tune as above)

Oh, I took my dear old mother-in-law,
A-bathing in the ocean,
And the way she kicked and splashed about,
It caused a great commotion.
Oh how I laughed, ha, ha, ha, ha,
And goodness, how I gloated,
For one of her legs was made of cork,
And the wrong way up she floated.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Waxies Dargle
From: michaelr
Date: 15 Jul 15 - 10:57 PM

Mark Bluemel has it right: the "my auld one to your auld one" line is definitely mirrored in "Iko Iko". It would be interesting to trace the connection; there's at least one great thread about the New Orleans chant on this site.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Waxies Dargle
From: eftifino
Date: 16 Jul 15 - 12:38 AM

I see that a few Mudcats have mentioned Bray as the site of the Waxies' Dargle. Not so, I'm afraid. In the 19th century, during the Summer, the gentry of Dublin would travel out to Bray and Enniskerry with their entourages and have picnics on the banks of the River Dargle. The Dargle was a popular holiday resort, and the name in Dublin slang became synonymous with "holiday resort".

The shoe-makers and repairers in Dublin were known as waxies, because they used wax to waterproof and preserve the thread they used in stitching the shoes. Easter and Whitsun were their principal holidays, Monday being the excursion for men and Tuesday for women. The original Waxies' Dargle was said to be part of Donnybrook Fair, but due to riotous behaviour ( thus , in the USA, a 'donnybrook"' meant a right old punchup), this fair closed in 1855. In any case, the waxies' excursions did not go all the way to Bray, but only went as far as Irishtown which is located between Ringsend and Sandymount, and a lot less salubrious than Bray. In imitation of the gentry, they called their outing the Waxies' Dargle. They drove out from the city to Ringsend on flat drays, ten or a dozen to each vehicle.
I remember, as I grew up in Sandymount, that Irishtown/Ringsend was known as the Waxies Dargle, but couldn't fully remember till I saw this thread, so I've blatantly plagiarized Wiki, who put it so much better than I could!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Waxies Dargle
From: GUEST,Henry Piper of Ottery
Date: 16 Jul 15 - 04:13 AM

Its also worth noting that the "Monto Town" mentioned in some versions was the old red light district of Dublin, centred on Montgomery St (Now renamed I believe) Perhaps some of these candle makers or leather workers were in the habit of funding their day out in a horizontal fashion !!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Waxies Dargle
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 16 Jul 15 - 07:46 AM

"Crap and shite...that passes for criticism today."
Sadly, as does "folk police" Henry.
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Waxies Dargle
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 16 Jul 15 - 01:49 PM

By the c3 intellect on this site...

And C3 doesn't exist either. The NRS classification is based, not on intellect, but occupation. I'm not sure where folk-singers fit in.

Grade A; Social class - upper middle class; Chief income earner's occupation - higher managerial, administrative or professional
Grade B; middle class; intermediate managerial, administrative or professional
Grade C1; lower middle class; supervisory or clerical and junior managerial, administrative or professional
Grade C2; skilled working class; skilled manual workers
Grade D; working class; semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers
Grade E; non working; casual or lowest grade workers, pensioners, and others who depend on the welfare state for their income

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Waxies Dargle
From: GUEST,Henry Piper of Ottery.
Date: 16 Jul 15 - 02:32 PM

I wish it to be Known that I am NOT henryp, and did NOT mention The "Folk Police" Just to clear up any confusion. !!!!!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Waxies Dargle
From: Mrrzy
Date: 16 Jul 15 - 03:37 PM

Love this place. Always wondered what the waxies had been waxing. Besides poetic, of course. So what's a dargle - a drink or a place where the pixies hang out or what?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Waxies Dargle
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 16 Jul 15 - 03:54 PM

"So what's a dargle"
From the indispensable 'Slanguage, a dictionary of Irish slang, by Bernard Share
Jim Carroll
WAXY [n., Also as in WAXIES' DARGLE [nickname, c.1890—]. Annual gathering at Irishtown Green, near Ringsend. N.d. Pop. ballad: 'Says my oul' wan [q.v.] to your oul' wan,/Will you come to the Waxie's Dargle?/Says your oul' wan to my oul' wan,/"Sure I haven't got a fardel [see FARDEL 1.].'" 1922 James Joyce, Ulysses: '"Two old Dublin women on the top of Nelson's pillar..."That's new," Myles Crawford said. "That's copy. Out for.the waxies' Dargle. Two old trickies [q.v.], what?'" 1936 Irish Times, 25 Mar: 'At that time [late Cl9] the Dargle in Wicklow was, if possible, more popular as a holiday resort...than it is at present, and "Dargle" has passed into popular speech as synonymous with "holiday resort". In Dublin slang of the period a cobbler was known as a "waxy". Not being able to get as far away from town on their days off as the better-class Dubliners...they had to be content with a run to Irishtown and Merrion sands.' 1981 Brendan Behan, After the Wake: "'Why can't you write about something natural? Like the time we all fell into the water at the Waxie's Dargle.'"

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Waxies Dargle
From: MartinRyan
Date: 16 Jul 15 - 04:34 PM

The River which flows through the town of Bray in County Wicklow, Ireland was originally known as the Bray River - surprise! That name has an Irish (language) origin - but the root of "Dargle" is obscure, as far as I can discover.

Regards