Annotation:Irishman's Shanty

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IRISHMAN'S SHANTY, THE. AKA and see "Gallant 69th (The)," "Gals of Sixty-Nine," "Old Tenth (The)." American, Jig. USA, southwestern Pa. A Dorian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The tune is employed as a vehicle for a song called "The Irishman's Shanty," printed in Canteen Songster (Philadelphia: Simpson & Co., 1866), p. 91) as "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 are numerous variants of what was once a "comic" song, in the same vein as comic minstrel songs about African-Americans; they sound simply denigrating to modern ears, and are seldom sung. Bayard (1981) identifies this melody as one of the "Welcome Home" family of tunes.

The tune had an alternate life as a fife march. See "Gallant 69th (The)" and "Old Tenth (The)."

Source for notated version: Wilbur Neal (fiddler from Centre County, Pa., 1948) [Bayard].

Printed sources: Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 606C, p. 535-536.

Recorded sources:

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