Annotation:I'll Tell Me Ma

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 I'LL TELL ME MA (WHEN I GO HOME). AKA and see "Come to the Show," "Heel and Toe Polka (6)," "King Pippin Polka," "My Aunt Jane." Irish, Polka. D Major. Standard (fiddle). AABB. The melody propels at least two popular songs, and is often used as a polka. The first strain was composed (as "King Pippin Polka") by Charles D'Albert (1864-1932), a Glasgow-born pianist and composer who was a student of Franz Liszt. D'Albert became a naturalized German citizen (he was the son of a French/Italian father and an English mother, never spoke English fluently, and considered himself to be German) and composed 21 operas, a symphony, two piano concerti, and numerous lesser works. The words to the Irish song go: I'll tell me ma when I get home The boys won't leave the girls alone They pull my hair, they steal my comb But that's all right till I get home Cho: She is handsome, she is pretty She is the belle of Belfast city She is courting one, two, three Hey, won't you tell me, who is he? Albert Mooney says he loves her All the boys are fighting for her Knock at the door and ring the bell Hey, my true love, are you well Out she comes as white as snow Rings on her fingers, bells on her toes Our Jenny Murray says she'll die If she doesn't get the fellow with the roving eye Let the wind and the rain and the hail go high Snow come tumbling from the sky She's as nice as apple pie She'll get a fellow by and by When she gets a lad of her own She won't tell her ma when she gets home Let them all come as they will It's Albert Mooney she loves still Another song set to the tune is "My Aunt Jane"- My Aunt Jane, she took me in, She gave me tea out of her wee tin; Half a bap with sugar on top, Three black lumps (or balls) out of her wee shop. My Aunt Jane has a bell at the door, A white stone step and a clean swept floor; Candy apples and hard green pears, Conversation lozenges. My Aunt Jane, she's so smart, She bakes wee rings in an apple tart; And when Halloween comes around, Fornenst that tart I'm always found. My Aunt Jane she'll dance a jig, And sing a ballad round a wee sweetie pig; Wee red eyes and a cord for a tail, Hanging in a bunch from a farthing nail. My Aunt Jane, she took me in, She gave me tea out of her wee tin; Half a bap with sugar on top, Three black lumps (balls) out of her wee shop. The first part of the music also appears as the second part of the English "Percy Brown's Polka."  Source for notated version:  Printed sources: Taylor (Music for the Sets: Blue Book), 1995; p. 8. Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, Book Two), 1999; p. 6.  Recorded sources:

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