It's a long way to Tipperary is 100 years old

JabbaTheHut

Happy Birthday

First performed on 31st janurary 1912

Xenophile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qqoc2p3QvKM

Xenophile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXzO0EtY4AU

Xenophile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVM-tFAdADg

Xenophile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcRNcLosixM

Xenophile

later12

Would this be a bad time to point out it's really not about County Tipperary at all?:pac:

Xenophile

Lyrics.

Up to mighty London
Came an Irishman one day.
As the streets are paved with gold
Sure, everyone was gay,
Singing songs of Piccadilly,
Strand and Leicester Square,
Till Paddy got excited,
Then he shouted to them there:
It's a long way to Tipperary,
It's a long way to go.
It's a long way to Tipperary
To the sweetest girl I know!
Goodbye, Piccadilly,
Farewell, Leicester Square!
It's a long long way to Tipperary,
But my heart's right there.
(repeat)

Paddy wrote a letter
To his Irish Molly-O,
Saying, "Should you not receive it,
Write and let me know!"
"If I make mistakes in spelling,
Molly, dear," said he,
"Remember, it's the pen that's bad,
Don't lay the blame on me!

It's a long way to Tipperary,
It's a long way to go.
It's a long way to Tipperary
To the sweetest girl I know!
Goodbye, Piccadilly,
Farewell, Leicester Square!
It's a long long way to Tipperary,
But my heart's right there.
Molly wrote a neat reply
To Irish Paddy-O,
Saying Mike Maloney
Wants to marry me, and so
Leave the Strand and Piccadilly
Or you'll be to blame,
For love has fairly drove me silly:
Hoping you're the same!

It's a long way to Tipperary,
It's a long way to go.
It's a long way to Tipperary
To the sweetest girl I know!
Goodbye, Piccadilly,
Farewell, Leicester Square!
It's a long long way to Tipperary,
But my heart's right there.

mathepac

later10 wrote: »

Would this be a bad time to point out it's really not about County Tipperary at all?:pac:

+1 a vile song, a series of racist Irish jokes to the tune / time of a march, an old fashioned British cadence adopted from the music-hall. If the lyrics featured races or peoples other than Irish it would have been banned long since.

There were two Tipperaries, neither of them the county in Ireland

1 A British Army training camp bear the town of Catterick (?)

2 A series of WW1 trenches in France (these are not the subject of the song)

getz

mathepac wrote: »

+1 a vile song, a series of racist Irish jokes to the tune / time of a march, an old fashioned British cadence adopted from the music-hall. If the lyrics featured races or peoples other than Irish it would have been banned long since.

There were two Tipperaries, neither of them the county in Ireland

1 A British Army training camp bear the town of Catterick (?)

2 A series of WW1 trenches in France (these are not the subject of the song)

what are you talking about

Xenophile

mathepac wrote: »

+1 a vile song, a series of racist Irish jokes to the tune / time of a march, an old fashioned British cadence adopted from the music-hall. If the lyrics featured races or peoples other than Irish it would have been banned long since.

There were two Tipperaries, neither of them the county in Ireland

1 A British Army training camp bear the town of Catterick (?)

2 A series of WW1 trenches in France (these are not the subject of the song)

No doubt about it, it's about Tipperary,Ireland.
Just look at the Irishness of it all.
Yes it's a great music-hall song..............always sung with great merriment, most often followed by other heart uplifting songs such as " Roll out the barrel etc, etc.

John McCormack knew what he was singing about when he recorded it. Cheer up old stock it will help you to get rid of those blues, sincerely I hope it will.

cml387

mathepac wrote: »

+1 a vile song, a series of racist Irish jokes to the tune / time of a march, an old fashioned British cadence adopted from the music-hall. If the lyrics featured races or peoples other than Irish it would have been banned long since.

There were two Tipperaries, neither of them the county in Ireland

1 A British Army training camp bear the town of Catterick (?)

2 A series of WW1 trenches in France (these are not the subject of the song)

Wrong on almost every count:

mathepac

cml387 wrote: »

Wrong on almost every count:

Let's see now:

Vile song - True
Racist - True (perpetuates the image of the "thick Paddy" promulgated by British institutions like Punch Magazine)
Music hall song - True
Adopted by British Army - True
Used as a cadence - True
Not about Co. Tipperary - True - It's about London
Not about a series of defences in WWI - True
British Army Training Camp called Tipperary - True (is the song about this, maybe)
John McCormick was a capitalist & opportunist - True (he gave up opera singing for music-hall & concert-hall singing & touring because the dough was better, fair play to him)
Wikipedia is a reliable source of information - False

cml387

mathepac wrote: »

Let's see now:

Vile song - True
Racist - True (perpetuates the image of the "thick Paddy" promulgated by British institutions like Punch Magazine)
Music hall song - True
Adopted by British Army - True
Used as a cadence - True
Not about Co. Tipperary - True - It's about London
Not about a series of defences in WWI - True
British Army Training Camp called Tipperary - True (is the song about this, maybe)
John McCormick was a capitalist & opportunist - True (he gave up opera singing for music-hall & concert-hall singing & touring because the dough was better, fair play to him)
Wikipedia is a reliable source of information - False

I take your point about Wikipedia.

I would ask for your source for your other "facts" or are they just rather sour opinions, which of course you are perfectly entitled to hold.

mathepac

Vile song - Personal opinion
Racist - Read the lyrics about Paddy and Molly-o
Music hall song - Wikipedia
Adopted by British Army - Wikipedia again
Used as a cadence - Watch any British Army detachment march behind a band - it'll figure at some stage
Not about Co. Tipperary - Read the lyrics above - It's about London
Not about a series of defences in WWI - Wikipedia (pattern emerging?)
British Army Training Camp called Tipperary - ????
John McCormick was a capitalist & opportunist - Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a reliable source of information - Wikipedia

HTH

cml387

mathepac wrote: »

Vile song - Personal opinion
Racist - Read the lyrics about Paddy and Molly-o
Music hall song - Wikipedia
Adopted by British Army - Wikipedia again
Used as a cadence - Watch any British Army detachment march behind a band - it'll figure at some stage
Not about Co. Tipperary - Read the lyrics above - It's about London
Not about a series of defences in WWI - Wikipedia (pattern emerging?)
British Army Training Camp called Tipperary - ????
John McCormick was a capitalist & opportunist - Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a reliable source of information - Wikipedia

HTH

That it's racist is also an opinion,I would suggest.

It's difficult to see how a song written in 1912 could be about defences in the first world war and as for a Army camp being called Tipperary,it's quite possible this happened after the song became asssociated with the troops - though this probably further damns it in your eyes.

I do agree the song is not about Tipperary,though it's not about London either,it's a love song as many wartime songs were.

I still share your suspicion of wikipedia as a source.