Annotation:Irishman's Shanty
Tune properties and standard notation
IRISHMAN'S SHANTY, THE. AKA and see "Gallant Sixty-Ninth (The)," "Gals of Sixty-Nine (The)," "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.
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: