| AKA | Annie Body’s Rooney Annie Rooney |
| First Published | 1889 |
| Lyrics | Michael Nolan | Music | Michael Nolan/George LeBrunn | Roud | 4822 |
| Music Hall Performers | Lottie Gilson Michel Nolan Vesta Tilley |
| Folk performances | Collected from the singing of Howes, Ernest Albert 1880s Canada : Ontario Atchison, Tex & his Lone Star Rangers 1934 USA Swain, Alice / Frances Repetto; 1937-38 Tristan da Cunha Short, Mrs. Lillian 1941 USA : Missouri LeBarr, John 1957 Canada : Ontario Breckon, Jack 1969 England : Yorkshire |
As sung by Lottie Gilson and Michael Nolan A winning way a pleasant smile Dress so neat but quite in style Merry chaff your time to while Has little Annie Rooney Every evening rain or shine I make a call twixt eight and nine On her who shortly will be mine Little Annie Rooney. She's my sweetheart, I'm her beau She's my Annie, I'm her Joe Soon we'll marry, never to part Little Annie Rooney is my sweetheart. The parlour's small but neat and clean And set with taste so seldom seen And you can bet the household queen Is little Annie Rooney The fire burns cheerfully and bright As a family circle round each night We form, and everyone's a delight Is little Annie Rooney. We've been engaged close on a year The happy time is drawing near I'll wed the one I love so dear Little Annie Rooney My friends declare I am in jest Until the time comes will not rest But one who knows its value best Is little Annie Rooney. As sung by Vesta Tilley (1st pub 1891, words George Dance): Now little Annie Rooney is the most loved one on the earth In every clime and latitude they chant her peerless worth In England she's at least a million lovers at her feet For every other fellow warbles as he walks the street She's my sweetheart, I'm her beau She's my Annie, I'm her Joe Soon we'll marry, never to part Little Annie Rooney is my sweetheart. In bonnie, bonnie Scotland she is worshipped everywhere From John o' groats to Glasgow Town her name floats in the air For when each brawny Scotsman takes the liquor he likes best And drinks unto his lady love, this always is the toast She's my lassie, I'm her chiel She loves porridge, cakes and meal On heath and heather our lives will pass Annie McRooney is a braw wee lass.' The gallant Frenchman loves her too, and sounds her charms on high From cafe and from Boulevard her praises rend the sky Some scores of duels have been fought, and while one man lies dead His rival halloes this refrain as he walks home to bed 'She's ma cherie, I'm her beau She's so charmant, comme il faut We kiss and cuddle the whole day long La petite ma'm'selle Rooney is bonne, bonne, bonne.' Our heroine has sweethearts far across the rolling sea And 'mongst the suitors for her hand is found the bland Chine Fe With thumbs upturned he trots about the streets the whole day long And like a porter staggers 'neath the burden of his song. She's my chang chang, I'm her ching Me putty question, she buy ring Chinaman love little girl, lots of cash Little Annie Rooney am Chinaman's mash.'
Sentimental ballads were popular in the Halls, though they were often parodied. Little Annie Rooney was a big hit in the British Halls for the man who wrote it, Michael Nolan (a brief biography is given below). Within months of it first being sung, it was being parodied by the Vesta Tilley.
Lottie Gilson (1869 – 1912), a.k.a. The Little Magnet popularised the song in the United States, where it went down a storm. Nolan was said to harbour a bitterness that he never profited from the song success in the States, due to the lack of international copyright laws at the time.
The song was published in a number of broadsides in the UK, and a large range of songbooks/songsters in the US and Canada: often appearing in collections of minstrel songs. The song became a staple of North American traditional (and popular) singing and has been collected from singers across the US and Canada. It was in the repertoire of a number of early country singers including the Sons of the Pioneers. It seems to have only been collected once in the UK and is difficult to say whether it might not be a song that has crossed back over from the States…
Sometimes sung using the name Annie Laurie (Laury), the subject of an older song from Scotland.
In the United States and elsewhere, interest in the song may have been increased in 1925 after the success of the film Little Annie Rooney and subsequent newspaper cartoon strip. These took the name from the song, but little else, telling the story of a mischievous tomboy and a multiracial gang of misfit kids.
Michael Nolan (1869-1910), billed as The Prince of Irish Comedians, was born in Ireland but by the age of 10 was a chorister at Bradford Catholic Cathedral. His professional career seems to have started at the Star Music Hall, Bradford in 1880 where he was taken under the wing of George Leybourne, the famous Lion Comique. Nolan performances combined comic songs and patter with more sentimental songs like Your eyes have told me so. He was renowned for singing Irish ballads and had success in the UK and Ireland, and in his later years toured Australia and South Africa. He also wrote songs for himself and others: Little Annie Rooney was his most famous song.
Another song written and performed by Nolan which has an impact on traditional singing is I whistle and wait for Katie (Roud 37172)
Little Annie Laurie, from a Sons of the Pioneers Radio show in the early 1950s
Sources:
- VWML entry
- Kilgarrif Sing Us
- Kilgarriff Grace Banjos
- Image courtesy of the V&A
- Sung as Annie Laury for Steve Gardham (British Library)
- Lyrics (original): monologues.co.uk
- Lyrics (Annie Body’s Rooney):monologues.co.uk
- Sheet music: Levy collection
- Obit in The Era https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/176944522/michael-patrick-nolan
- Fresno Ballad Index
- Music Hall Celebrities. Mr Michael Nolan; The Era July 7 1990, p17
Last Updated on February 25, 2022 by John Baxter | Published: July 27, 2020
