{"id":2497,"date":"2020-04-30T15:52:02","date_gmt":"2020-04-30T15:52:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=2497"},"modified":"2023-03-16T17:02:33","modified_gmt":"2023-03-16T17:02:33","slug":"the-wedding-of-biddy-mcgrane","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/the-wedding-of-biddy-mcgrane\/","title":{"rendered":"Wedding of Biddy McGrane, The"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>The wedding of Biddy M’crane<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Lyrics<\/strong><\/td>Harry Clifton<\/td>Music<\/strong><\/td>Harry Clifton <\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>V30288<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Music Hall performers<\/strong><\/td>Harry Clifton, Fred Coyne <\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>?<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ll sing you a song if you\u2019ll listen a while.\nOf a damsel so pretty, so charming and witty,\nWho lived from the city of Dublin a mile,\nOn the road to Clondalkin in the Emerald Isle;\nDon\u2019t think for a moment I\u2019m tipping the blarney\nBut search near and far you might search in vain\nFrom Donaghadee to the Banks of Killarney,\nAnd not find the equal of Biddy McGrane\n \nA fine hearted genuine son of the soil,\nOne Larry Molloy, a broth of a boy,\nWho knew what it was for his living to toil.\nOn a neat bit of land of his own at Baldoyle;\nAnd Larry for marriage felt no inclination,\nBut love is a thing ye cannot explain,\nAnd enters your heart without hesitation,\nSo Larry was smitten with Biddy McGrane\n \nNow Larry was fond of a jig the spalpeen\nHe went to the fair, and Biddy was there,\nAnd strolling up to the pretty Colleen,\nSoon led her out for a dance on the green;\nThe blink of her eye was near driving him crazy,\nHe asked her consent, but she looked with disdain\nBut when bold Larry he trampled the Daisy,\nIt melted the heart Biddy McGrane\n \nThe day of the wedding the girls and the boys,\nAnd friends were invited, and highly delighted.\nThe Lammigans, the Brannans, the Burkes, the Molloy\u2019s,\nWere all in their glory, with fun and with noise;\nMiss Morgan she came along with Dan Brady,\nIn a new suit he\u2019d bought from old Petticoat Lane\nAnd Larry McGuinness arrived with Miss Grady,\nto dance at the wedding of Biddy McGrane.\n \nThe feast indeed it was mighty fine,\nThere was bacon and cheese, potatoes and peas\nAnd lashes of potheen, in place of the wine,\nBiddy she looked like a goddess divine:\nAttired as she was in her gorgeous apparel,\nIn a new yellow kirtle of Muslin delaine,\nOld Barney the fiddler on top of the barrel,\nStruck up \"Garry-owen\" for Biddy McGrane\n \nThe feasting concluded the dancing began,\nThe Cairns and the Gilligan\u2019s, and the O\u2019Howlagans,\nAll of them leaped to their feet to a man,\nAnd jigged it is only an Irishman can;\nBut when bold Jimmy Howlagan leaped on the table,\nI suppose \u2018twas the whiskey that made him explain\nHe\u2019d take on any man be he strong lame or able,\nThat finished the wedding of Biddy McGrane<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
One of Harry Clifton’s Irish songs, but not one which appears to have been taken up by traditional singers of the 20th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Between 1855 and 1861 Harry Clifton was appearing regularly in Ireland, and it could probably be argued that it was in these years that he established himself as a songwriter and comedian. During this period he built up a stock of Irish songs, some that he wrote himself, and others that he borrowed from others like DK Gavan and Harry Sydney. It’s not clear how fastidious he was about giving credits to other writers, so it may be necessary to take his list of Irish songs with a pinch of salt, but at various times it has been suggested that he wrote:  The Waterford Boys<\/em>, Darby McGuire<\/em>, Where the Grass Grows Green <\/em>and this one, The Wedding of Biddy McGrane<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The authorship of some of these songs is cleared up by a notice that Clifton posted in the era in 1863:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The Era, Feb 22 1863<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
If Biddy McGrane<\/em> was one of the songs Clifton wrote in the 1850s, it appears to have stayed in his repertoire, as he advertised  that it would be part of his show in Preston in 1870, two years before he died. The song appears to have been incorporated in a musical review of the mid-1870s by Fred Coyne:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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London Standard Mar 2, 1875<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Fred Coyne (c1845-1886) was the stage name adopted by Frederick William Rawlinson, when at any age 18 he first appeared at Hardy’s in Manchester. He was son of an Islington guilder and went on, according to Charles Coburn to become one of “the leading lights of the music hall stage.<\/em>” Described as a “versatile comedian, vocalist and dancer” he was billed as The Sterling Comic<\/em>, apparently a joke based on his adopted name – he was the “sterling Coyne” ho ho! He appeared widely in Halls both in mainland Britain and Ireland, but seems to have suffered from intermittent ill-health, and died of pneumonia and the early age of 39. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n