Foley’s Hotel

AKABarmaid at Foley’s Hotel, The
Kelly’s Hotel
First Publishedc1882

Writer/composerJohn J StamfordRoudRN34539

Music Hall PerformersWJ Ashcroft
Folk performancesCollected from the singing of:
Byrnes, Mary; Australia : 1953-61
Clark, LaRena; Canada : Ontario ; 1965
"Written expressly for Pat Reilly"
FOLEY'S HOTEL
John Stanford [sic]

I'll sing of a charming and beautiful maid, 
Who's somewhat genteel in the publican trade
Good wine and good whiskey she knows how to sell, 
And she's the head barmaid at Foley's Hotel
Her wages are two hundred dollars a year,
With lodging and washing and everything clear
Its herself knows the way the swells to beguile
She will set you  all crazy with one little smile.

She's my darling, she is my dear,
Selling the whiskey, the wine and beer
I never loved any one quarter as well
As Molly McCarty at Foley's hotel
[x2 then dance]

She never comes down the morning till nine
And then she is dressed up like a lady so fine
When ready for business she stands at the bar
And jokes with young fellows who ever they are.
But I am the Daisy she seems to like best,
She pays more attention to me than the rest,
She's my darling, and someday when we are alone
I'll ask her if she will be Mistress Malone

A song remembered by traditional singers in Canada and Australia.

It was originally a hit in the early 1880s for Irish American comic  WJ Ashcroft who had his greatest successes in the British and Irish Halls. It was written for him by his manager John J Stamford. It may have been referring to a real hotel of that name on Wicklow St, Dublin.

The words above and the image (left) are from American sheet music published in 1882. The words may have been adapted for a US audience. I have yet to find any version of the words published in Britain or Ireland, though I suspect they are out there somewhere!

Ashcroft, like many Music Hall comedians, included dances in his songs and sketches – but it’s relatively unusual to see a section in the sheet music labelled with the instruction “dance” as is the case here. The earliest reference to the song I have found so far is in February 1882, being performed at the Wear Music Hall in Sunderland by WJ Ashcroft.:

Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette –  03 February 1882

Mary Byrnes sings a fragment of the song for collector John Meredith at National Library Australia: Trove

A version recorded by Terry Lane’s Ceildhe Band, possibly in the 1940s:

Sources:

Last Updated on October 30, 2022 by John Baxter | Published: October 20, 2022

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