Ireland must be Heaven for my mother came from there
First Published | 1916 |
Writer/composer | Joe McCarthy, Howard Johnson, and Fred Fischer | Roud | RN5493 |
Music Hall Performers | Ethel Castaldini |
Folk performances | Collected from the singing of: Dean, Michael Cassius; USA : Minnesota; 1922 |
I've often heard my daddy speak of Ireland's lakes and dells, The place must be like Heaven, if it's half like what he tells; There's roses fair and shamrocks there, and laughing waters flow; I have never seen that Isle of Green, But there's one thing sure I know. Ireland must be Heaven, for an angel came from there, I never knew a living soul, one half as sweet or fair, For her eyes are like the star light, And the white clouds match her hair, Sure Ireland Must be Heaven, For My Mother Came From There. I've pictured in my fondest dreams old Ireland's vales and rills, I see a stairway to the sky, formed by her verdant hills; Each wave that's in the ocean blue just loves to hug the shore, So if Ireland isn't Heaven, then sure, It must be right next door.
A huge, sentimental Tin Pan Alley hit in America in 1916, sung by a range of different American performers. It was popularised in the British music halls by Ethel Castaldini and later became part of the repertoire of Josef Locke.
Josef Locke’s version:
Sources:
- Entries in the Roud Indexes at the Vaughn Williams Memorial Library: https://archives.vwml.org/search/all:single[folksong-broadside-books]/0_50/all/score_desc/extended-roudNo_tr%3A5493
- Kilgarrif Sing Us
- Lyrics and Sheet Music(US): University of Maine