Irish Wedding, The

AKA Paddy’s Wedding
Tid Re I; or The marriage of Miss Kitty O’Donovan to Mr Paddy Rafferty
First Published 1796
Writer/composer Charles Dibdin Roud RN17123

Music Hall Performers Sam Collins
Folk performances Collected from the singing of:
Kneeland, James H; USA : Maine; 1941		 

THE  IRISH  WEDDING. 

Sure,  won't  you  hear 
What  roaring  cheer 
Was  spread  at  Paddy's  wedding, O! 
And  how  so  gay 
They  spent  the  day, 
From  the  churching  to  the  bedding, O ! 
First,  book  in  hand,  came  Father  Quipes, 
With  the  bride's  dadda,  the  bailey, O! 
While  all  the  way  to  church  the  pipes 
Struck  up  a  lilt  so  gayly, O! 

Then  there  was  Mat, 
And  sturdy  Pat, 
And  merry  Morgan  Murphy, O! 
And  Murdock Mags, 
And  Tirlogh  Skaggs, 
Macloclan,  and  Dick  Durfey, O!
And  then  the  girls,  dress'd  out  in  wipes, 
Led  on  by  Tad  O'Reilly, O! 
All  jigging,  as  the  merry  pipes
Struck  up  a  lilt  so  gayly, O! 

When  Pat  was  ask'd 
Would  his  love  last, 
The  chancel  echoed  wid  laughter, O! 
"Arrah,  fait!"  cried  Pat, 
"You  may  say  dat, 
To  the  end  of  the  world  and  after, O!" 
Then  tenderly  her  hand  he  gripes, 
And  kisses  her  genteelly, O! 
While  all  in  tune  the  merry  pipes 
Struck  up  a  lilt  so  gayly, O! 

Now  a  roaring  set 
At  dinner  are  met, 
So  frolicksome  and  so  frisky, O! 
Poratoes  galore, 
A  skirraig  or  more, 
And  a  flowing  madder  of  whisky, O!  
To  the  bride's  dear  health  round  went  the  swipes, 
That  her  joys  might  be  nightly  and  daily, O! 
And  still,  as  they  guttled,  the  merry  pipes 
Struck  up  a  lilt  so  gayly, O! 

And  then,  at  night, 
O  what  delight 
To  see  them  all  footing  and  prancing, O!  
An  opera  or  ball 
Were  nothing  at  all, 
Compar'd  to  the  style  of  their  dancing, O! 
And  then  to  see  old  father  Quipes 
Beat  time  with  his  sheialy, O! 
While  the  chanter  wid  his  merry  pipes 
Struck  up  a  lilt  so  gayly, O! 

And  now  the  knot 
So  tipsy  are  got 
They'll  all  go  to  sleep  without  rocking, O! 
So  the  bridemaids  fair  
Now  gravely  prepare 
For  throwing  of  the  stocking, O!  
And  round,  to  be  sure,  didn't  go  the  swipes 
At  the  bride's  expense  so  freely, O!  
While  to  wish  them  good  night  the  merry  pipes 
Struck  up  a  lilt  so  gayly, O!

A song by Charles Dibdin, from his dramatic piece The General Election which premiered in 1796 when he opened his Sans Souci Theatre on Leicester Place close to Leicester Square, London. Dibdin’s songs were still popular in the early music halls of the 1840s to 1860s when this song was particularly associated with the singing of Sam Collins, who made a speciality of singing comic Irish songs. The words given above are those published in The selected songs of Charles Dibdin, they are almost identical to those published in Diprose’s Comic and Sentimental Music Hall Song Book, which doesn’t credit the song to Dibdin describing it only as “sung by Sam Collins.”

Collins’ obituary in The Era described the song as his first great hit:

June 4, 1865;  The Era 

The song appears many times in cheap 19th-century street literature in the UK Ireland in America, only rarely credited to Dibdin, and often referred to as Paddy’s Wedding.

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