Limerick Races

AKA
First Published 1858
Lyrics W Grantham Music W Grantham Roud RN12871

Music Hall Performers Sam Collins (1827-65)
Folk performances Source Singers
Keith, William H. 1865-71 USA
Greig, Alexander 1907 Scotland
Wilcock, Walter 1908 England
Mac Mathuna, Seamus 1970s? Ireland
Modern performances
The Wolfe Tones		 

Sung by Sam Collins at the Marylebone Music Hall
I'm a simple Irish lad, I've resolved to see some fun, sirs,
And, to satisfy my mind, to Limerick faith, I come, sirs,
Oh, what a glorious place, and what a charming city. 
Where the girls are all so fair, and the boys are all so witty. 

Musha ring a ding  a da 
Ri tooral looral laddy, oh! 
Musha ring a ding a da, 
Ri too ral laddy,  Oh ! 

Twas on the first of May, when I began my rambles:
Everything looked gay, there was jauntings, cars and gambols 
I looked along the road, it was lined with smiling faces,
All driving in their traps, and going to Limerick races.

So I resolved to go, and that you all may say sir,
And I behind a coach and four, so neatly took my seat, sir:
A man cried "Whip behind!" and the coachman dealt the blow, sir,
And he hit me just as fair, as if his eye'd been in the pole, sir.

So then I had to walk, and make no great delay, sir,
Until I reached the course, where everything look'd gay, sir,
I spied a wooden house, and on the upper storey,
The band struck up a tune, it was "Garry Owen and Glory!"

There was fiddlers playing jigs, and lads and lasses dancing, 
And gentlemen on their their nags around the course were prancing.
They were drinking whiskey-punch, and others shouting gayly:
"Hurrah for the Shamrock green, and the splinter of shillelagh:"

There was betting men to and fro, to see which horse would won the race, sir, 
And some of the knowing the men of the racers came to me, sir:
Says one:  "I'll bet you a thousand and put it down this minute." 
Says I "I'll bet you ten to one, the horse that comes in first will win it." 

Then players came to town, and a funny lot they are, sir,
I paid my thirteens to go and see the play, sir,
There was cobblers, kings and queens, and columbine and fairy-
But I thought myself at home when they struck up: "Paddy Carey".

This song, made famous by the Irish comic Sam Collins (brief bio. below), appears in songsters and broadsheets throughout the late 19th and early 20th century. It has been collected from a number of traditional singers on both sides of the Atlantic and remains in the modern traditional repertoire not least due to the contribution of The Wolf Tones. I believe the tune often appears as an instrumental (Polka) in the Irish tradition.

The words given above are taken from Diprose’s Comic and Sentimental Music Hall Song Book, which was published in London shortly after the original sheet music, which I have been unable to access.

William Grantham‘s name appears as arranger on a number of Music Hall and minstrel songs published between 1840 and 1870. Limerick Races is one of a relatively small number of songs which list him as author and composer.

Sam Collins (1827-65), born in London, worked as a chimney sweep, and later achieved success in the Halls of the 1840s-60s. He specialised in Irish comic songs and was perhaps best known for The Limerick Races and The Rocky to Dublin. His success eventually allowed him to launch his own venue: The Sam Collins’ Music Hall which he opened in Islington in 1863. It was managed by his wife after his death, and was still running in December 1945 when Norman Wisdom made his professional debut……

Two writers about the Halls remembered Sam Collins as follows:

a noble-hearted fellow, .. one of the drollest Irish comic singers of his time and there were a good many clever Hibernian comedians about in those days. His singing of “The Sprig of Shillelagh,” ” Donnybrook Fair,” and similar racy ditties, was very effective, and his Irish jigs were highly inspiriting. Poor Sam’s biggest hit, however, was made about the time of the Great Exhibition of 1862, in a fine topical song, of which a “lady’s version” was given by that rich-toned acting vocalist, the late Mrs. F. R. Phillips. This song had for refrain the phrase “No Irish need apply!” and, as set to the old air, ” Will you walk into my parlour said the spider to the fly?” was soon warbled and whistled all over London. Sam Collins was the uncle of the late Mr.Herbert Sprake, who so long honourably and successfully ran Collins’s.

Sixty Years of Stage Service; WH Morton, Newton H Chance (1905) p34.

Songs from the repertoire of Sam Collins that have entered traditional singing include:

The Wolfe Tones sing Limerick Races:

Sources: