MacNamara’s Band

AKA McNamara’s Band
First Published 1889
Writer/composer John J Stamford Roud RN25273

Music Hall Performers W.J. Ashcroft
Folk performances Collected from the singing of:
Weir, Dorrance; USA : New York : 1966
Modern performances
Bing Crosby, Spike Jones, Connie Francis, Gracie Fields, etc!		 

My name is MacNamara, I'm the leader of a band,
And though we're small in number we're the best in all the land.
Oh! I am the conductor, and we often have to play
With all the fine musicianers you hear about today.

When the drums go bang, the cymbals clang, the horns will blaze away,
MacCarthy puffs the ould bassoon while Doyle the pipes will play.
Oh! Hennessey Tennessy tootles the flute, my word! Tis is something grand,
Oh! A credit to ould Ireland, boys, is MacNamara's Band.

Whenever an election's on we play on either side,
The way we play the fine ould airs fills Irish hearts with pride.
Oh! If poor Tom Moore was living now, he'd make yez understand
That none can do him justice like ould MacNamara's Band.

We play for wakes and weddings and for every County Ball,
And at any great man's funeral we play "The Dead March in Saul."
When the Prince of Wales to Ireland came he shook me by the hand,
And said he never heard the like of ould McNamara's Band.

A comic song sung in the British and Irish Halls of the 1880s by Irish-American comic WJ Ashford, who performed the song as a one-man- band playing along with a variety of instruments. It was written for him by his manager, John J Stamford. Reports of Ashford singing the song go back to 1882, though the earliest sheet music seems to have been published much later in 1889 The song was widely sung by amateurs in the 19th century and was recorded several times in the 20th century – perhaps most famously by Bing Crosby. It is an official song of Tottenham Hotspur FC.

The Era, April 15, 1882
Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette – 13 February 1883

The Irish Rovers sing it:

Sources: