Off to Philadelphia

AKA (I’m ) Off to Philadelphia in the morning
First Published 1889
Writer/composer Revised by Stephen Temple / W Battison Haynes, from an original by John Lundy Roud RN18232

Music Hall Performers Harry Plunkett Greene, John McCormack, Tony Pastor, Ian Colquhoun
Folk performances Collected from the singing of:
Unknown; England : Northants; 1910-20
Chisholm, Joe; Canada : Ontario; 1958
Modern performances
The Clancy Bros		 

[From 1889 Sheet Music]

Oh, me name is Paddy Leary 
From a shpot near Tipperary
The hearts of all the girls I'm a thorn in
But come the break of morn
Faith! 'tis they'll be all forlorn
For I'm off to Philadelpha in the morning

Wid me bundle on me shoulder, 
Faith! there's no man could be boulder
For I'm lavin' dear old Ireland widout warnin'
For I lately took the notion 
For to cross the briny ocean
And I shtart for Philadelphia in the mornin'

There's a girl called Kate Malone 
Whom I'd hoped to call me own
And to see my little cabin floor adornin'
But my heart is sad and weary, 
How can she be Mrs. Leary
If I shtart for Philadelphia in the morning

When they told me I must leave the place 
I tried to keep a cheerful face
To show me hearts deep sorrow I was scornin'
But the tears will surely blind me 
For the friends I leave behind me
When I shtart for Philadelphia in the morning

[Last chorus]
But tho' my bundles on my shoulder
And there's no man could be bolder
Tho' I'm lavin' now the spot that I was born in
Yet some day I'll take the notion
To come back across that ocean
To me home in dear ould Ireland in the mornin'

A stage Irish song popularised in the 1890s which has been adopted by traditional singers.

This Irish emigration song is usually credited to Stephen Temple and Battison Haynes and the version usually sung today seems to reflect the one first published as sheet music in 1889. The sheet music included the attribution: “the words revised and edited by Stephen Temple, the music adapted from an old Irish melody by Battison Haynes.” The comic John Lundy (see below) claimed written the original. The Temple/ Haynes version was widely sung in the Halls, Concert rooms and theatres on both sides of the Atlantic and was initially popularised by the Irish baritone Harry Plunkett Greene, but it very quickly entered the repertoire of a multitude of different artistes

At the time of the song’s great success in 1892/3, the comedian and musician John Lundy advertised himself as the original writer and composer, for example:

Oct. 21, 1893; Dundee Courier 

I have not been able to discover much about Lundy, except that he appears to have been a comic performer and musician most of whose appearances were in Scotland. More research is needed….

Not to be confused with I’m off to Philadelphia, a song written to celebrate the first American Centennial of 1876, which appears in de Marsan’s Singers Journal.

An early recording by Wilfred Glenn:

Sources: