Pat of Mullingar

First Published c1860
Writer/composer Harry Sydney Roud RN3067

Music Hall Performers Sam Collins, Harry Sydney
Folk performances Modern performances of the Rebel song:
The Irish Rovers, The Wolfe Tones		 

From Henry de Marsan Singers Journal No 28 p190 (1868) 

They may talk of Flying Childers,
And the speed of Harkaway,
Till the fancy it bewilders,
As you list to what they say;
But for real bone and beauty
Though, to travel near and far,
The fattest mare you'll find, belongs
To Pat of Mullingar.

She can trot along, jog along,
Drag a jaunting-car;
No day's too long, when set along
With Pat of Mullingar.

She was bred in Connemara,
And brought up at Castlemaine;
She won cups at the Currah,
The finest baste on all the plain!
All countries And conveyances
She has been buckled to;
She lost an eye at Limerick,
And an ear at Waterloo.

If a friend you wish to find, sir,
I'll go wherever you want;
I'll drive you out of your mind, sir,
Or a little way beyont,
Like an arrow through the air,
If you'll step upon the car,
You'll ride behind the little mare
Of Pat of Mullingar.

To Dallymount or Kingston,
If the place you wish to see,
I'll drive you to the Strawberry-beds.
It's all the same to me;
To Donnybrook, whose ancient fair
Is famed for love And war;
Or if you have the time to spare,
We'll go to Mullingar. 

When on the road we're going,
The other carmen try
(Without the darling knowing),
To pass her on the sly;
Her one ear points up to the sky.
She tucks her haunches in;
Then shows the lads how she can fly,
As I sit still and grin!

Then, should yez want a car, sirs,
I hope you'll not forget
Poor Pat of Mullingar, sirs,
And his darlin' little pet;
She's as gentle as the dove, sirs,
Her speed you can't deny;
And there's no blind side about her,
Though she only has one eye.

An Irish comic song from 1860, written and performed by Harry Sydney, also performed by  Sam Collins. The original version was usually sung in the character of an Irish carman describing the excellent qualities of his horse. Comic play is made of comparisons with great racehorses of the past (Flying Childers and Harkaway) and the horse’s involvement in great historical events.

It was regularly sung by amateur singers in England in the late 19th century and widely reprinted in slightly varying versions in cheap 19th-century street literature in Ireland, England and America.

Some late 20th century sources suggest that it was a Harry Clifton song, but I think this is dubious – it doesn’t seem to been mentioned as such in any 19th-century publications . The earliest reference to the song that I can find in 19th-century newspapers and periodicals is from 1860:

Apr. 15, 1860, The Era

The song has regularly appeared in several 20th-century collections of Irish traditional song, including the 1939 Irish Street Ballads by Colm O Lochlain, who describes it as:

A favourite tune with ballad singers; and in the North is best known as The South Down Militia:

You may talk about yer Queens Guards, Scots Greys and a’
You may rave about here Kilties and yer bonny Forty Twa
And every other regiment under the Queens command
But the South Down militia is the terror of the land

A version of this latter with many local and topical verses was popular in Irish Volunteers circles in 1913/16

Irish Street Ballads, Colm O Lochlain, p227

The song is now best known as a Rebel Song, a form written some time in the late 20th century and recorded by the Irish Rovers:

Sources: