{"id":17302,"date":"2022-10-20T13:51:57","date_gmt":"2022-10-20T13:51:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=17302"},"modified":"2022-10-30T20:03:53","modified_gmt":"2022-10-30T20:03:53","slug":"foleys-hotel","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/foleys-hotel\/","title":{"rendered":"Foley’s Hotel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>Barmaid at Foley’s Hotel, The
Kelly’s Hotel<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>c1882<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>John J Stamford<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN34539<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>WJ Ashcroft<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Byrnes, Mary; Australia : 1953-61
Clark, LaRena; Canada : Ontario ; 1965<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Written expressly for Pat Reilly\"\nFOLEY'S HOTEL\nJohn Stanford [sic]\n\nI'll sing of a charming and beautiful maid, \nWho's somewhat genteel in the publican trade\nGood wine and good whiskey she knows how to sell, \nAnd she's the head barmaid at Foley's Hotel\nHer wages are two hundred dollars a year,\nWith lodging and washing and everything clear\nIts herself knows the way the swells to beguile\nShe will set you  all crazy with one little smile.\n\nShe's my darling, she is my dear,<\/em>\nSelling the whiskey, the wine and beer<\/em>\nI never loved any one quarter as well\nAs Molly McCarty at Foley's hotel<\/em>\n[x2 then dance]\n\nShe never comes down the morning till nine\nAnd then she is dressed up like a lady so fine\nWhen ready for business she stands at the bar\nAnd jokes with young fellows who ever they are.\nBut I am the Daisy she seems to like best,\nShe pays more attention to me than the rest,\nShe's my darling, and someday when we are alone\nI'll ask her if she will be Mistress Malone\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>
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A song  remembered by traditional singers in Canada and Australia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was originally a hit in the early 1880s for Irish American comic  WJ Ashcroft<\/a> who had his greatest successes in the British and Irish Halls. It was written for him by his manager John J Stamford<\/a>. It may have been referring to a real hotel of that name on Wicklow St, Dublin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words above and the image (left) are from American sheet music published in 1882. The words  may have been adapted for a US audience. I have yet to find any version of the words published in Britain or Ireland, though I suspect they are out there somewhere!<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Ashcroft, like many Music Hall comedians, included dances in his songs and sketches – but it’s relatively unusual to see a section in the sheet music labelled with the instruction “dance” as is the case here. The earliest reference to the song I have found so far is in  February 1882, being performed at the Wear Music Hall in Sunderland by WJ Ashcroft.:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette –  03 February 1882<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Mary Byrnes sings a fragment of the song for collector John Meredith at National Library Australia: Trove<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A version recorded by Terry Lane’s Ceildhe Band<\/em>, possibly in the 1940s:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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