{"id":20986,"date":"2023-06-05T08:45:07","date_gmt":"2023-06-05T08:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=20986"},"modified":"2023-06-05T08:45:07","modified_gmt":"2023-06-05T08:45:07","slug":"off-to-philadelphia","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/off-to-philadelphia\/","title":{"rendered":"Off to Philadelphia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>(I’m ) Off to Philadelphia in the morning<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1889<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Revised by Stephen Temple \/ W Battison Haynes, from an original by John Lundy<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN18232<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Harry Plunkett Greene, John McCormack, Tony Pastor, Ian Colquhoun<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Unknown; England : Northants; 1910-20
Chisholm, Joe; Canada : Ontario; 1958
Modern performances<\/strong>
The Clancy Bros<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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[From 1889 Sheet Music<\/a>]\n\nOh, me name is Paddy Leary \nFrom a shpot near Tipperary\nThe hearts of all the girls I'm a thorn in\nBut come the break of morn\nFaith! 'tis they'll be all forlorn\nFor I'm off to Philadelpha in the morning\n\nWid me bundle on me shoulder, <\/em>\nFaith! there's no man could be boulder\nFor I'm lavin' dear old Ireland widout warnin'\nFor I lately took the notion <\/em>\nFor to cross the briny ocean\nAnd I shtart for Philadelphia in the mornin'\n<\/em>\nThere's a girl called Kate Malone \nWhom I'd hoped to call me own\nAnd to see my little cabin floor adornin'\nBut my heart is sad and weary, \nHow can she be Mrs. Leary\nIf I shtart for Philadelphia in the morning\n\nWhen they told me I must leave the place \nI tried to keep a cheerful face\nTo show me hearts deep sorrow I was scornin'\nBut the tears will surely blind me \nFor the friends I leave behind me\nWhen I shtart for Philadelphia in the morning\n\n[Last chorus]\nBut tho' my bundles on my shoulder\nAnd there's no man could be bolder\nTho' I'm lavin' now the spot that I was born in\nYet some day I'll take the notion\nTo come back across that ocean\nTo me home in dear ould Ireland in the mornin'<\/em><\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
A stage Irish song popularised in  the 1890s which has been adopted by traditional singers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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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<\/em>.”  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<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Oct. 21, 1893; Dundee Courier <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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….<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not to be confused with I’m off to Philadelphia<\/em>, a song written to celebrate the first American Centennial of 1876, which appears in de Marsan’s Singers Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An early recording by Wilfred Glenn:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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