The Charladies' Ball

The Charladies' Ball

"The Charladies' Ball" is an Irish folk song written by Harry O'Donavan and popularied by his collabotor, music-hall singer and comedian Jimmy O'Dea [Harte, Frank, 'Daybreak and a Candle End' liner notes] . The song concerns O'Dea's character Biddy Mulligan's attendance at a ball in Dublin.

Lyrics

You may talk of your outings, your picnics and parties,
Your dinners and dances and hoolies and all
But wait till I tell you of the gas we had on
The night that we went to the Charladies' Ball.
I went there as Queen Anne and I went with my man.
He was dressed as a monkey locked up in a cage.
There were pirets and pirots and Hottentots and whatnots
And stars that you'd see on the music hall stage.

CHORUS:
At the Charladies' Ball said one and all,
"You're the belle of the ball, Mrs. Mulligan."
We had one-steps and two-steps and the divil knows what new steps.
We swore that we never would be dull again, by dad.
We had wine, porter and lemonade. We had cocoa and all.
We had champagne that night but real pains next morning,
The night that we danced at the Charladies' Ball.

There were cowboys and Indians that came from Drumcondra,
Sweet Francis Street faries all diamonds and stars.
There was one of the Rooneys as the clock over Mooney's
And a telegram boy as a message from Mars.
Mary Moore from the Lots was the Queen of the Scots
With a crown out of Woolworths perched up on her dome.
There was Jemmy Whitehouse came dressed as a lighthouse
And a Camden Street Garbo that should have stayed home.

SECOND CHORUS:
At the Charladies' Ball people said one and all,
"You're the belle of the ball, Mrs. Mulligan."
We had one-steps and two-steps and the divil knows what new steps.
We swore that we never would be dull again, be dad.
We had wine porter and Jameson, we had cocktails and cocoa and all.
We had rumbos and tangos, half-sets and fandangos,
The night that we danced at the Charladies' Ball.

Mary Ellen O'Rourke was the Queen of the Dawn.
By one-thirty she looked like a real dirty night.
Mick Farren, the bester, came dressed as a jester.
He burst his balloon and dropped dead at the fright.
Kevin Barr came as Bovril, "Stops that drinking feeling"
Astride of a bottle, pyjamas and all.
But he bumped into Faust, who was gloriously soused
And the two of them were sunk at the end of the hall.

THIRD CHORUS:
At the Charladies' Ball said one and all,
"You're the belle of the ball, Mrs. Mulligan."
We had one-steps and two-steps and the divil knows what new steps.
We swore that we never would be dull again, by dad.
We had wine, porter and Jameson. We had cocoa and all.
We had champagne that night but real pains next morning,
The night that we danced at the Charladies' Ball.
We'd a real stand-up fight but we fell down to supperThe night that we danced at the Charladies' Ball. [Harte, Frank, "Songs of Dublin", Ossian OMB 74]

Recordings

The song was recorded by Frank Harte on the album Daybreak and a Candle End.

Also by the Black Brothers on their album "What a Time"

References

ee also

*Jimmy O'Dea
*Frank Harte
*Harry O'Donavan
*ballads
*List of Irish ballads

External links

* [http://www.black-brothers.com/songs/26.htm Black Brothers Lyrics]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Biddy Mulligan the Pride of the Coombe — is a song most famously performed by the music hall singer and comedian Jimmy O Dea who also took on the persona of the charismatic Moore Street stall holder. [Harte, Frank, Songs of Dublin , (ed.), 1978, Gilbert Dalton, Dublin and 1993, Ossian… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Irish ballads — The following are often sung Irish folk ballads. The songs are arranged by theme under two main categories of Political and Not Political and are not necessarily contemporary to the events to which they relate.Songs may fit into more than one… …   Wikipedia

  • Frank Harte — Infobox musical artist Name = Frank Harte Img capt = Img size = Landscape = Background = solo singer Birth name = Frank Harte Alias = Born = birth date|1933|5|14|df=yes Chapelizod, Ireland Died = death date and age|2005|6|27|1933|5|14|df=yes… …   Wikipedia

  • Jimmy O'Dea — James Augustine (Jimmy) O Dea (1899 ndash; January 7, 1965) was an Irish actor and comedian.Jimmy O Dea was born in Dublin and was educated at Blackrock College and Belvedere College The Irish Times , Jimmy O Dea dies after 40 years on the Irish… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”