It’s a long, long way to Tipperary
On the way back from the west, a few weeks ago, the journey took me through the county of Tipperary and it seemed rude not to stop in the town of the same name. Tipperary was probably the first place in Ireland I ever heard of, because of the song written Jack Judge in 1912. Apparently it was written as a bet, in a few hours and Tipperary was picked randomly and not for any particular reason and may refer to the county rather than the town.
Without being in any way rude to residents of the town I have to say that it is not a remarkable place and, sadly, seems to be suffering from the recession badly.
It’s a long way to Tipperary,
It’s a long, long way to go.
It’s a long way to Tipperary
To the sweetest girl I know.
Goodbye Piccadilly,
Farewell Leicester Square,
It’s a long long way to Tipperary,
But my heart lies there.
Up to mighty London came
An Irish lad one day,
All the streets were paved with gold,
So everyone was gay!
Singing songs of Piccadilly,
Strand, and Leicester Square,
‘Til Paddy got excited and
He shouted to them there:
Paddy wrote a letter
To his Irish Molly O’,
Saying, “Should you not receive it,
Write and let me know!
If I make mistakes in spelling,
Molly dear”, said he,
“Remember it’s the pen, that’s bad,
Don’t lay the blame on me”.
Molly wrote a neat reply
To Irish Paddy O’,
Saying, “Mike Maloney wants
To marry me, and so
Leave the Strand and Piccadilly,
Or you’ll be to blame,
For love has fairly drove me silly,
Hoping you’re the same!
You can get more details of the story of the song here – http://homepage.tinet.ie/~tipperaryfame/longway1.htm
It’s a sad truth that Tipperary does indeed seem to have suffered particularly badly from the recession, more so than most. Tipperary has such a history, based a great deal on the song, so much potential, so why is it failing? Perhaps someone from Tipperary can fill us in?
Well it seems that Tipperary was chosen fairly randomly for the song and I guess that American tourists may not know it as it dates from the First World War and was basically a British Music Hall song. Obviously the county does have lots of attractions but I am guessing that most people pass through on the way to the more famous west coast attractions.