I'll Tell Me Ma

Infobox Single
Name = I'll Tell Me Ma


Caption =
Type =
Artist = Van Morrison, The Chieftains
alt Artist =
Album = Irish Heartbeat
A-side = "I'll Tell Me Ma"
B-side = "Tà Mo Chleamhnas Déanta"
Published =
Released = 1988
track_no = 6
Recorded = December 1987 - January, 1988
Genre = Folk
Length = 2:29
Writer =
Composer =
Label = Mercury
Producer = Van Morrison, Paddy Moloney
Last single ="Queen of the Slipstream"
(1988)
This single ="I'll Tell Me Ma"
(1988)
Next single ="Have I Told You Lately"
(1989)
Misc = Extra tracklisting
Album = Irish Heartbeat
Type = studio
prev_track = "She Moved Through the Fair"
prev_no = 5
this_track = "I'll Tell Me Ma"
track_no = 6
next_track = "Carrickfergus"
next_no = 7

"I'll Tell Me Ma" (also called "The Wind") is a well known children's song. It was collected in various parts of England in the 19th century and again appears in collections from shortly after the turn of the 20th century.cite book|last=Gomme|first= Alice Bertha |authorlink = Alice Gomme|year=1894, 1898|title=The traditional games of England, Scotland and Ireland: with tunes, singing rhymes and methods of playing according to the variants extant and recorded in different parts of the kingdom|pages=p. 387|location=London|publisher= Nutt|id= ISBN 978-0500273166] In Ireland the chorus usually refers to Belfast city, although it is also adapted to other Irish cities, such as Dublin. [ [http://www.youngdubliners.com/pages/website/irishsessionslyrics.shtml#ma :: Young Dubliners :: The Irish Sessions :: ] ] English versions refer to the "Golden City" or "London City".This song is Roud Folk Song Index number 2649.

Lyrics

Irish Version

I'll tell me ma when I go home
The boys won't leave the girls alone
They pull my hair, they steal my comb
But that's all right till I get home

(chorus):She is handsome, she is pretty
She is the belle of Belfast city
She is courting one, two, three
Please, won't you tell me, who is she?
Albert Mooney says he loves her
All the boys are fighting for her
Knock at the door and ring the bell
Saying, oh my true love, are you well?
Out she comes, white as snow
Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes
Old Jenny Murphy says she'll die
If she doesn't get the fellow with the roving eye
(Chorus)

Let the wind and the rain and the hail go high
Snow come tumbling from the sky
She's as nice as apple pie
She'll get a fellow by and by
When she gets a lad of her own
She won't tell her ma when she gets home
Let them all come as they will
It's Albert Mooney she loves still

(Chorus)

Gloucestershire Version
(Collected from Miss Matthews, Forest of Dean, 19th century)

The wind, the wind, the wind blows high,
The rain comes pouring from the sky;
Miss So-and-So says she'd die
For the sake of the old man's eye.
She is handsome, she is pretty,
She is the lass of the golden city;
She goes courting one, two, three,
Please to tell me who they be.
A. B. says he loves her,
All the boys are fighting for her,
Let the boys say what they will
A. B. has got her still.

A ring is formed by the children joining hands, one player standing in the centre. When asked, "Please tell me who they be," the girl in the middle gives the name or initials of a boy in the ring (or vice versa). The ring then sings the rest of the words, and the boy who was named goes into the centre.

Recordings

*The Rankin Family on their 2nd album Fare Thee Well Love, 1990
*Lick the Tins, on "Blind Man on a Flying Horse"
*The Chieftains and Van Morrison, on their collaboration record "Irish Heartbeat"
*The Chieftains, on "", sung by Ronnie Drew
*The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, on "The Boys Won't Leave The Girls Alone"
*The Dubliners
*Four to the Bar, on their live album "Craic on the Road"
*The Irish Tenors
*Christy Moore
*Gaelic Storm
*The Corries, on "The Corrie Folk Trio and Paddie Bell"
*Sinéad O'Connor, on "Sean-Nós Nua"
*The Tossers, on ""
*Orthodox Celts, the line 'She's the belle of Belfast City' replaced with 'She's the belle of Belgrade City')
*Sham Rock
*Slainte
*The Young Dubliners, on "With All Due Respect - The Irish Sessions"
*Marc Gunn, on "" and was parodied on "Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers"
*Amadan on "Hell-Bent 4 Victory"
*The Poxy Boggards, on "Whiskey Business"

References