“The Rocky Road to Dublin”

Description

An emigrant from Tuam recounts his comical misadventures on the way to England. He is flirted with in Mullingar, robbed in Dublin, put with the pigs on board ship, and ends in a brawl with "the boys of Liverpool."

Notes

[Tune listed in broadsides LOCSinging as203070 and Bodleian Harding B 18(417) as "Irish Jig." True, but hardly helpful.... - RBW/BS]

Broadside LOCSinging as203070: H. De Marsan dating per _Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song_ by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS

Broadsides

• Bodleian, Harding B 11(3304), "Rocky Road to Dublin," J. Harkness (Preston), 1840-1866; also Harding B 18(417), Johnson Ballads 2804 [same as LOCSinging as203070]; Harding B 11(454), "Rocky Road to Dublin"
• LOCSinging, as203070, "The Rocky Road to Dublin," H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878 [same as Bodleian Harding B 18(417)]; also as111860, "The Rocky Road to Dublin"

Recordings

• American Quartet, "Along the Rocky Road to Dublin" (Victor 17900, 2926; rec. 1915)
• Sam Ash, "Along the Rocky Road to Dublin" (Little Wonder 254, 1915)
• Liam Clancy, "The Rocky Road to Dublin" (on IRLClancy01)
• Marguerite Farrell, "Along the Rocky Road to Dublin" (Columbia A1920, 1916; rec. 1915)
• Osey Helton, "Rocky Road to Dublin" (Broadway 5122A, c. 1931)
• Edward Herborn & James Wheeler, "Rocky Road to Dublin" (Columbia A2217, 1917)
• Bill McCune & his Orch. "Along the Rocky Road to Dublin" (Vocalion 04281, 1938)
• Premier Quartet, "Along the Rocky Road to Dublin" (CYL: Edison [BA] 2817, n.d.)
• Allen Sisson, "The Rocky Road to Dublin" [instrumental] (Edison 51559, 1925)

References

1. Hodgart, p. 207, "The Rocky Road to Dublin" (1 text)
2. SHenry H44, pp. 178-179, "The Rocky Road to Dublin" (1 text, 1 tune)
3. O'Conor, pp. 19-20, "Rocky Road to Dublin" (1 text)
4. OLochlainn 51, "The Rocky Road to Dublin" (1 text, 1 tune)
5. DT, RCKYDBLN*
6. Roud #3012
7. BI, Hodg207