Molly Durkin
Encyclopedia
Molly Durkin is an Irish folk song made popular by Murty Rabbett in the 1940s in the United States. It is a derivation of the song Mursheen Durkin
.
The song has a lively tempo and a man who decides to give up his work as a mortar shoveler (probably an asphalt shoveler as well) to take up shoveling gold in California is whimsically described. The song is not so much a song of leaving Ireland as it is an Irishman's response to a woman's scorn.
Mursheen Durkin
To the alehouse and the playhouse and many's the house besides,But I told me brother Seamus I'd go off and go right famousAnd before I'd return again I'd roam the whole world wide.ChorusSo goodbye, Muirsheen Durkin, I'm sick and tired of working,...
.
The song has a lively tempo and a man who decides to give up his work as a mortar shoveler (probably an asphalt shoveler as well) to take up shoveling gold in California is whimsically described. The song is not so much a song of leaving Ireland as it is an Irishman's response to a woman's scorn.
Recordings
- Murty Rabbett & His Gaelic Band: "Farewell To Ireland" Properbox 3(P1109-12) (1999/2005)
- Ballinasloe Fair-Early Recordings Of Irish Music In America Traditional Crossroads CD 4284, CD (1998/2005)