New York Bay
I’m an Irishman from Monaghan,
In the North Country I was born,
It was manys the pleasant hour I spent,
On the banks of Sweet Lough Erin,
But to live poor I could not endure,
As others in my station,
With a heart full sore, I quit the shore,
Of the once loved Irish nation.
CHORUS:
Laddly-tar-i-are, laddly-tar-i-a
Laddly-tar-i-air-o-laddie
It was early on one Sunday morn,
As Phebus was arising,
We set sail away for New York Bay,
In the stout brig call Elizie,*
And four or five of our best men,
When hunger was confounded,
And seven more jumped overboard,
And willfully was drowned.
And when we landed in New York Bay,
To see how they were dancing,
There were lads and lassies dancing around
And ’round each other prancing,
And each lass to see how she was dressed
With white petticoats and long flounces,
And linked with each lass there was a lad,
With blue jackets and white trousers.
And when we landed in New York Bay,
We were both stout and hearty,
We were ready for any emergency,
That’s how the police force started,
Then we gave three cheers for Ireland,
Where friends lay broken hearted,
And like a flock of sheep, we strayed away,
And from each other parted.
Max Hunter collected this wonderfully unique variant of the well-known “Rambling Irishman” song in 1961 from Bertha Lauderdale of Fayetteville, Arkansas. I heard it first from singer Julie Henigan when she visited St. Paul to sing at the Traditional Singers Club 20 years ago. Julie spent time with the Max Hunter collection and she says Bertha Lauderdale, learned her songs from her grandfather Thomas Alexander Mulvagh who “emigrated from County Monaghan to Canada in 1836, bringing with him songs of broadside origin.”
The verse about “how the police force started” draws on the familiar trope of the Irish-American policeman.
You can hear Bertha’s unique, drawn out singing style on the Max Hunter page of the Missouri State University website. Julie Henigan’s singing of the song can be found on the Eoin McKiernan Library’s site in the Traditional Singers Club digital archive.
*Lauderdale inserts the chorus after every four lines starting here.