Mick Magee

DESCRIPTION: Magee is a dealer in tobacco and tea who does not bother with licenses. Accidentally taking his wares to a police station, he is pursued by the force. He lends his bag to a beggar and lets himself be trapped. Since he has nothing illegal, he is released
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (Sam Henry collection), but parodied no later than 1873
KEYWORDS: commerce trick police escape
FOUND IN: Ireland Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H740, pp. 56-57, "Mick Magee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-FolksongsFromSouthernNewBrunswick 74, "Mick McGee" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST HHH740 (Partial)
Roud #2764
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Mick McGee
NOTES [117 words]: Michael Taft points out to me "The Liquor Law," from the 1873 publication Johnny Roach's Emerald Songster, pp. 4-5, and apparently reprinted the next year in Johnny Roach's Champion Songster. It begins,
One Mick MacGee, from Arranafee, who once was a bold sailor oh,
But growing old, as I've been told, he turned a liquor dealer oh
To licence Mick would not agree, or pay the excise bounty oh....
It is listed as "As revised by Johnny Roach."
It's clearly based on this song, but the revisions are sufficient that I think it could be considered a separate song, and there is no evidence that the revision went into tradition. Nonetheless it proves that the original song was in existence by 1873. - RBW
Last updated in version 7.2
File: HHH740

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