Rocky Road to Dublin, The

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."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1867 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3304))
KEYWORDS: emigration humorous Ireland
FOUND IN: Ireland US
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Hodgart-FaberBookOfBallads, p. 207, "The Rocky Road to Dublin" (1 text)
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H44, pp. 178-179, "The Rocky Road to Dublin" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor-OldTimeSongsAndBalladOfIreland, pp. 19-20, "Rocky Road to Dublin" (1 text)
OLochlainn-IrishStreetBallads 51, "The Rocky Road to Dublin" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, RCKYDBLN*
Roud #3012
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)
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"
NOTES [139 words]: [Tune listed in broadsides LOCSinging as203070 and Bodleian Harding B 18(417) as "Irish Jig." True, but hardly helpful.... - (RBW/BS)
Although presumably of Irish origin, this was known in the United States at an early date. Edward Harrigan, in his novel The Mulligans (G. W. Dillingham, 1901), p. 141, has this song being used in a parade of Irishmen. It was also cited as being played in Australia in Steele Rudd's On Our Selection no later than 1903. - RBW
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
There is a 1916 pop song, "Along the Rocky Road to Dublin," words by Joe Young, music by Bert Grant. It is not this, although the title may hae been inspired by this. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.5
File: Hodg207

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