Henry's Songbook

Chorus:
Whack fol de toora loora laddie
Whack fol de toora loora lay
Whack fol de toora loora laddie
Whack fol de toora loora lay

As I came down through Dublin City at the hour of twelve at night
Who should I spy but a Spanish lady washing her feet by candlelight
First she washed them then she dried them over a fire of angry coal
In all my life I ne'er did see a maid so neat about the sole

As I came back through Dublin City at the hour of half past eight
Who should I spy but a Spanish lady brushing her hair in the broad daylight
First she brushed it then she tossed it on her lap was a silver comb
In all my life I ne'er did see a maid so fair since I did roam

As I came back through Dublin City as the sun began to set
Who should I spy but a Spanish lady catching a moth in a golden net
When she saw me then she fled me lifting her petticoat over her knee
In all my life I ne'er did see a maid so fair as the Spanish lady

I've wandered north and I've wandered south through Stoney Batter and Patrick's Close
Up around by the Gloucester Diamond and back by Napper Tandy's house
Old age has laid her hand on me, cold as a fire of ashy coal
But where is the lovely Spanish lady neat and sweet about the sole

(as sung by The Johnstons)

Tune: Mo Ghile Mear (The White Cockade)

[1979:] The tune derives from Mo ghile mear, also known as The White Cockade. The words are anonymous. (Loesberg I, 57)

[1994:] Before Brendan Behan put the songs on stage, Molly Malone and The Spanish Lady were the only songs from the capital of which the public was aware, 'sung mainly by the Radio Eireann singers and the girls with the harps sung in much the same manner as Danny Boy is sung,' Frank Harte said. (Geraghty, Luke Kelly 26)

Just a few doors down [from the author's and Luke Kelly's childhood homes in the Liberties] was Napper Tandy's house, referred to in the old Dublin song The Spanish Lady. (Geraghty, Luke Kelly 36)

[1995:] [Chester City] is a version of The Spanish Lady that I heard from the wonderful singer Frank Harte. (Notes Mick West, 'Fine Flowers and Foolish Glances')

[1999:] James "Napper Tandy" was one of the founders of the revolutionary group known as the "United Irishmen." They were the first republican revolutionaries in Irish history. It was their movement that led to the 1798 Rising and also Robert Emmet's rising in 1803. Tandy had fled Ireland to avoid arrest in 1793 and traveled to France. He returned to Ireland in 1798 at the head of a small force of French soldiers but the rising had run its course by then. He was later captured by the British and barely escaped execution through the influence of Napoleon, who managed to get him released in 1802. He died a year later. (Joe Gannon, http://www.thewildgeese.com,  29 June)