The Rakes of Mallow
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Standard Notation
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Mandolin Tablature
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Mandolin Tablature
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Irish
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
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Lyrics:
Beauing, belleing, dancing, drinking,
Breaking windows, cursing, sinking
Ever raking, never thinking,
Live the Rakes of Mallow;
Spending faster than it comes,
Beating waiters bailiffs, duns,
Bacchus' true begotten sons,
Live the Rakes of Mallow.
One time naught but claret drinking,
Then like politicians, thinking
To raise the "sinking funds" when sinking.
Live the Rakes of Mallow.
When at home, with da-da dying,
Still for mellow water crying;
But, where there's good claret plying
Live the Rakes of Mallow.
Racking tenants, stewards teasing,
Swiftly spending, slowly raising,
Wishing to spend all their days in
Raking as at Mallow.
Then to end this raking life,
They get sober, take a wife,
Ever after live in strife,
And wish again for Mallow.
"The Rakes of Mallow" in Gaelic Na Racairide Ua Mag-Ealla, also known as "The Rakes of Malta",<br> "The Rakes of Mellow", "Le râteau de mallon", "The Rakes of Mallon", "The Heights of Alma",<br> "The Jolly Sailor", "Piping Tim of Galway", "The Rakes of London", "Rigs o' Marlow" or<br> "Romping Molly" is originally an Irish, now English, Scottish and American air, polka, reel or<br> march in G Major. The parts are played AB, AA'BB'(O'Neill), AABB, or AABBCC.<br> This setting is from O'Neill.<br> Bayard (1981) wrote that the title stemmed from the 18th century when the town of Mallow,<br> County Cork (on the river Blackwater between Limerick and Cork City) was a well-known spa and known<br> as the "Irish Bath" (similar to Bath, England). <br> ‘Rakes’ appears to be short for 'rakehell', which itself stems from the Old Icelandic<br> word reikall, meaning "wandering" or "unsettled." Croker says that the young men of that<br> town were usually called "the rakes of Mallow"<br> One of the early printings of the tune is in the collection of Burke Thumoth, 1745 (as<br> "Rakes of Marlow") and Paul Gifford has found it in a manuscript of Danish hakkebraet (dulcimer)<br> tablature under the title "Rakes of London" dated 1753. However, the earliest appearance of<br> "Rakes of Mallow" is in Walsh’s London-published Caledonian Country Dances of 1733,<br> and the earliest printings are from England. The melody is still heard in English sessions in<br> modern times, although considered a ‘beginner’s tune’, and it is widely recognized throughout<br> the English-speaking world Despite its Irish-sounding title, the tune's provenance has not<br> been established. Morris dance musicians play a version called <a>"Rigs o' Marlow"</a> for a<br> stick-dance collected by Cecil Sharp in Headington, Oxfordshire. <br> The setting here is much the same as the contra dance setting of<br> "The Rigs o' Marlow" but with even notes instead of the dotted pairs of that dance.<br> It was printed in Aird's Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 2 (1785)<br> (appears as "Rakes of Mall"),<br> Kerr's Merry Melodies, vol. 3 (c. 1880's),<br> O'Neill's Music of Ireland:1850 Melodies (1903) and at least 30 other publications.<br> More modern printed sources include <br> Bayard's Dance to the Fiddle (1981),<br> Karpeles & Schofield's A Selection of 100 English Folk Dance Airs (1951)(appears as "Rigs<br> O' Marlow" in a strathspey setting) and<br> Mulvihill's 1st Collection (1986).<br> It was recorded Robert Lemieux and Hector Charbonneau (1936)(as "Le râteau de mallon"/"Rakes of<br> Mallon"), Pipe Major J. Starck (1915), Michael Coleman & Tom Morrison (1925)(Appears as<br> "Heights of Alma") and others. <br> <br>
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