Description
Instrumental arrangement of the Irish folk song known variously as The girl I left behind me and The Waxies’ Dargle.
Each instrument has a turn at the tune.
Instrumental arrangement of the Irish folk song known variously as The girl I left behind me and The Waxies’ Dargle. Each instrument has a turn at the tune.
“The Waxies’ Dargle” is a traditional Irish folk song about two Dublin “aul’ wans” (ladies) discussing how to find money to go on an excursion.
It is named after an annual outing to Ringsend, near Dublin city, by Dublin cobblers (waxies).
It originated as a 19th-century children’s song and is now a popular pub song in Ireland.
In the 19th century, during the Summer, the gentry of Dublin would travel out to Bray and Enniskerry with their entourages and have picnics on the banks of the River Dargle. The Dargle was a popular holiday resort, and the name in Dublin slang became synonymous with “holiday resort”.
The lyrics of the Waxie’s Dargle lyrics start:
Says my aul’ wan to your aul’ wan “Will ye come to the Waxies dargle?”
Says your aul’ wan to my aul’ wan, “Sure I haven’t got a farthing.
I’ve just been down to Monto town to see uncle McArdle
But he wouldn’t give me half a crown for to go to the Waxies dargle.”
The tune is also used for the song The Girl I left behind me:
All the dames of France are fond and free
And Flemish lips are really willing
Very soft the maids of Italy
And Spanish eyes are so thrilling
Still, although I bask beneath their smile,
Their charms will fail to bind me
And my heart falls back to Erin’s isle*
To the girl I left behind me.
(*Erin is the poetic name for the goddess Eriu and her island is the whole of Ireland)