Connection between Irish folk song “I’ll Tell Me Ma” and Scottish rhyme “I’ll Tell Ma Mither”
October 9th, 2005

Several days ago, I asked if anyone knew the origin of I’ll Tell Ma Mither.

Yesterday, Dani pointed out that it’s very similar to the Irish folksong I’ll Tell Me Ma.

Here’s Dani’s letter:

I can’t tell you much about the I’ll Tell My Mither rhyme, but it does have several lines in common with the folk song I’ll Tell my Ma, which I gather is from the Belfast area:

I’ll Tell My Ma

I’ll tell my ma when I go home
the boys won’t leave the girls alone!
They pulled my hair, and they stole my comb
(but that’s all right, ’til I go home).

It’s one of my favourites. :-)

For complete lyrics and a sound clip

Also, the Rankin Family did a very nice version a while back, I believe.

Hope this was of use! Dani

Thanks Dani!

For other Irish songs visit Mama Lisa’s Ireland Page. For Scottish songs and nursery rhymes visit Mama Lisa’s U.K. Page.

This article was posted on Sunday, October 9th, 2005 at 12:27 pm and is filed under Children's Songs, Folk Songs, History of Nursery Rhymes, I'll Tell Ma Mither, I'll Tell Me Ma, Irish Folk Songs, Irish Kids Songs, N. Ireland, Scotland, Scottish Children's Songs, Scottish Nursery Rhymes, Songs About Boys and Girls, Songs by Theme. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

2 Responses to “Connection between Irish folk song “I’ll Tell Me Ma” and Scottish rhyme “I’ll Tell Ma Mither””

  1. Raquel Ary-DeRozza Says:
    January 12th, 2008 at 9:44 pm

    Hi
    About ‘tell my MA’: That is so much like a song we sang in Canada, when we played jump rope!
    ‘The wind, the wind, the wind blows high
    Blowing (a name) through the sky
    She is handsome, she is pretty
    she’s is the queen of the highland city
    she goes courting 1-2-3, won’t you tell us who is she?

  2. Noreta Says:
    February 24th, 2008 at 12:04 pm

    http://ingeb.org/songs/illnever.html
    I found this for you; has all the lyrics. I don’t think i’ve heard of this one and i’m Irish myself!
    Cheers, Noreta

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