If You're Irish Come Into The Parlour

Album: When Irish Eyes Are Smiling (1919)
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Songfacts®:

  • This uptempo song was co-written by Irishman Shaun Glenville and Welshman Fred Godfrey. Godfrey (1880-1953) was a time serving songwriter whose hits include "Bless 'Em All" and "Take Me Back To Dear Old Blighty." Shaun Glenville was born John Browne in 1884, the son of Mary Browne née Lynch, who managed the Mechanics Theatre, Dublin.

    Godfrey wrote over 900 songs, including a large number of specifically Irish songs, and liked to claim this was because his mother was Irish, but his grandson, Barry Norris of New Brunswick, Canada, who has researched Godfrey's life in considerable depth, points out that his father was Welsh, his mother English, and his "Irish" songs, "like any of his others, were knocked off to feed the insatiable public demand for such material."

    Glanville was married to the actress Dorothy Ward, who recorded a number of Godfrey's other songs.

    "If You're Irish Come Into The Parlour" was published by B. Feldman of London. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England
  • The song proved immediately popular when first published in 1919 and has seen many recorded versions over the years. Perhaps the most well known is by Irish singer Ruby Murray, who included it on her 1955 album, When Irish Eyes are Smiling.

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