"The Waxies' Dargle" is a traditional Irish folk song about two Dublin "aul' wan" (older ladies/mothers) 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. [1]
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". [2]
The shoemakers and repairers in Dublin were known as waxies because they used wax to waterproof and preserve the thread they used in stitching the shoes. [3] Easter and Whitsun were their principal holidays, with Monday being the excursion for men and Tuesday for women. The original Waxies' Dargle was said to be part of Donnybrook Fair, but because of riotous behaviour, this fair closed in 1855. [4] In any case, the waxies' excursions did not go all the way to Bray but only went as far as Irishtown, between Ringsend and Sandymount. [5] In imitation of the gentry, they called their outing the Waxies' Dargle. They drove out from the city to Ringsend on flat drays, ten or a dozen to each vehicle. It cost two pence per car-load and the usual cry of the driver was "Tuppence, an' up with yeh!". Those who wanted a more comfortable ride could take a jaunting car from D'Olier Street for three pennies. [2]
Their destination was a favourite resort for Dubliners, a grass-covered triangle near the seafront at Irishtown. On Summer evenings, fiddlers, flautists, and melodeon players played dance music (sets, half-sets, and reels) until midnight. There was a roaring trade in porters, cockles, and mussels, and "treacle Billy". On Bank holidays there were boxing contests. [2]
There is an engraved stone marking the Waxies' Dargle "picnic" site near Gleesons Pub in Irishtown.
Robert Gogan [6] describes how the "Waxies' Dargle" focuses on working-class Dublin. The places referenced are in areas frequented by the inferior. Monto was an area around Montgomery Street, a notorious red-light district near the centre of Dublin. Capel Street is on the north side of the city and was renowned for its pawnbroking shops, a few of which remain to this day.
The Waxies' Dargle is also mentioned in another Dublin folk song, "Monto (Take Her Up to Monto)" by George Desmond Hodnett.
The Waxies' Dargle is referenced in the Aeolus episode of the novel Ulysses by James Joyce. The character Myles Crawford refers to the two old ladies on top of Nelson's pillar as being "Out for the Waxies' Dargle".
The air to which the song is sung is that of "Brighton Camp" (a reel in G Major), which is also used for "The Girl I Left Behind" and "The Rare Old Mountain Dew". [7] The earliest known version of the melody was printed about 1810 in Hime's Pocket Book for the German Flute or Violin (Dublin), vol. 3, p. 67, under the title The Girl I Left Behind Me (in the National Library of Ireland, Dublin). [8]
Ballsbridge is an affluent neighbourhood of the city of Dublin, the capital of Ireland. The area is largely situated north and west of a three-arch stone bridge across the River Dodder, on the south side of the city. The sign on the bridge still proclaims it as "Ball's Bridge", in recognition of the fact that the original bridge on that location was built and owned by the Ball family, a well-known Dublin merchant family in the 1500s and the 1600s. The current bridge was built in 1791.
Brendan Francis Aidan Behan was an Irish poet, short story writer, novelist, playwright, and Irish Republican,an activist who wrote in both English and Irish. He was named by US website Irish Central as one of the greatest Irish writers of all time.
The River Dargle is a river that flows from the Wicklow Mountains in Ireland to the Irish Sea. It forms Powerscourt Waterfall, receives the Glencree and Glencullen Rivers, and later the Glenmunder Stream / County Brook, and the Swan River at Bray, and reaches the sea at Bray Harbour.
The Dubliners were an Irish folk band founded in Dublin in 1962 as The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group, named after its founding member; they subsequently renamed themselves The Dubliners. The line-up saw many changes in personnel over their fifty-year career, but the group's success was centred on lead singers Luke Kelly and Ronnie Drew. The band garnered international success with their lively Irish folk songs, traditional street ballads and instrumentals. The band were regulars on the folk scenes in both Dublin and London in the early 1960s, and were signed to the Major Minor label in 1965 after backing from Dominic Behan who was paid by Major-Minor to work with the Dubliners and help them to build a better act fit for larger concert hall venues. The Dubliners worked with Behan regularly between 1965 and 1966; Behan wrote numerous songs for this act including the song McAlpine's Fusiliers created specifically to showcase Ronnie Drew's gravel voice. They went on to receive extensive airplay on Radio Caroline which was part-owned by Phil Solomon CEO of Major Minor, and eventually appeared on Top of the Pops in 1967 with hits "Seven Drunken Nights" and "The Black Velvet Band". Often performing political songs considered controversial at the time, they drew criticism from some folk purists and Ireland's national broadcaster RTÉ had placed an unofficial ban on their music from 1967 to 1971. During this time the band's popularity began to spread across mainland Europe and they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in the United States. The group's success remained steady right through the 1970s and a number of collaborations with The Pogues in 1987 saw them enter the UK Singles Chart on another two occasions.
Ringsend is a southside inner suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It is located on the south bank of the River Liffey and east of the River Dodder, about two kilometres east of the city centre. It is the southern terminus of the East Link Toll Bridge. Areas included in Ringsend are the south side of the Dublin Docklands, and at the west end is the area of South Lotts and part of the Grand Canal Dock area. Neighbouring areas include Irishtown, Sandymount and the Beggars Bush part of Ballsbridge to the south, and the city centre to the west. A key feature of the area is the chimneys of Poolbeg power station.
Monto was the nickname for the one-time red light district in the northeast of Dublin, Ireland. The Monto was roughly the area bounded by Talbot Street, Amiens Street, Gardiner Street and Seán McDermott Street in what would now be called Summerhill. The name is derived from Montgomery Street, which runs parallel to the lower end of Talbot Street towards what is now Connolly Station. Montgomery Street is believed to have been named after Elizabeth Montgomery, who was married to Luke Gardiner, 1st Viscount Mountjoy.
Luke Kelly was an Irish singer, folk musician and actor from Dublin, Ireland. Born into a working-class household in Dublin city, Kelly moved to England in his late teens and by his early 20s had become involved in a folk music revival. Returning to Dublin in the 1960s, he is noted as a founding member of the band The Dubliners in 1962. Known for his distinctive singing style, and sometimes political messages, the Irish Post and other commentators have regarded Kelly as one of Ireland's greatest folk singers.
Joseph Ronald Drew was an Irish singer, folk musician and actor who had a fifty-year career recording with The Dubliners.
Dominic Behan was an Irish writer, songwriter and singer from Dublin who wrote in Irish and English. He was also a socialist and an Irish republican. Born into the literary Behan family, he was one of the most influential Irish songwriters of the 20th century.
Irishtown is an inner suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It is situated on the southside of the River Liffey, between Ringsend to the north and Sandymount to the south, and is to the east of the River Dodder.
Dermot Lacey is an Irish Labour Party politician. He is a member of Dublin City Council in Dublin, Ireland.
"Monto " is an Irish folk song, written in 1958 by George Desmond Hodnett, music critic of the Irish Times, and popularised by the Dubliners. Frank Harte was also known to sing the song.
Finnegan Wakes is a live album by The Dubliners. Recorded at the Gate Theatre on 26 and 27 April 1966 and produced by Nathan Joseph, this was The Dubliners' final recording for Transatlantic Records. But it was also their first to feature their first established line-up of Ronnie Drew, Barney McKenna, Luke Kelly, Ciarán Bourke and John Sheahan. The album featured "Nelson's Farewell", a satirical song about the bombing and destruction of Nelson's Pillar in O'Connell Street, Dublin on 8 March 1966.
James McCann was an Irish entertainer and folk musician. Although a solo artist for most of his career, McCann was a member of the folk group The Dubliners from 1974 until 1979, then later appearing with them in their 2002 reunion and their 50th anniversary tour in 2012.
George Desmond "Hoddy" Hodnett was an Irish musician, songwriter and long-time jazz and popular music critic for the Irish Times.
Spirit of the Irish: Ultimate Collection is an album by The Dubliners which charted at No. 19 in the UK Album Charts in 2003.
James Fitzharris nicknamed Skin-the-Goat was a member of the Invincibles, a Dublin-based Irish revolutionary group.
Capel Street is a predominantly commercial street in Dublin, Ireland laid out in the 17th century by Humphrey Jervis.