The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1915-02-18
TIPPERARY SONG
John McMormack Has Taken IL In
Charge; Sings II ON Concert Stage; {;
Never Bc,n Heard by Soldiers

u;onald Webster. In the chicago /
TrlhuncD
ITS ID Long Way to rlpperary" Is
a song of low origin and doubtful an
rrstry. but Of vast ambition and un-
firing feet Already 1t has left the
continent "a hero, It has made its
way through the variety houses II
has been with us ut our meals for
two months, and 1t Ia now standing
lmpaurntly in the nnte-room Of re-
sprctabIlty with John McCormack'
knocking for admission.
OF course, II 1t had not obtained
that eminent concert singers stamp
Of approval It could not be rcog-
ulzcd In these austere columns 1t Is
his sponsorship which makes posi-
bic. even more than the diagnosis
/ by the Boston Transcript "A mention
ot the 100000 marching men and
/ It's musical merit
/ For month or more Americans
were uckled. They thought our own
! Harry williams had done this thing
and that Die WaCht am Rhein"
, offspring of Wanted Teutonic art
would find a surf competitor In a
product uf un-pan alley. Perhaps
they felt assured that II We could
write war song we could trust the
rest Of our national defense to our
armed citiZenry,
Not our Harry Williams.
But our Harry Williams. am
crrdlby Informed, had nothing to do
/ with IT, After producing I'm Afraid
to Go Home I'm the Dark" and In
tho Shade of the Old Apple Tree, -
he left the, problem Of contributing
to our national defense In other
hands We have yet TO produce a war
song
The Harry Williams whose name
udorns the cover Of the song did not
write It either II was done by mu-
sic hail singer named Jack Judge,
with the aid Of williams. Judge
wrote It In 1911 And he grieyed
because his singing Of 1t evoked lit
ne enthusiasm from his music hall
public
, B Feidman. the publisher. came at
once 10 the aid Of the despondent
genius, declaring that the time would
come when the world would be ring
ing with the song. He published II
with slight changes. The changes
were (for the benefit " hlstorians)
, the repetition OF the word long and
the lengthening OF the third sylla-
bile In the word 'Tipperary," both
near the end Of the chorus.
Thus did the song come into the
2 world
o "Tlppcrary" in Exclusive Circles.
X In writing Of "Tpperary' one II
d oppressed by sepse Of the futility
h Of attempted analysis. The song II
o simply being sung In homes devot.
ed 10 the seyerest Of education mu
sic--nay. even In the domiciles Of IN,
Brahmsans, whence all works moi
bearing the stamp OF the master ar,
- vigorously excluded (even McCor
y mack can't get in)--"Tipperary
finds admission-posslbly by the bacl
door.
The reasons for It's popularity II
} this country are clear enough.
r offers an innOcuous substitute fo
Il war, enabling the imaginative singe
/. to feel the excitement without tn
z possibility OF running into any barb
n ed-wire entanglements And It give
p people chance--ln restaurants
II drown out the singers and the clat
- ter Of dishes. A little OF this kind O
:. iovialtity snakes an American fec
. that. after all, he knows how to hav
V good time II he can do so withou
T. making fool OF himself,
X Nothing 90 Do With War.
70 Just why II has become the on
'e session Of the British soldier no on
r. seems to know. An Engllshman yer
10 lures the opinion that II IL becaur
N the song has nothing 70 do with III
war The Englishman, he says, doc
" not Dbyot TO patrioutn expresslo
n when he is In the privacy Of h
10 bath, for instance but he would mai
a, to be caught at H. He finds II moi
in to his taste to 20 about the buslnei
o. Of making war quite as n nothin
"a unusual we're happening. Thus b
=, prefers song which has nothing
IL do with heroics
The real living feature OF the SON
70 he adds. IL the flowing rhythm (
tho refrain, with its faint suggestlo