The song was written by Percy French (1854-1920), a well-born
Anglo-Irishman who took up song-writing after graduating from
Trinity College, Dublin with a degree in engineering. Several
of French's compositions, including Phil the Fluther's
Ball and The Mountains of Mourne, have become
fixtures in Ireland's folk-song tradition.
Oh! Mat Hannigan had an Aunt,
An Uncle too, likewise;
But in this chant, 'tis Hannigan's Aunt
I wish to eulogize.
For when young lovers came
And axed her to be theirs,
Mat Hannigan's Aunt took each gallant,
And fir'd him down the stairs.
(Chorus)
So here's a health to Hannigan's Aunt!
I'll tell you the reason why,
She always had things dacent
In the Hannigan family;
A platther an' can for ev'ry man,
"What more did the quality want?
You've yer bite an' yer sup, what's cockin' yees up!'
Says Mathew Hannigan’s Aunt.
Oh! she never would raise her voice,
She never was known to scold,
But when Hannigan’s Aunt sed, “No, you can’t,”
You did what you were told;
And if anyone answered back,
Oh, then his hair she'd comb,
“For all I want,” sez Hannigan’s aunt,
“Is peace in our happy home.”
(Chorus)
Oh, when she went to Court,
The A-de-congs in vain
Would fume and rant, for Hannigan’s Aunt
Said, “Boy, let go me thrain!”
And when the Lard Leftinant
A kiss on her brow would imprint!
“Oh no, you can’t,” said Hannigan’s Aunt
“Widout me pa’s consint.”
(Chorus)
Oh, ‘tis often we’d praise her up,
We’d laud her to the sky,
We’d all descant on Hannigan’s Aunt
And hope she never would die.
But still I’d like to add—
If Hannigan isn’t about—
That whin we plant Mat Hannigan’s Aunt,
We won’t be too put out.
(Chorus)
The allusion was first identified in Matthew Hodgart and
Mabel Worthington's Song in the Works of James Joyce (Columbia
UP, 1959). In Musical Allusions in the Works of James
Joyce: Early Poetry through Ulysses (SUNY Press, 1974),
Zach Bowen notes the similarity to Stephen's use of song to
rebut Deasy (76).
