Talk:It's a Long Way to Tipperary

The 5 Shilling Bet?
What was the 5 shilling bet? Sheesh!

The article fails to mention that it was first recorded and popularized by John McCormack in 1914 and states instead that the Connaught Rangers were the first to record it, which is incorrect. 70.69.36.29 02:12, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

I've been told it's about brothels in Soho...is this true? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.10.209.178 (talk) 22:25, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

Town signs
If I recall right, when you enter the town, the sign there says : Welcome to Tipperary, you came a long way, which must be a back reference to this song. Maybe it should be mentioned somewhere? It has been quite some years since I have visited Ireland so maybe someone could check if the sign is still there or stolen by tourists ;-) -- 195.14.244.171 (talk) 23:48, 7 February 2008 (UTC)

MST3K Movie
The song is used at the beginning of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie when Crow T. Robot is digging into the satellite's hull with a pickaxe.

Unsourced material saved for use if source can be found

 * ''There is a small pub in Honiley, Warwickshire named “The Tipperary Inn”.


 * The story begins when Harry Williams was born in Erdington on 23rd September 1873. When young Harry fell down the cellar steps of the family home breaking both legs, the injury left him severely disabled. Harry spent most of his childhood studying, music, poetry, song writing and playing the mandolin and piano.


 * Around 1904 Harry and his family moved to “The Plough, Meer End” where his father became the licensee. Whilst at The Plough Harry continued to write his songs. Many of the songs were written in partnership with Jack Judge who performed at The Malt Shovel in Oldbury, where Harry’s brother Benjamin was the licensee.


 * ''It’s a long way to Tipperary was written in 1909 and published in 1912 and became famous during the Great War 1914 – 1918. The royalties from this and other songs made Harry a wealthy man, which enabled him to buy The Plough, the cottage and surrounding land for his parents.


 * Harry also wrote a Funeral Pose for King Edward VII, which was requested by the Queen to commemorate the King’s life. When Harry died in 1924 at The Plough, he was buried alongside his parents in Temple Balsall. The inscription on his headstone is dedicated to “The author of it’s a long way to Tipperary”.


 * In Honour of Harry’s most famous song the pub became known as: The Tipperary Inn.

This was deleted as unsourced which I agree with but rather than ditch it I've saved it here for recovery should anyone source it. -- Gramscis cousin (talk) 12:24, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

I would agree that the story may be dubious and that words carved in stone are not definitive evidence, but the grave is easy to find in the burial ground at Temple Balsall. Could the story be included with some caveats? 86.20.62.74 (talk) 16:00, 22 February 2009 (UTC)

There used to be a sign in the pub declaring that the song referred to the Inn and not to the location in Ireland kentish 5 Feb 10 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.166.182.164 (talk) 19:22, 5 February 2010 (UTC)

Veracity
Is it actually a long way to Tipperary? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.11.36.165 (talk) 20:46, 12 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Depends where you are. But, yes. JonC Talk 19:51, 21 September 2011 (UTC)

Avast!
I was initially thrown by the use of the word "piracy" in the section on Miss Alice Smyth Burton Jay's lawsuit, thinking it an anachronism. ""The court selected Victor Herbert to act as expert advisor and, in 1920, dismissed the suit, based on evidence that the authors of "Tipperary" had never been to Seattle, and on testimony from Victor Herbert that the two songs were not so similar as to suggest piracy.""

But it turns out that the original NYT article used as a source actually does use the word "pirated" to refer to the song being stolen. ""Victor Herbert was one of the witnesses for the defendants, who testified that the compositions were not sufficiently alike to lead to the belief that one was pirated from the other.""

In fact it does this twice because the full headline is "Loses 'Tipperary' Suit - Court Rules Song Was Not Pirated from Miss Jay." That said, I did think that "plagiarized" made more sense. Pirated in this context means stolen - I don't think it's quite what pirated means today. That said, it's usually best to keep the wording in the original sources, so that is what I am doing. I'm just including this in case somoene else had the same reaction I did. You can get the pdf here, it's not behind a paywall at the moment. Rifter0x0000 (talk) 03:28, 4 January 2013 (UTC)

Clarification need
Jonh [sic - actual name?] McCormack's version is featured in the Titanic soundtrack. Which movie? Certainly not James Cameron's most recent epic, as far as I remember as a pre-2000 viewer.Cloptonson (talk) 19:30, 4 July 2014 (UTC)

Simultaneous quodlibet
The article states that the "song is also an example of a partner song, or simultaneous quodlibet, in that the chorus of the song can be sung at the same time as another well known music hall song, "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag", in perfect harmony."

This is not true. The first, second and fourth lines of the chorus harmonise, but not the third. If you can find a friend to try singing it with you, you will find I am right.

86.179.245.118 (talk) 17:34, 16 July 2014 (UTC) Neil Hawes, Musical Director, Whitton Choral Society 16th July 2014

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 2 external links on It's a Long Way to Tipperary. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20061216225229/http://www.firstworldwar.com/audio/American%20Quartet%20%26%20Billy%20Murray%20-%20It%27s%20A%20Long%20Long%20Way.mp3 to http://firstworldwar.com/audio/American%20Quartet%20%26%20Billy%20Murray%20-%20It%27s%20A%20Long%20Long%20Way.mp3
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070403173627/http://fightmusic.com/mp3/big12/Missouri__Every_True_Son_Fight_Tigers.mp3 to http://www.fightmusic.com/mp3/big12/Missouri__Every_True_Son_Fight_Tigers.mp3

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 22:13, 17 November 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on It's a Long Way to Tipperary. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110821035749/http://bscd.bsd.uchicago.edu/content/its-long-way-amphioxus to http://bscd.bsd.uchicago.edu/content/its-long-way-amphioxus

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 03:15, 21 December 2017 (UTC)

Also sung by the Red Army Choir in Das Boot (The Boat)
The clue is in the title. 178.203.184.252 (talk) 14:07, 31 August 2022 (UTC)