It's a Long Way to Tipperary

IT’S A LONG WAY TO TIPPERARY

Jack Judge & Harry Williams

VERSE 1

Up to mighty London came

An Irish man one day

All the streets were paved with gold

So everyone was gay!

Singing songs of Piccadilly

Strand, and Leicester Square

‘Til Paddy got excited and

He shouted to them there:

CHORUS (x2)

It’s a long way to Tipperary

It’s a long way to go.

It’s a long way to Tipperary

To the sweetest girl I know!

Goodbye Piccadilly

Farewell Leicester Square!

It’s a long long way to Tipperary

But my heart’s right there.

VERSE 2

Paddy wrote a letter

To his Irish Molly O’

Saying, “Should you not receive it

Write and let me know!

If I make mistakes in “spelling”

Molly dear”, said he

“Remember it’s the pen, that’s bad

Don’t lay the blame on me”.

THE WRITER AND COMPOSER

It is commonly accepted that “It’s A Long Way to Tipperary” was written over the course of one night to win a 5 shilling bet in 1912.

Composer Jack Judge, a fishmonger by trade, decided to give it a go. Instead of writing a song from scratch, he adapted an unpublished song he and Harry Williams had worked on three years earlier titled “It’s a long way to Connemara.” Judge was of Irish heritage and his grandparents were from Tipperary – a place he had thought of fondly growing up. He performed it the following night in a music hall.

Once in the hands of publishers, the tune was changed from an Irish ballad to a march and an extra “long” was added for emphasis. The first recording, sung by John McCormack was made in 1914.

By the end of the war, eight million copies of the song had been sold, making it a tremendous success. There was, however, a controversy. Judge gave credit to Harry Williams for helping to write the song – until he died in 1924, after which time he tried to take sole credit. This did not sit well with the Williams family, especially since Judge had sold his royalties to Williams in 1915. The Williams family successfully had their ancestor re-credited in 2012.