Traditional Song from Ligoniel Primary School and St .Vincent de

Paul Primary School

‘I'll tell me ma’

‘I’ll tell me ma’ is also called ‘the Belle of Belfast city’. It is a children’s skipping song from Northern Ireland, though versions of it are sung throughout Ireland and England. The name of the city is changed to suit the location.

The song has been about for nearly 200 years but we don’t know who wrote it.The song has been covered by many famous artists including Van Morrison, The Chieftans and Kirsty MacColl.

ChorusI'll tell me ma when I go home

The boys won't leave the girls aloneThey pulled my hair, they stole my comb

But that's alright, t’ill I go homeShe is handsome, she is prettyShe is the belle of Belfast city

She is a courting one, two, three Please won’t you tell me who is she?

Verse 1Albert Mooney says he loves herAll the boys are fighting for her

They knock at the door and they ring at the bell saying

"Oh, my true love are you well"Out she comes as white as snow

Rings on her fingers, bells on her toesOl' Jonny Murray says she'll die

If she doesn't get the fellow with the roving eye

ChorusI'll tell me ma when I go home

The boys won't leave the girls aloneThey pulled my hair, they stole my comb

But that's alright, t’ill I go homeShe is handsome, she is prettyShe is the belle of Belfast city

She is a courting one, two, three Please won’t you tell me who is she?

Verse 2Let the wind and the rain and the hail blow

high And the snow come tumbling from the sky

She's as nice as apple pieShe'll get her own lad by and byWhen she gets a lad of her own

She won't tell her ma when she gets homeLet them all come as they will

For it’s Albert Mooney she loves still

Chorus x3I'll tell me ma when I go home

The boys won't leave the girls aloneThey pulled my hair, they stole my comb

But that's alright, t’ill I go homeShe is handsome, she is prettyShe is the belle of Belfast city

She is a courting one, two, three Please won’t you tell me who is she?

‘I'll tell me ma when I go home’ dance

‘I'll tell me ma when I go home’ dance