Talk:The Mountains of Mourne

Isn't the proper spelling Morne?

• no. Gnusmas 20:29, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
  • It's at least an alternate spelling, used by Harold Pinter in The Birthday Party. I'm going to add an entry for the alternate spelling to have it redirect here. --In Defense of the Artist 20:38, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
    • coming from newcastle, and living right beside the mountains, i can easily tell you that it is always spelt M-O-U-R-N-E and never 'morne'

"Morne" is likely to have been a misprint or spelling error. --Mal 03:11, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Maudlin? Priggish?

Re this sentence: The song is representative of French's many works concerning the Irish diaspora in both its subject matter and its maudlin and somewhat priggish tone, especially when compared with his many comic songs.

It seems to me a bit harsh to call the song maudlin and priggish. The song is more than a century old and it is sentimental, but there is also a fair bit of humour in it.

In any case, if the article includes value judgements about the song, shouldn't the article provide "sources" for these opinions? Wanderer57 02:45, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Agreed, in this case the word 'maudlin' (tearfully or weakly emotional; foolishly sentimental) is inappropriate. The subject expresses regret and disillusionment but is not maudlin. The use of the term 'priggish' (exaggeratedly proper) is again inappropriate. The subject is merely naive and not accustomed to city life.EarthRise 11:11, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Date written

If the year it was written was 1896 were the original lyrics different that the ones posted in the article? In the third verse it starts "I've seen England's king from the top of a bus" - what king would that have been? Queen Victoria was on the throne in 1896. Brakn (talk) 22:56, 15 May 2011 (UTC)

Has anyone actually dated this from the original sheet music? There was no King of England in 1896. Brakn (talk) 14:49, 28 October 2011 (UTC)

it's not just that. the common rendition rhymes 'bath' with 'truth' which french would never do. the word should be ,'booth'

a place of rowdy entertainment in those days. only someone like myself who learnt it from my granda 65 years ago

seems to know this but there are plenty like me. so the king bit was introduced when vicky died to make it relevant, and booth when the word went out of common parlance. 202.139.23.160 (talk) 09:22, 29 August 2011 (UTC)belfastbred andbuttered.

Interesting topic. Australian baritone Peter Dawson's classic 1920 rendition (c.f. YouTube) doesn't contain the word "truth". His line is ".... and you could not, in troth..." Which is a different word from "truth", typical of Victorian melodrama, that does indeed rhyme with "bath" in most accents of the British Isles. Laodah (talk) 00:55, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

Name of "Mary"

Several sources including external link http://www.irishmusicforever.com/mountains-of-mourne and http://www.incallander.co.uk/scottishsongs/song22.htm give the name as Mary Macree, which seems much more likely than the French-language-sounding "Mary mo chroi" that was here. Changed it; discuss if you want reversal or other change. 71.231.231.232 (talk) 05:28, 28 May 2013 (UTC) Doug C.

To refer again to Peter Dawson (see above), he is clearly singing "Mary mo chroi", and not "Mary Macree". Mind the guttural on the last syllable. Laodah (talk) 00:55, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

"French-language-sounding "Mary mo chroi"" where did that come from! lol Brakn (talk) 11:18, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

Mary mo chroí (Mary my heart, pronounced similarly to McRee) seems much more likely. McRee is not an Irish surname AFAIK. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Remou (talk • contribs) 15:50, 25 May 2015 (UTC)