Singer-songwriter Don McLean recorded a version titled Mountains o' Mourne on Playin' Favorites in 1973, which reached number two on the Irish Singles Chart, [4] and appears on several of his "Greatest Hits" collections. We'll forget the foolish fables that were written by Fontaine, In the pleasant time that's coming later on;

Beyond the manifold mathematical, musical, sporting, artistic, journalistic and poetic talents of Percy French lay a deeper talent, the ability to empathise with people, irrespective of whether they were in elevated and lofty positions or were simply the common man in the street or field. His ability to see through the decorum and propriety of late 19th Century society and discern its absurdities enabled him to parody this behaviour, always with humour, sometimes gently and at other times acerbic yet never with vulgar ridicule. Through his entire career he also demonstrated the greatest talent any entertainer could wish for, the unique gift of making audiences love him. At those twelve times twenty 'tables we will never look again, In the lazy time that's coming later on; Lowry, Bernadette (December 2021). Sounds of Manymirth on the Night's Ear Ringing: Percy French (1854-1920) His Jarvey Years and Joyce's Haunted Inkbottle. Dublin: Carmen Eblana Productions Carmeneblana.com. pp.19–20. ISBN 9 781914 488412. Tis merely throwin' life away to face that mearin' dhrain, I'm not as bold as lions, but I'm braver nor a hin, So on we marched, but soon again each warrior's heart grew pale, For risin' high in front o' us we saw the County Jail;French wrote a number of songs of which the music is lost today. His opera "The Knight of the Road," also so beloved by Joyce, was praised by Healy who re-printed a number of its songs in his book on French’s songs and believes the opera could successfully be performed for a modern audience. Words of some songs from his other children’s opera "Freda and the Fairies" survive but some of the music is tragically lost. ‘Pretendy Land’ has survived and is in French’s archive. And only Gaelic spoken in that House in College Green. Told me landlords wor the Divil! their agints ten times worst,. When The Jarvey failed, French's long and successful career as a songwriter and entertainer began. He had lived by the canal in Dublin at 35 Mespil Road before going to London in 1890. He famously wrote to his friends when he moved there: "We have come to live by the canal, do drop in". A granite seat was erected in 1988 on the canal near his home, dedicated to French. It was sponsored by the Oriel Gallery and bears another witticism of French's: "Remember me is all I ask, / And if that memory proves a task, forget". It is important to mention a song by French forgotten today called "The Fortunes of Finnegan" because when I was writing my book "Sounds of Manymirth" on French’s influence on James Joyce, I discovered that "The Fortunes of Finnegan" is the second most references of French’s songs in "Finnegans Wake" and is entirely thematic because it is a very amusing song about an indestructible giant - Finnegan who survives a series of mishaps; being bitten by a cat but the cat gets paralyzed not Finnegan, then he was hit by a motor car and the car came out the worst in the incident and the invincible Finnegan presumed dead, was found under the bonnet fixing it. He was also the man who succeeded in politics and who won the hand of ‘beautiful Mary Flynn’ because disregarding the matter of a dowry which made all other suitors cautious, Finnegan was ready to wed her ‘in the clothes she’s standin’ in.’ When the Board of Works reduced its staff around 1888, French turned to journalism as the editor of The Jarvey, a weekly comic paper. [4] French was an enthusiastic cyclist, who cycled all over the country with his art materials stopping to sketch and paint. He was good friends with "Arjay" Mecredy, and when Mecredy went on holiday, he asked French to stand in for him as editor of The Irish Cyclist magazine. French's fey sense of humour caused him to make facetious replies to the letters to the editor, and Mecredy returned to a storm of raging withdrawals of subscriptions. He offered to subvent French in a humorous magazine.

The song is representative of French's many works concerning the Irish diaspora. The Mourne Mountains of the title are located in County Down in Northern Ireland. An' down from the mountains came the squadrons an' platoons, Four-an'-twinty fightin' min, an' a couple o' sthout gossoons, French graduated from TCD first being conferred with a BA degree in 1885 as a civil engineer in 1880 and after a stint as an apprentice engineer on the Midlands Railway with fellow entertainer Charles Mansergh (later Charles Manners of the Moody-Manners Opera Company) French joined the Board of Works in County Cavan as an Inspector of Drains in 1883. While in Trinity French won five out of six watercolour prizes and he became a member of the Dublin Sketching Club in 1876. It is said that he wrote his best songs during his Cavan period. He also painted copiously and established a sketching club and a comic troupe The Kinnepottle Komics in Cavan. During this period, he considered art to be his true vocation. In fact, when he became well-known later in his life, his paintings from his time as a civil engineer became fashionable and sought after. The volcano Krakatoa erupted in 1883 while French was in Cavan, and the particles of volcanic ash caused dramatic sunsets all over the world. French painted some of his finest landscapes in this period as he captured the spectacular skies. French exhibited his pictures in the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) and sometimes gave them short lyrical poems for titles, such as "Only the sullen seas that flow/ And ebb forever more,/ But tarry awhile sad heart and, lo!/ A light on that lonely shore". Ettie French: Willie: A Tribute to Percy French (Holywood, County Down: Percy French Society, 1994). And when we'd loaded all our pipes, bould Shlathery up and said, "To-day's immortal fight will be remembered by the dead !The store was a one-stop shop, serving as a guest house, hardware, and grocery store, and had several other versatile uses. French was treated royally there and was served fulsome Irish breakfasts reflected in the repeated refrain ‘for hardware and bacon and tae.’ French wrote the song as an act of gratitude and as a form of advertisement for McAuliff’s.’ The Emigrant's Letter (Cutting the Corn in Creeslough)". WeLoveDonegal.com . Retrieved 22 December 2012. In January 1920, when he was 65 years old, French became ill while performing in Glasgow. He died from pneumonia in Formby, England at the home of his cousin, Canon Richardson of Green Lea, College Avenue, on 24 January 1920. His grave is in the churchyard of St Luke's Church, Formby, Merseyside. Find sources: "Percy French"– news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR ( January 2022) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) French family at Cloonyquin". Landedestates.ie. 18 May 2011. Archived from the original on 27 February 2012 . Retrieved 22 December 2012.

Times, Irish (21–22 January 2022). "An Irishman's Diary Is Percy French the Hero of Finnegans Wake". The Irish Times. January 21 and 22 – via The Irish Times. Bernadette Lowry: Sounds of Manymirth on the Night's Ear Ringing. Percy French (1854-1920): His Jarvey Years and Joyce's Haunted Inkbottle; with a foreword by Dr Robert Mohr and an afterword by Martin Mansergh (Dublin: Carmen Eblana Productions, 2021). ISBN 978-1-914488-41-2, 978-1-914488-34-4 Clarke, Frances (2009). "Daly, Emily Lucy de Burgh". In McGuire, James; Quinn, James (eds.). Dictionary of Irish Biography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. We'll cross the ditch," our leader cried, "an' take the foe in flank," But yells of consthernation here arose from every rank,In March 2020, a memorial to French was unveiled in Newcastle, County Down, in sight of the Mountains of Mourne, to mark the centenary of his death. [12] Percy French in Joyce's Finnegans Wake: The Jarvey [ edit ]

Then you'll meet the radiant vision who is all the world to you (You'll attend her mother's lectures later on); French was renowned for composing and singing comic songs and gained considerable distinction with such songs as Phil the Fluther's Ball, [5] Slattery's Mounted Foot, and The Mountains of Mourne [6] (this last was one of several written with his friend, stage partner and fellow composer, Houston Collisson). [4] The song was set to the same air as Thomas Moore's "Bendmeer's Stream" which, in turn, was adapted from the old Irish Air "Carraigdhoun". French also wrote many sketches and amusing parodies, the most famous of which is The Queen's After-Dinner Speech, written on the occasion of Queen Victoria's visit to Dublin in 1900, in which French drolly suggests "There's a slate off Willie Yeats". In addition, he wrote several poems, some he called "poems of pathos". Many of his poems and songs are on the theme of emigration. He remained a regular contributor to The Irish Cyclist, a weekly journal until his death. During World War I, the song Old Gallipoli's A Wonderful Place used phrases from this song as a basis for some of its verses. Verses in the Gallipoli song include: "At least when I asked them, that's what they told me" and "Where the old Gallipoli sweeps down to the sea".William Percy French (1 May 1854 – 24 January 1920) was an Irish songwriter, author, poet, entertainer and painter. Are Ye Right There Michael", [7] a song ridiculing the state of the rail system in rural County Clare caused such embarrassment to the rail company that – according to a persistent local legend – it led to a libel action against French. According to the story, French arrived late at the court, and when questioned by the judge he responded "Your honour, I travelled by the West Clare Railway", resulting in the case being thrown out. [8]