I’ll Tell Me Ma
Traditional


[NOTE: arrangement varies depending on who leads the song]


[chorus]
     D               G     D
I'll tell me ma when I get home
    A                    D
The boys won't leave the girls alone
     D                       G        D
They pulled my hair and they stole my comb
    A                   D
But that's alright till I get home
D                G
She is handsome, she is pretty
D                   A
She is the belle of Belfast city
D                 G
She is courtin' - one, two, three
D              A       D
Please won't you tell me who is she?
[]


    D             G       D
Now Albert Mooney says he loves her
A                D
All the boys are fightin' for her
     D                        G           D
They rap on her door and they ring on the bell
         A                D
Saying, "Oh my true love, are you well?"
D                G
Out she comes as white as snow
D                        A
Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes
D                G
Old Jenny Murray says she’ll die
       D               A              D
If she doesn't get the fella with the roving eye


A      A      A        A
one,   two,   three,   four

[chorus]
     D               G     D
I'll tell me ma when I get home
    A                    D
The boys won't leave the girls alone
     D                       G        D
They pulled my hair and they stole my comb
    A                   D
But that's alright till I get home
D                G
She is handsome, she is pretty
D                   A
She is the belle of Belfast city
D                 G
She is courtin' - one, two, three
D              A       D
Please won't you tell me who is she?
[]


        D                         G         D
Let the wind and the rain and the hail blow high
        A                    D
And the snow come shovellin' from the sky
D                 G     D
She's as sweet as apple pie
    A                      D
And she'll get her own lad by and by
D               G
When she gets a lad of her own
    D                      A
She won't tell her ma when she gets home
D                 G
Let them all come as they will
     D      A      D
It's Albert Mooney she loves still


A      A      A        A
one,   two,   three,   four

[chorus]
     D               G     D
I'll tell me ma when I get home
    A                    D
The boys won't leave the girls alone
     D                       G        D
They pulled my hair and they stole my comb
    A                   D
But that's alright till I get home
D                G
She is handsome, she is pretty
D                   A
She is the belle of Belfast city
D                 G
She is courtin' - one, two, three
D              A       D
Please won't you tell me who is she?
[]


[instrumental]


[chorus]
     D               G     D
I'll tell me ma when I get home
    A                    D
The boys won't leave the girls alone
     D                       G        D
They pulled my hair and they stole my comb
    A                   D
But that's alright till I get home
D                G
She is handsome, she is pretty
D                   A
She is the belle of Belfast city
D                 G
She is courtin' - one, two, three
D              A       D
Please won't you tell me who is she?
[]