Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral
Irish lullabyIrish-American song, 1913Public domain
A tender, sleepy refrain that has put many children to bed. It sounds as old as the hills of Killarney, but it is an Irish-American song from 1913. On this page you will find the refrain, what the verses tell and the true story of the song.
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Refrain
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral,
Too-ra-loo-ra-li,
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral,
Hush, now, don't you cry!
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral,
Too-ra-loo-ra-li,
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral,
That's an Irish lullaby.
(The syllables are a soft sing-along with no meaning, like humming. The only real words are the comfort of the refrain: hush now, don't cry, that's an Irish lullaby.)
Good to know
What this song means
The song is a memory of a mother's lullaby. In the first verse, the singer remembers his mother singing a simple little tune in Killarney many years ago, and wishes she could sing it to him again. In the second verse he dreams of the little cottage, feels her arms around him and hears her humming, as when she used to rock him to sleep outside the door. Behind it there is homesickness and the longing of people who had left Ireland.
We show only the refrain here. The verses are summarised in our own words.
History
Where this song comes from
"Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral" was written in 1913 by James Royce Shannon, an American composer born in Michigan, for the stage play Shameen Dhu, which opened in New York in 1914. Chauncey Olcott made it famous in the play and on record. So it sounds Irish, with Killarney and a mother's lullaby, but it is an Irish-American song from the New York theatre and not a traditional Irish folk song.
The nonsense hook "toora-loora-loo" is much older than the song and had been used in other songs long before. The tune returned to fame in 1944, when Bing Crosby sang it in the film Going My Way, in a scene where a young priest sings it to help an elderly priest fall asleep.
Sources & rights
- Words and tune: James Royce Shannon (1881 to 1946), first published in 1913. Public domain.
- We show only the refrain of the 1913 song. We do not use the 1944 film edition, any recording arrangement or added material.
- Meaning: our own summary, written for understanding.
- Video: a selection from our own handplayed videos. This song does not have a dedicated recording by us yet.
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