The Song from Annie's Stories

I surely did NOT make up the tune Stephen Adams likes to whistle in my novel, Annie's Stories. The song is The Stone Outside Dan Murphy's Door, and it's a nostalgic song about the good old days.

Stephen Adams has never lived anywhere else but Manhattan. He doesn't know what it's like to pine away for one's homeland, but he knows plenty of people who are doing just that. He's curious about the cultures and far away places represented in the face's and lifestyles of the people on his delivery route.

The song was written by John (Johnny) Francis Patterson (1840–1889), who was known as the Irish Singing Clown. He was a circus performer. He was even painted by Jack Yeats, brother of W.B. Yeats.

The lyrics:

The Stone Outside Dan Murphy's Door

There's a sweet garden spot in my memory
'Tis the place I was born in and reared
'Tis long years ago since I left it
But return there I will if I'm spared
To the friends and companions of childhood
Who'd assemble each night by the score
Round Dan Murphy's shop, and there we would stop
At the stone that stood outside his door

Those days in our hearts we will cherish
Contented although we were poor
And the songs that we sung in the days we were young
On the stone outside Dan Murphy's door


When our day's work was over we'd go there
In summer or winter the same
The boys and girls would assemble
And join in some innocent game
Dan Murphy would bring down his fiddle
While his daughter would look after the store
The music would ring and the songs we would sing
On the stone outside Dan Murphy's door

Those days in our hearts we will cherish
Contented although we were poor
And the songs that we sung in the days we were young
On the stone outside Dan Murphy's door
And the songs that we sung in the days we were young
On the stone outside Dan Murphy's door

And yes, if you were wondering, I did listen to it while I wrote those scenes.