Praties and mate.

[Old Cremona]

I'm working on a comic Irish tune entitled The Irishman's Shanty, and it references some kind of lower-class victual called "praties and mate" and was wondering if anyone had any idea what these were.

(Fifth verse.)
He can relish good victuals as ever ye's ate,
But is always continted with praties and mate;
He prefers them when cowld (if he can't get them hot),
And makes tay in a bowl when he can't get a pot.

[Hank Trent]

I'm working on a comic Irish tune entitled The Irishman's Shanty, and it references some kind of lower-class victual called "praties and mate" and was wondering if anyone had any idea what these were.

I expect that "mate" is "meat," and "praties" is apparently still recognizable as slang for "potatoes" (I didn't know that).

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[Old Cremona]

Ah! Good old meat an' taters. Well sleuthed, Hank.

And I just realized that "tay" is tea. I'm a bit slow it would seem...

[Old Cremona]

This really is a funny tune so I will share all the verses. "The Irishman's Shanty" was popularized by banjoist and comedian Matt Peel in 1859, and is arranged for stroke-style banjo in Frank Converse's 1865 "New and Complete Method for the Banjo, With or Without a Master." So you mix Converse's arrangement with the Peel vocal score and viola! you're ready to entertain quality living historians

IRISHMAN'S
SHANTY.
Did ye's ever go intil an Irishman's shanty?
Och! b'ys, that's the place where the whisky is plenty;
With his pipe in his mouth, there sits Paddy so free,
No king in his palace is prouder than he!
Arrah! me honey! w-a-c-k! Paddy's the boy.

There's a three-legged stool, with a table to match,
And the door of the shanty is locked with a latch;
There's a nate feather mattrass all bustin' with straw,
For the want of bedstead, it lies on the floor.
Arrah! me honey! &c.

There's a snug little bureau without paint or gilt,
Made of boords that was left when the shanty was built;
There's a three-cornered mirror hangs up on the wall,
The divil a face has been in at all.
Arrah! me honey! &c.

He has pigs in the sty and a cow in the stable,
And he feeds them on scraps that is left from the table;
They'd starve if confined, so they roam at their aise,
And come in the shanty whinever they plaise.
Arrah! me honey! &c.

He has three rooms in one--kitchen, bed-room and hall,
And his chist it is three wooden pegs in the wall;
Two suits of old clothes make his wardrobe complete,
One to wear in the shanty, that same for the street.
Arrah! me honey! &c.

He can relish good victuals as ever ye's ate,
But is always continted with praties and mate;
He prefers them when cowld (if he can't get them hot,)
And makes tay in a bowl when he can't get a pot.
Arrah! me honey! &c.

There is one who partakes of his sorrows and joys,
Attends to shanty, the girls and the boys;
(The brats he thinks more of than gold that's refined,)
But Biddy's the jewel that's set in his mind.
Arrah! me honey! &c.

The rich may divide their enjoyments alone,
With those who have riches as great as their own;
But Pat hangs the latch-string outside of his door,
And will share his last cent with the needy and poor.
Arrah! me honey! &c.