ALLY CROAKER
Appears in Thompson's Compleat Collection of 200 Country Favourite Country Dances, 1757.

This tune is credited to Larry Grogan, an Irish piper, who wrote it circa 1725. It is said to be based on the rejection of a gentleman's suit by Alicia Croker. In 1753 it was sung in "The Buck (The Englishman in Paris)." It has mistakenly been credited to Samuel Foote - who wrote the play.

There lived a Man in Baleno, crazy
Who wanted a Wife to make him uneasy.
Long had he sigh'd for dear Ally Croaker,
And thus the gentle Youth bespoke her:
"Will you marry me, dear Ally Croaker,
Will you marry me, dear Ally, Ally Croaker?"

This artless young man just come from the schoolary,
A novice in love, and all its foolery,
Too dull for a wit, too grave for joker,
And thus the gentle youth bespoke her,
"Will you marry me, dear Ally Croaker,
Will you marry me, dear Ally, Ally Croaker?"

He drank with the father, he talk'd with the mother,
He romp'd with the sister, he gam'd with the brother
He gam'd, 'til he pawned his coat to the broker,
Which cost him the heart of his dear Ally Croaker,
Oh! the fickle, fickle Ally Croaker
Oh! the fickle Ally, Ally Croaker