Hand Me Down Me Petticoat

Song Meaning

The lyrics open with a woman preparing to go out, requesting her "petticoat," "shawl," and "buttoned boots" for a trip to the "Linen Hall." This initial scene sets a tone of purposeful activity, quickly introducing a recurring judgment: "A'ra he was a quare one." The phrase "quare one" immediately signals a complex, perhaps unreliable, character at the heart of her story. The narrative quickly reveals this "quare one" as a soldier, initially described with a touch of possessive pride: "the good-looking one is mine." However, this pride sours into a tale of betrayal. He joins the army "under a false name," which the narrator claims "done me on me pension," suggesting a financial deception tied to his military service. The blame is even extended to "his ould one's all to blame," adding a layer of familial resentment to the personal slight. The repeated declaration, "A'ra he was a quare one," serves as a central refrain, distilling the narrator's exasperation and judgment into a memorable, almost dismissive, phrase. This constant refrain, coupled with the seemingly lighthearted "Fa de liddle yodle da," creates a striking contrast. The nonsense syllables appear to function as a traditional folk device, perhaps a way for the narrator to process or even trivialize the profound betrayals she recounts, making her heavy story more singable and resilient. The story culminates in the man's ultimate abandonment, fleeing "to Americay" and leaving the narrator "in the family way." This final revelation casts his earlier deceptions and military service in a new, more tragic light, solidifying his status as a "quare one" who shirks responsibility. The return to the opening image of getting dressed in the final verse, "Hand me down me petticoat," suggests a cyclical nature to her life, or perhaps a defiant resilience, as she prepares to face the world despite the profound personal consequences of his actions.