The Rakes of Mallow

Mallow, in County Cork, was a fashionable spa town in the 18th century, sometimes called the Irish Bath, and its idle young men were known as the rakes of Mallow. A song about their habits went with the tune.

The earliest printing is in John Walsh's Caledonian Country Dances, published in London in 1733, and Burk Thumoth printed it as "Rakes of Marlow" in 1745. It has been in beginners' tutors for so long that most Irish dancers and musicians meet it early on, and it is also played in English sessions and New England dances.