Happy St. Patrick's Day

Another St. Patrick's Day annual tradition -- and for decades, by the way, long before the Internet thing, as a personal tradition -- this is the song, "Ring to the Name of Rose," performed here by a school glee club.

Now, I know that on the surface it appears that I'm posting this because of its connection to the Irish Rose.  And that's a good theory, and a reasonable connection.  And it holds, but then, if that was solely the case I'd probably instead post the song, "My Wild Irish Rose."  In fact, I'm posting it because today, St. Patrick's Day, is the birthday of my grandmother -- and her name was Rose.

Family history dating back to 1895 being what it is, when my Grandma Rose was born, there's an uncertainty if there was any St. Patrick's Day connection to my grandmother being named Rose because of the day.  The general assumption (other than from my grandmother) is "no," but that's not a sure thing.  However, what is sure is that my grandmother absolutely loved being born on St. Patrick's Day, and the connection that her name was Rose.  So, that's good enough for me.

By the way, there's another interesting thing about this song -- who wrote it.  It's a lovely, sweet number, and not remotely the kind of song we associate with the loud, boisterous work of its composer-lyricist -- best known for "You're a Grand Old Flag," "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "Give My Regards to Broadway."  That would, of course, be George M. Cohan.

And here's a bonus video -- the song performed in the Broadway show George M!  which is based on the life of George M. Cohan. It's part of a three-song medley, and comes around at the end.

(Note: despite what the person posting this below writes, that is not Bernadette Peters in the first song of the medley.  She was indeed in the show, as Cohan's younger sister Josie, but this first singer is Jill O'Hara, whose character Agnes Nolan becomes Cohan's second wife.  Just to throw in a tidbit of Broadway history, only a few months later, Jill O'Hara -- a fine name on St. Patrick's Day -- graduated from this small role to starring in the musical Promises, Promises, and with co-star Jerry Orbach introduced the hit song, "What Do You Get When You Fall in Love?")