Step It Out Mary My Fine Daughter Irish lyrics and chords

How Step It Out Mary Was Written.Sean McCarthy - , now there's a song that keeps popping up, I tell you no lie when I tell you I wrote that on pieces of cement bags and toilet paper. I was WORKING, yes working on a building site in London when the idea came to me. We had an agent on the site, Paddy Carmody, a good friend of mine now, by the way. Paddy would be roaring his head of for Sean, and I'd be round the corner or in the jacks writing away. I sang it for Paddy the last time I was in London having a jar, yes I drink too; and Paddy liked it, he didn't offer
me a job though. I would say to anybody who thinks they can write songs ''Then Write Them'' , there's enough fighting and trouble in the world and songs old or new are a great help in these troubled times. Other songs by Sean McCarthy on the site include In Shame Love In Shame

The sheet music is included. Written by Sean McCarthy and the video here is by The Dubliners with Paddy Reilly doing the singing. The ukulele chords are included. Thanks to Donnacha Kavanagh for sending me this, The chorus has the same chords as the verses. The tin whistle sheet music notes are included plus the tenor banjo / mandolin tab. The song was also recorded by The High Kings, Noel McLoughlin, Sarah Calderwood and The Irish Descendants. The Dubliners play the song in the key of Bm. The High Kings play it in the key of Dm. The verses are some of the shortest I have ever seen written in a song, but that fact doesn't detract from the song in the slightest.

Step It Out Mary Song Words And Chords In Dm Key

[Dm)In the village of (C)Kilgory, there’s a (Dm)maiden young and (C) fair
Her (Dm)eyes they shone like C)diamonds, she had (Dm)long and (Am)golden (Dm)hair

Then a countryman came riding, up to her father's gates

Mounted on a milk-white stallion, he came at the stroke of eight 

Chorus:

Step it out, Mary, my fine daughter

Step it out, Mary, if you can

Step it out, Mary, my fine daughter

Show your legs to the wealthy man 

I have come to wed your daughter, Mary of the golden hair

I have gold and I have silver I have land beyond compare

I will buy her silks and satin and a gold ring from her hand

I will buy for her a mansion, she'll have servants to command 

Chorus

Kind sir I love a soldier, I have pledged to him my hand

I don't want your gold or silver, I don't want you house or land

Mary’s father spoke up sharply, You will do as you are told

You will marry him on Sunday and you'll wear his ring of gold 

Chorus 

Near the village of Kilgory there's a deep stream running by

They found Mary there at midnight, she had drowned with her soldier boy

In the village there is music, you can hear her father say

Step it out Mary, my fine daughter, Sunday is your wedding day. 

Chorus twice.

Alternative chords. The same pattern all the way through.
step it out(D)mary my fine(G)daughter
step it out (D)mary if u(G)can
step it out(D)mary my fine(G)daughter
show your(D)legs to the(A7)country(D)man.

The version of the sheet music above is different than the tin whistle notes version below. Both version work fine.

​Step it out Mary banjo / mandolin tab

​ this one’s a tragic Irish tale wrapped in fancy lace, parental stubbornness, and enough doomed romance to fill six seasons of a period drama. But we’ll give it the proper Irish treatment — equal parts wit, melancholy, and sass.

☘️ Act 1: Mary of Kilgory — The Country Beyoncé. Mary is a gorgeous young one:
Eyes like diamonds, hair like golden silk,
the kind of beauty that makes half the village walk into walls.
She’s living her quiet country life
when along comes Sir Moneybags the Fancy Lad --
a wealthy landowner on a milk–white stallion,
because clearly he woke up that morning and chose maximum theatrical effect.
He arrives at exactly eight o’clock --
not 7:58, not 8:02 --
because rich men like to be punctual when buying wives.

☘️ Act 2: The Proposal — Auction-Style. He basically announces:
“I’m here to purchase the girl.”
He lists his assets like he’s reciting an estate ad:

• gold ✔️
• silver ✔️
• land ✔️
• mansion ✔️
• servants ✔️
• fancy ring ✔️
• humility ❌

And Mary’s Da, thinking only of prestige, roars:
“Step it out, Mary!
Show him the legs!
Make sure they’re good ones!”
This is Irish fatherhood at its most… transactional.

☘️ Act 3: Mary’s “No Thanks”. Mary, with dignity and backbone, says:
“Kind sir, I love a soldier.”
She doesn’t want coins or castles --
she wants a penniless lad in a uniform
probably with gorgeous cheekbones and questionable prospects.
But the father blasts back with:
“You’ll do as you’re told.”
He’s in full “I own your future” mode
like a man who hasn’t yet realized
that Irish daughters don’t take orders well.

☘️ Act 4: Love and Tragedy by the Stream. On the eve of the forced marriage,
Mary and her soldier lad are found drowned in the river --
locked together in each other’s arms.
It’s heartbreaking, yes --
but also very Irish that the two of them
would rather swim to heaven
than walk to the altar.
It’s the ultimate romantic “Up yours!” to:

• controlling fathers
• wealthy suitors
• and forced weddings ft. capitalism

☘️ Act 5: The Bitter Echo. And at the end,
in the village,
there is music playing --
maybe a fiddle,
maybe a flute,
maybe the ghost of Mary humming.
And her father — clueless as a cow in a ballroom --
says:
“Step it out, Mary…
Sunday is your wedding day.”
He still doesn’t get it.
The man wouldn’t recognize irony
if it kicked him in the shins.

☘️ The Irish Spirit SummaryThis song has:

• 40% romance
• 30% tragedy
• 20% class struggle
• 10% stubborn Irish parenting
• and a sprinkle of poetic rebellion

Mary chose love over luxury,
freedom over obedience,
and heartbreak over hypocrisy.
It’s sad, yes --
but it’s also very Irish:
better to die for love
than live in a mansion with a stranger.
And sure in the end,
love wins --
just not in the way the living understand it.