Initial Popularity
During the First World War the Irish regiment the Connaught Rangers were witnessed singing this song as they marched through Boulogne on 13 August 1914 by the Daily Mail correspondent George Curnock, who reported the event in that newspaper on 18 August 1914. The song was then picked up by other units of the British Army. In November 1914 it was recorded by the well-known tenor John McCormack, which helped contribute to its worldwide popularity.
In 1917, a Miss Alice Smyth Burton Jay sued song publishers Chapell & Co. for $100,000, alleging that the original music was written by her in 1908, for a song played at the Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition promoting the Washington apple industry. The chorus began "I'm on my way to Yakima." The court selected Victor Herbert to act as expert advisor and, in 1920, dismissed the suit, based on evidence that the authors of "Tipperary" had never been to Seattle, and on testimony from Victor Herbert that the two songs were not so similar as to suggest piracy.
Read more about this topic: It's A Long Way To Tipperary
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