John Spillane: The Dunnes Stores Girl

My friend Eimear in Ire­land has her own radio show. Every Wednes­day from six to nine pm Irish time I tune in to lis­ten to her play the best ol’ music green Ire­land has to offer.

I’m always pleas­ant­ly sur­prised to find out how many of those songs I already know with­out even real­is­ing it. There must be some­thing wrong with my brain.

But one of the artist I had not heard before is Cork’s very own John Spillane. I’ll have a look around our local record stores to see if I can find his album Hey Dream­er (2005), which has some great music on it.

One of the songs on that album is The Dunnes Stores Girl, about a girl who works at a local super­mar­ket. Great sto­ry. This music makes me want to take up gui­tar lessons. Actu­al­ly, why not give that a try?

Video

Find­ing a good video of this song was not as easy as it seemed at first. This one, of the Moon Riv­er ses­sions in 2006, is the best one I could dis­cov­er online.

There are some more, like these ones from The Pas­sion Fruit The­atre, Athlone in 2008, and this live record­ing at Tow­er Records, Dublin in 2009, but both of their voice audio is a bit off.

Lyrics

Hey check out the Dunnes Stores Girl
She’s the one who rules my world
I’m gonna walk down the aisle with the Dunnes Stores Girl
I’m gonna waltz down the aisle with the Dunnes Stores Girl
She rules my world
(Cho­rus 1)

I’m gonna walk down the aisle with the Dunnes Stores Girl
In your dreams says her broth­er, he’s a skin­head and he wants me dead
In my dreams is right I said
I’m gonna run down the aisle with the Dunnes Stores Girl
She rules my world

Na Na Na Na Na Na (× 2)
Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na
The Dunnes Stores Girl
(Cho­rus 2)

She knows we’re look­ing at her and she knows she’s look­ing fine
And she doesn’t have all day and you have to wait in line
I would wait in line till king­dom come
For sal­va­tion in her smile

And I’d love to stop that clock look­ing down on her all the time
Like a jumped up lit­tle man­ag­er in a suit that doesn’t rhyme
And you nev­er patro­n­ise her only always idol­ize her
The Dunnes Stores Girl

(Cho­rus 2)

On a cold and rainy Fri­day night
Wait­ing for the world to close
When she comes up behind me
So brave and so warm
I know it’ll nev­er rain again
I know it’ll nev­er ever rain again
On the rebel streets of our dreams

And she doesn’t believe a word that I say
She laughs when I tell her she’s a Sat­ur­day in May
And you nev­er under­es­ti­mate, you nev­er under­es­ti­mate
The Dunnes Stores Girl

(Cho­rus 1)