"[1] James L. Molloy was born near Rahan in County Offaly and attended St Edmund's College (Ware) as a student between 1851 and 1855 along with his brother Bernard, who later became a Home Rule Member of parliament.

[3] Several of his songs were written in collaboration with W. S. Gilbert, including Thady O'Flynn (used in the operetta No Cards), Corisande (1870) and Eily's Reason.

An 1867 concert review remarks: "Mr Molloy's songs are (to use a common expression) 'for the drawing-room,' but there is more in them than in the generality of effusions written now-a-days for young lady amateurs, who cannot perceive the charm of a higher order of composition.

"[7] Apparently Molloy did frequently manage to respond to demands for the popular with a product that could also satisfy a certain artistic standard.

[8] In his memoir Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt recalls his mother singing The Kerry Dance when she fetches him from his friend Paddy Clohessy’s home.