Trophy Wife

Dapper O'Neil

My hometown lost a legend this past holiday season. Retired Boston public servant Albert P. “Dappper� O’Neil passed away at the age of 89. Dapper served on the City Council for 28 years.

Dapper was not a public figure without controversy. At the very least, he relished being politically incorrect. But I want to note here another side of Dapper: he was a singer who recorded several novelty songs over the years.

Dapper’s greatest hit was “The Irish Belly Dancer.â€? I don’t know that it ever made it big as a novelty song (I don’t think it ever cracked Dr. Demento’s Funny Five). But it enjoyed a following in Boston. Long-time radio host Larry Glick would often play it on his nightly talk show on WBZ.

Dapper’s other notable songs: Spaghetti-itis (wherein Dapper sings of the difficulty of eating pasta); Mr. Cab Man (an ode to the taxi as a real-life magic carpet ride); and If I Had My Life to Live Over (a song dedicated to the late, great Congressman J. Joseph Moakley).

Thank you, Dapper, for sharing your voice and your sense of humor. This one’s for you (all together now)..

The Irish Belly Dancer
To me she is the answer
The Queen of Bellydance from Ireland

She shakes a mile a minute
Everything She’s got is in it.
The Queen of Bellydance from Ireland.