"I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen" is a popular song written by Thomas P. Westendorf in 1875.. In spite of its German-American origins, it is widely mistaken to be an Irish ballad. Westendorf, then teaching at the reform school known as the Indiana House of Refuge for Juvenile Offenders in Hendricks County, Indiana, wrote it – apparently – for his wife. It's in the form of an "answer" to a popular ballad of the time, "Barney, Take Me Home Again," composed by Westendorf’s close friend, George W. Brown, writing under the nom de plume of George W. Persley.
Eugene Conley, American operatic tenor, recorded a version released by London Records.
Michael Crawford performed the song for his album In Concert in 1998, and also in his concert tour.
Bing Crosby and John Scott Trotter's Orchestra
Merv Griffin
Irish tenor Josef Locke recorded a version around the late 1940s.
Danny Malone
Mitch Miller – Favorite Irish Folk Songs – Originally released 1959 Sony BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT – USSM10020418
Henry Moeller
British novelty pop band Lieutenant Pigeon, with the B-side "Big Butch Baby", reached #3 in Australia.
Elvis Presley released a version of him singing to his own piano-playing on the 1973 self-titled album called Elvis on RCA Records, better known as The Fool album. He can be seen rehearsing the song by himself in the 1981 documentary This Is Elvis as taken from the footage for the 1970 film . He can also be heard performing the same song while in the Army while stationed in Germany in the so-called "Bad Neuheim Medley" of the 1997 RCA CD boxset Platinum : A Life In Music.
Slim Whitman recorded a version in 1957, on Imperial 8310, also issued in the UK on London HLP 8403.
In the episode, "The Naked Time", the crew of the Enterprise is affected by a substance, unknowingly picked up from an uninhabited, frozen planet named Psi 2000 about to break up, which brings repressed feelings and behavior to the surface. One crewman, Lt. Kevin Thomas Riley, who "fancies himself a descendant of Irish kings", locks himself in Engineering and shuts the engines off, causing the ship to decay its orbit toward the disintegrating planet. While the behavior-altering disease spreads throughout the ship and the ship continues to fall toward the planet, Riley adds to the stress by repeatedly singing, "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen" in a half-drunken manner through ship-wide communication speakers.
Daniel O'Donnell recorded the song, where it was released on the album, "Irish Collection", in 1997.
Scottish tenor Robert Wilson released a version in the late 1940s.
Film appearances
1947 Magic Town - During a local gathering by the townsfolk, they sing several verses of the tune to alternate words in the spirit of an alma mater song extolling the virtues of their simple, close-knit community. Simultaneously, the appeal and charm of small-town life is awakened within Jimmy Stewart's character...an appeal and charm that he is unwittingly working to undo.
