What is the Seaside Girls song in Ulysses?
“Those Lovely Seaside Girls” is a music-hall song mentioned in Milly's letter in Episode 4: a student has been singing “Boylan's song” about seaside girls. Its catchy lines run through Bloom's head all day, linking Boylan, Milly and Molly.
Edited by Aidan O'Leary · Last updated 30 October 2026
Where it appears
Several episodes. Bloom, rereading Milly's letter at breakfast.
All dimpled cheeks and curls, Your head it simply swirls. Seaside girls.
What it means in plain English
Bloom worries about his daughter growing up, about the young student she has met, and about Boylan.
In Nausicaa, the seaside girls are on the beach in front of him.
Literary context
The song was written by Harry B. Norris in 1899.
References
- Ulysses, Episodes 4, 8, 11 and 13
- Don Gifford with Robert J. Seidman, Ulysses Annotated (revised edition, 1988)
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Questions readers ask
Why is it “Boylan's song”?
Boylan has been popularising it; it is linked to him in Milly's letter.
Related terms
Milly Bloom
Milly Bloom is Leopold and Molly's daughter, who turns fifteen on 15 June 1904. She is working in a photographer's shop in Mullingar, and her chatty letter arrives with the morning post in Episode 4. Bloom worries about her and a young student she has met.
Blazes Boylan
Hugh “Blazes” Boylan is a flashy Dublin concert manager who is organising Molly Bloom's singing tour, and who becomes her lover at 4 pm on 16 June 1904. Bloom knows the meeting is coming and spends the day trying not to think about it.
Gerty MacDowell
Gerty MacDowell is the young woman Bloom watches on Sandymount Strand at sunset in Episode 13. The first half of the episode is told in the gushing style of the romantic magazines she reads. She leans back to show her legs; Bloom masturbates; then she limps away.