“Growing Up Poor in Irish Boston” If you’re a Roman Catholic, funny and relatively conservative slant, then this is for you. cover art

“Growing Up Poor in Irish Boston” If you’re a Roman Catholic, funny and relatively conservative slant, then this is for you.

“Growing Up Poor in Irish Boston” If you’re a Roman Catholic, funny and relatively conservative slant, then this is for you.

Written by: Rod Murphy
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About this listen

"Growing Up Poor in Irish Boston” is a podcast series, colored with humor, nostalgia and pathos. It’s about a Boston tenement kid, born in 1939, clawing his way out of poverty by being hard-working, creative, persistent, entrepreneurial and by taking risks often. There are also stories of my later life in Boston, Cambridge and New England. If you like old Boston stories or Irish-American stories or old Cambridge stories, this is your podcast. If you like Pull-Yourself-Up-By-The-Bootstrap type stories and/or down-to-earth philosophy with a Roman Catholic, funny and relatively conservative slant, then this is for you.


I am Roderick Patrick Murphy, born into a large, loving Irish family in Boston, widowed after 50+ happy years. So I am now doing some writing, volunteering and learning how to be a bachelor again.

© 2026 “Growing Up Poor in Irish Boston” If you’re a Roman Catholic, funny and relatively conservative slant, then this is for you. Social Sciences World
Episodes
  • Episode 142 Irish Songs & "Scorn Not His Simplicity" & The Rest of the Story

    Episode 142 Irish Songs & "Scorn Not His Simplicity" & The Rest of the Story
    Jan 7 2026

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    Episode 142 Irish Songs & "Scorn Not His Simplicity" & The Rest of the Story. "Scorn Not His Simplicity" is an Irish song about a Downs Syndrome boy born to an Irish sonwriter and singer, Phil Coulter. Great compassion, love and controversy follows.

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    8 mins
  • Episode 146 Murphy, the Foodie & Old Boston Greek Diners

    Episode 146 Murphy, the Foodie & Old Boston Greek Diners
    Jan 5 2026

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    Episode 146 Murphy, the Foodie & Old Boston Greek Diners.

    In the early 20th Century most Greek restaurants were located in South Cove near Kneeland St. The area became known as "Greektown", not far from "Chinatown". Lots of foodie info in this one. We Hibernians should thank our Greek friends for educating our dull and unrefined palates.

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    11 mins
  • Episode 139 WB Yeats & Should All Irish Folks Like Poetry? Yes or No?

    Episode 139 WB Yeats & Should All Irish Folks Like Poetry? Yes or No?
    Jan 2 2026

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    Episode 139 WB Yeats & Should All Irish Folks Like Poetry? Yes or No?

    I am 100% Hibernian and therefore expected to love poetry but until recently I did not. Poetry seemed to me to be pompous and an "only us smart guys get it" type of contest. Yeats has changed my mind.

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    9 mins
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