Songfacts®:

• According to Stephen Citron in Noel And Cole: The Sophisticates, "Bridget McGuire" was Porter's first commercially published song, seeing the light of day in June 1910.
  
  In The Complete Lyrics Of Cole Porter, edited by Robert Kimball, a bit more detail is given. Porter began songwriting in earnest between 1905 and 1909, while studying at Worcester Academy. Many of the songs he wrote at this time have been lost. In 1909-10, Porter entered Yale, living at Garland's Lodging House, 242 York Street, New Haven. "Bridget McGuire" was written here, and published as "Bridget."
• In Cole: A Biographical Essay, Brendan Gill says this song and "When The Summer Moon Comes Along" are "the oldest surviving songs for which Cole wrote both music and lyrics." The original manuscripts were found after his death.
  
  In The Unpublished Cole Porter, Kimball says the two were found by accident after Porter's death in a large scrapbook that his mother had kept of her son's college experiences. >>>

  Suggestion credit:
  Alexander Baron - London, England