Gifford and Seidman note that "Mother Grogan" appears in the anonymous Irish song “Ned Grogan.” The aspect of the song that seems to inspire Mulligan’s bawdy impersonation is the old woman’s neglect of sexual niceties.
—Gifford, Don and Seidman, Robert J. Ulysses Annotated: Notes for James Joyce's Ulysses. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008. Print.