This paper explores the political unconscious embedded in "My Girl`s a Yorkshire Girl," a popular song highly publicized in spectacular events sponsored by the empire in Joyce`s Dublin on June 16, 1904. At first glance, this song is innocuous, and might even be understood as a compliment on the lower middle class New Woman: In this narrative lyric, Rose, the protagonist, is not only the major contributor to the nation`s modernization, but also a new version of femme fatale since she does not even count on fashion to make herself attractive to her husband and former lovers. A close inspection of woman`s role in the colonial economy of Ireland in 1904, however, reveals the insidious intent in the imperial popularization of this song. For if in her dedication to production and disdain for consumption (especially fashion) the Yorkshire girl in this song can be understood as a subliminal female counterpart of the modern dandy, Irish women are lagging far behind this impulse for modernization. Although they often shoulder the responsibility of supporting their family at a time when Irish males are debilitated by general economic stagnancy, they are never credited as such. What is more, while Rose chooses to spurn fashion, Irish women are largely denied this choice. The result is Gerty MacDowell`s desperate attempt to keep up with fashion, Mina Douce`s envy of Lady Dudley`s elegant attire, and Molly Bloom`s wish to purchase beautiful dresses to remain attractive to Blazes Boylan and Stephen Dedalus. Most poignant of all, this song is used as the theme music for the quartermile flat handicap held in Trinity College and the Mirus bazaar, two events whose dark side the empire wants to hide: The general "handicap"－ psychological, physical, and sartorial－most Irish people are subject to, and poverty which the Mirus bazaar is trying to address. In view of this gap between words and meaning, "My Girl`s a Yorkshire Girl" celebrates the imperial move toward modernization, totally insensitive to the Irish discontent for a tantalizing modernity.