Lyr Req: One Day in Kilkenny (Carr/O'Leary)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One day in Kilkenny
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Dec 08 - 03:47 AM

Anybody have lyrics for this song? Google says it's on some of those "50 Irish Pub Songs" CD's, but I can't find anything else on it. It's not in any of the songbooks indexed in our Irish Songbook Index.
Anyone?
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One day in Kilkenny
From: Folkiedave
Date: 03 Dec 08 - 05:42 AM

I spent a weekend in Kilkenny at the beginning of October. Ever wondered where Irish stag and hen parties go 'cos Dublin is full of Brits? They go to Kilkenny.

Sorry I can't help with the song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One day in Kilkenny
From: MartinRyan
Date: 03 Dec 08 - 10:16 AM

Joe

I don't recognise the title - but it sounds suspiciously close to the first line of "Little Jimmy Murphy"!

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One day in Kilkenny
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 04 Dec 08 - 01:35 PM

Google Book Search found this comment in The Gramophone (a magazine published in London) from 1953:

...I have two vocal records from this Irish supplement. One is BD1318: on one side of which Sandy Carr sings One Day in Kilkenny and J. Jordan sings The Irish Rover. I prefer the former both vocally and for his choice of song....

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One day in Kilkenny
From: MartinRyan
Date: 04 Dec 08 - 02:12 PM

Doesn't sound like "Jimmy Murphy" so! I'll see what I can find out.

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Day in Kilkenny
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Jul 10 - 06:16 PM

Frank Harte sings this song. It is on his "listen to my song" album. He says he heard it from Sean og O' Tuama.

Subject: Lyr Add: ONE DAY IN KILKENNY (Carr/O'Leary)
From: GUEST,Peter O'Leary
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 01:02 PM

This song was recorded on a HMV 78 record in about 1938 by Sandy Carrette (Alias Sandy Carr) with my father, Michael O'Leary, accompanying him on guitar. Sandy was a bank official in the Bank of Ireland, Borris, Co. Carlow - hence the reference to Borris in the words. Sandy didn't use his full name because he was worried that he'd get into trouble with his employers. on the reverse side Jim Jordan from Bagenalstown (Muine Beag)sang 'The Irish Rover' with my father on guitar. My father once told me that record was once advertised on the front page of the Irish Independent with a drawing of a ship called 'The Irish Rover' sinking.
The record sold very well and HMV wanted them to go over to London to record a whole collection of songs. However in the meantime the Second World War broke out and the project had to be scrubbed.
Unfortunately I don't have a copy of the record as it 'mysteriously' disappeared from our house many years ago before my mother died. However I well remember every verse and here it is


ONE DAY IN KILKENNY

One day in Kilkenny I called on Miss Brown.
She was up in her bath and she couldn't come down.
Says I 'Slip on something and come down quick',
So she slipped on the soap and came down in a tick.

Chorus
Tour-a-loo, toor-a-lay.
For the queen of society lives down our way.

I went to the market to buy a wee hen.
I thought I might like a wee egg now and then.
I woke up in the morning and I got a great shock.
Says the hen 'I can't lay for begobs I'm a cock!'

One day I was walking down the main street.
I met a wee lad with no shoes on his feet.
I took pity on him and right then and there
I went into a fruit shop and I bought him a pear.

I dreamt I did die and to Heaven did go.
The place that I came from they wanted to know.
Says I 'I'm from Borris'. Saint Peter did stare.
'Hurry up, step inside, you're the first one from there!'

I hope you enjoy it. I would love to hear from anyone who has a copy of the record from which they would be prepared to give me a recording.
Peter O'Leary [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Day in Kilkenny
From: GUEST,Peter O'Leary
Date: 25 Nov 10 - 06:08 AM

A slight correction! The chorus should read

Toor-a-loo, toor-a-lay.
For the cream of society lives down our way.


As kids we always mistook it for 'the queen of society' which to us seemed to make more sense!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Day in Kilkenny (Carr/O'Leary)
From: MartinRyan
Date: 20 Jan 11 - 06:56 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Day in Kilkenny (Carr/O'Leary)
From: GUEST,Ivan Shaw
Date: 04 Feb 11 - 08:11 PM

Chorus;
Hold yer row, hold yer row,
The cream of society lives down our street.

One day in the street I met poor Uncle Jim,
He said that his wife threw tomatoes at him,
Tomatoes won't hurt you I said with a grin,
"Ha, Ha!" said he,"but they were in a tin."

Hold yer row, hold yer row,
The cream of society lives down our street.

My father taught me this song some 65/70 yeard ago, but only this verse, and the one about "Miss Brown slipping on the soap" I've been looking for the more verses all this time. 3 cheers for t' tinternet
Yours

Subject: Lyr Add: ARE YOU MISTER RILEY?
From: GUEST,Richard I
Date: 04 Feb 11 - 08:36 PM

This is one of a huge family of comic songs sung to the tune of 'Villikins and his Dinah', all of which share verses and stories; I've seen songs of this type around under lots of different names, including 'One Day in Kilkenny', 'Get Away', 'Uncle Jim', and 'Dorset is Beautiful'. The version I learned was from the Woodcraft Folk songbook (I was a member of the woodcraft folk when I was kid - it's a kind of socialist/cooperative/green scout movement for those not in the UK), and was called "Are you Mister Riley" - I subsequently learned a couple more rude verses from different versions of the song and added them onto what I knew from childhood.


ARE YOU MISTER RILEY?

Are you Mister Riley that keeps this Hotel?
Are you Mister Riley they speak of so well?
For if you're Mister Riley they speak of so highly
Then blimey O'Riley you are looking well

        Hold your own (Hold your own)
        What d'you say? (What d'you say?)
        For the cream of society lives down our way

There once was a man and his name was Lord Jim
He complained his wife threw tomatoes at him
Now tomatoes are soft and don't injure the skin
But this one it did, it was inside a tin

I went for a trip on the old underground
But I slid on the step and I fell to the ground
The vicar rushed up "" "Did you miss a step, son?"쳌
I said "No you daft bastard, I hit every one"쳌

Well one day I met a poor boy in the street
And saw that didn't have shoes on his feet
So I having plenty of money to spare
Went into the fruit shop and bought him a pear

Now Mary the milkmaid was milking a cow
But poor little Mary she didn't know how
She pulled on its tail instead of its tit
And all that she got was a bucket of shit

I called on my sweetheart, her name was Miss Brown
She was having a bath so she couldn't down
She said "I'll slip on something and be down in a tick"쳌
She slipped on the soap and she did come down quick

Well, one day I died and to heaven did go
And where did I come from they wanted to know
When I told them from Bootle it made them all stare
"Come in,"쳌 said Saint Peter, "you're the first one from there"쳌

(The penultimate line obviously is adapted to fit the place from which the singer hails)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Day in Kilkenny (Carr/O'Leary)
From: GUEST,jim bainbridge
Date: 04 Jun 15 - 10:35 AM

Well that's very interesting. I've been singing the 'Cream of Society' since I first heard it in a pub called the Fighting Cocks, somewhere near Carlow, which town seems to be the origin of the 'organised' version at least. I also heard it as the Queen rather than the Cream & sometimes revert to that...
I've added bits over the years, but it's still mostly the same as the versions given- I never heard the 'I dreamt I had died' verse in Carlow, but Jack Elliott of Birtley used to sing that very verse- I suspect the Carlow version is an assembly of various verses from all over the place.
It's good in that, instead of Kilkenny you can substitute any two or three syllable name you happen to be in at the time. I did it fairly successfully in Rossinver the other day, but Bishop Auckland or Auchtermuchty could pose a problem....

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Day in Kilkenny (Carr/O'Leary)
From: GUEST,Desi C
Date: 05 Jun 15 - 08:50 AM

Well, I'm Kilkenny born & bred and go back to play n sessions often, but I've never heard of it!However I see from replies below that it does exist. If anyone's looking for KK songs you might try my own song 'Singing In Kilkenny' on You Tube

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Day in Kilkenny (Carr/O'Leary)
From: GUEST,#
Date: 05 Jun 15 - 08:59 AM

http://www.irishsongs.com/lyrics.php?Action=view&Song_id=530

That link is to the lyrics for 'Bangor Song' which has the line about Miss Brown slipping on the soap that Ivan Shaw mentions at the bottom of his post.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Day in Kilkenny (Carr/O'Leary)
From: MartinRyan
Date: 09 Jun 15 - 02:56 AM

Missed this one as it went through... Yes, I've heard various bits of this mixture through the years - usually as children's rhymes or such. I recall the O'Reilly bit as:

"Are you the O'Reilly they speak of so highly?
Are you the O'Reilly they speak of so well?
Are you the O"Reilly they speak of so highly?
Oh really, O'Reilly - you ARE looking well!"

Regards