For "terrible tricks" read "little pranks". The last stanza begins

My tragic tale I'll not prolong,

And if you did not enjoy my song,...

I have never heard of Maureen O'Blivion, tho. On my LP (given me by my mother for my high-school graduation in 1954), the title is simply "The Irish Ballad". Prof. Lehrer professed on the jacket: "The folk song has in recent years become the particular form of permissible idiocy of the intellectual fringe. Here, for these elite, is an ancient Irish ballad; it is complete with modal tune, simple story line, and inane refrain, but it differs from other ancient ballads in that it was written in 1950."

That is the first Lehrer song I heard -- sung by a young lady in the back of my high school's truck, ca. 1953. It had already become a folk song!

--- Joe Fineman    joe_f@verizon.net

||: The British are three insular peoples who have spread their insularity over four continents. :||