Lyr Req: Come Back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff

Subject: Come back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From:
Date: 04 Dec 96 - 09:20 PM

Can someone help me with the words to this song ??

Many thanks...

Subject: RE: Come back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From: Martin Ryan
Date: 05 Dec 96 - 05:18 AM

Written by Percy French -who wrote Abdul Abulbul Amir. I'll dig out a set of words

Subject: RE: Come back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From: Martin Ryan
Date: 05 Dec 96 - 12:50 PM

Many thanks for quick response. Actially need only two

words in fist stanza..."Just turn to the left at the bridge

of -------?" and "And stop when half way to ------?"

Very hard to make out on the tape..

The request is actully for my sister -whose father in law

was also named Martin Ryan - small world what ??

!

Subject: RE: Come back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From: Martin Ryan (jun)
Date: 05 Dec 96 - 12:53 PM

True!

Off the top of my head, it's "Bridge of Finea" and "Halfway to Cootehill" I'll check later

Best Wishes

Martin Ryan

Subject: RE: Come back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From: Martin Ryan
Date: 12 Dec 96 - 04:32 AM

Just to confirm it IS "bridge of Finea" - rhymes with "say" I'm told it's a railway bridge on the old Mullingar/Sligo line!

Subject: RE: Come back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 22 Dec 96 - 09:23 PM

Hi- For the sake of completeness,

COME BACK PADDY REILLY (Percy French)

Click for lyrics in the Digital Tradition

Subject: RE: Come back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From: Martin Ryan
Date: 22 Jan 97 - 03:40 PM

Dick I've never heard the last two verses in that version - never mind the "encore"! Usually, I think, the Irish sing a more sentimental end-verse and avoid the humour! Regards

Subject: RE: Come back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From: Martin Ryan
Date: 05 Feb 97 - 03:00 PM

Never say "never"! Just back from a traditional singing weekend - at which someone sang the two last verses as given by Dick above!

Regards

Subject: ADD: The Little White House (Bobby O'Brien)
From: new words I wrote to the same air in 1990
Date: 06 Feb 97 - 06:48 AM

The tune to Come Back Paddy Reilly is certainly used on many other songs, and I also wrote new words, and had the band play the tune a bit quicker, in a waltz format, to complete my song "The Little White House". Here are the words:

THE LITTLE WHITE HOUSE
(Bobby O'Brien)

They sing of their homes far away on the range
and their little grey homes in the west
but the best place of all
is in old Donegal
back in Erin, the place I love best.

(chorus:)
There's a little white house
with a golden thatched roof
all covered with roses galore
just a little white house
far away o'er the sea
in old Erin the place I adore.

I still see my mother with silvery hair
in his little old shawl of grey
as I packed my belongings to sail o'er the sea
to America far far away
(repeat chorus)

when I left long ago was I ever to know
I would miss you as much as I do
with a heart that was broke at farewell softly spoke
old Erin I bade you adieu.
(repeat chorus)

Now the windows are gone and the roof is ari
but the roses still bloom 'round the door
and if God should decide he will give me the strength
the old homestead I soon will restore.

To the little white house
with a golden thatched roof
all covered with roses galore
just a little white house
far away o'er the sea
in old Erin the place I adore.

(repeat chorus to close)


I have sung this at my gigs for the past 7 years, and have recorded it on a heretofore unreleased album of Irish and country songs.

my email is: [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Come back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From: Bobby O'Brien
Date: 06 Feb 97 - 06:58 AM

I forgot to put my name on the entry previous to this. I am the writer of the new lyrics "The Little White House". I guess I should try following the format set, and not skip things. :-)

Subject: RE: Come back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 06 Feb 97 - 04:51 PM

Hi Bobby- Is: Copyright Bobby O'Brien correct? dick

Subject: RE: Come back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From: Bobby O'Brien
Date: 07 Feb 97 - 12:11 AM

Can't copyright the song since the melody was written by Percy French. I simply added words. Sucks, huh Dick?

Subject: RE: Come back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 07 Feb 97 - 12:54 PM

Bobby- You can copyright any damn thing you want to. It may not hold up in court (though a new set of words to an old tune will probably hold up--that's all Woody Guthrie ever did). Further, you don't have to register a copyright; if you can establish that your version precedes someone else's claim, you're protected. Shall I list it as (Words Bobby O'Brien; tune Percy French)? Copyright Bobby O'Brien

or just forget about attribution? dick

Subject: RE: Come back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From: Bobby O'Brien
Date: 08 Feb 97 - 08:20 AM

Sure Dick, you can list it as words by Bobby O'Brien, music by Percy French. Thanks a million. If I ever get the $200 together I will get the DAT that I recorded out of hock at Greenfield Studios in Saratoga and release it on a cassette or CD. You will be the first to get a copy.

Subject: RE: Ballyjamesduff
From: alison
Date: 18 Sep 97 - 12:36 AM

Hi

It is an actual place, just south of the border and SW of Cavan. There's another song to the smae tune called "The little white house." I think it was mentioned here on a thread before.

Percy French wrote some good stuff. He came from Newcastle Co. Down, which as we all know (??) is where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea. Hence his most famous song.

My favourite would probably be "Eileen Oge".

Slainte

Alison

Subject: Lyr Add: COME BACK PADDY REILLY (Percy French)
From: Ezio
Date: 14 Mar 98 - 02:02 AM

COME BACK PADDY REILLY

(By Percy French)

The Garden of Eden has vanished, they say
But I know the lie of it still;
Just turn to the left at the bridge of Finea
And stop when halfway to Cootehill.
'Tis there I will find it,
I know sure enough
When fortune has come to me call,
Oh the grass it is green around Ballyjamesduff
And the blue sky is over it all.
And tones that are tender and tones that are gruff
Are whispering over the sea,
"Come back, Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
Come home, Paddy Reilly, to me".

My mother once told me that when I was born
The day that I first saw the light,
I looked down the street on that very first morn
And gave a great crow of delight.
Now most newborn babies appear in a huff,
And start with a sorrowful squall,
But I knew I was born in Ballyjamesduff
And that's why I smiled on them all.
The baby's a man, now he's toil-worn and tough
Still, whispers come over the sea,
"Come back, Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
Come home, Paddy Reilly, to me".

The night that we danced by the light of the moon,
Wid Phil to the fore wid his flute,
When Phil threw his lip over "Come Again Soon",
He's dance the foot out o' yer boot!
The day that I took long Magee by the scruff
For slanderin' Rosie Kilrain,
Then, marchin' him straight out of Ballyjamesduff,
Assisted him into a drain.
Oh, sweet are the dreams, as the dudeen I puff,
Of whisperings over the sea,
"Come back, Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
Come home, Paddy Reilly, to me".

I've loved the young women of every land,
That always came easy to me;
Just barrin' the belles of the Black-a-moor brand
And the chocolate shapes of Feegee.
But that sort of love is a moonshiny stuff,
And never will addle me brain,
For the bells will be ringin' in Ballyjamesduff
For me and me Rosie Kilrain!
And through all their glamour, their gas and their guff
A whisper comes over the sea,
"Come back, Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
Come home, Paddy Reilly, to me".

Encore verse

I've struck oil at last!
I've struck work, and I vow
I've struck some remarkable clothes,
I've struck a policeman for sayin' that now,
I'd go back to my beautiful Rose.
The belles they may blarney,
the boys they may bluff
But this I will always maintain,
No place in the world like Ballyjamesduff
No guril (sic) like Rosie Kilrain.
I've paid for my passage, the sea may be rough
But borne on each breeze ther will be,
"Come back, Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
Come home, Paddy Reilly, to me".

---

I moved this message here from another thread on the same topic.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Come back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From: GUEST,Ali Bhoy
Date: 16 Mar 05 - 05:29 PM

I have hunted for the guitar chords for this song and can't find them anywhere. Can anyone help ?

Subject: RE: Come back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From: kendall
Date: 16 Mar 05 - 05:39 PM

What key do you want it in?

Subject: RE: Come back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From: kendall
Date: 16 Mar 05 - 07:16 PM

I recorded this little gem on Folk Legacy back in the mid 70s.

I don't remember the key I did it in, but if you want to use "G" the chords are:

G....    C          G    D   G.       C       G       D    G
Garden    Vanished say   lie Still   Bridge   Finay   way    hill

C       G       A      D       G       C       G       D    G
there   know    come   call    grass   Bally    Duff    over   all.

Subject: RE: Come back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 16 Mar 05 - 08:27 PM

This is what I don't get about Percy French..not just this song but others..the first verse is just great and then you hear or read the others...well, to each his own but I am not fond of it past the first verse, but I love the tune. mg

Subject: RE: Come back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From: Dave Earl
Date: 17 Mar 05 - 03:19 AM

Don't you just get a blast from the past every now and again.

My grandfather used to sing this to himself when he was doing odd jobs around his house and garden.

He had other songs but this one used to get my mother and her sisters joining in with the "Come back Paddy Rielly" bit.

This had slipped from my memory but the Thread has brought it back.

Thanks guys.

Dave Earl

Subject: RE: Come back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From: Big Tim
Date: 17 Mar 05 - 04:12 AM

The song was first published in 1912, both words and music by [William] Percy French. Paddy Reilly was the driver who transported Percy from station to hotel years earlier. When Percy revisited Ballyjamesduff in 1912, PR had emigrated to the US. So he wrote the song in tribute, apparently PR was a great "character". Whether PR was his real name or not, I haven't been able to discover. Reilly is probably the most common name in Co. Cavan.

Subject: RE: Come back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 17 Mar 05 - 04:41 AM

My dad served with Irish Guards in the WW2, and he was keen on Irish music and brass band music. So I figured I'd get him for one birthday the band of the irish Guards. Couldn't find one.

years later I found a cassette second hand on a market stall. So there we were listening to it.

Whats this tune?

i dunno. I marched to it hundreds of time, but I've forgotten....

After a minute or two, I know. Its Ballyjamesduff! he says.

Its not is it? at this time I was gigging Irish pubs a lot and singing Ballyjamesduff quite regularly. sounded different to me

Well we checked the cassette box and sure enough, it was. So the Irish Guards march to Balljamesduff, but in march time.

A piece of useless information for you Balljamesduff aficionados.

all the best

Big Al Whittle

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Come Back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From: Amos
Date: 17 Mar 05 - 11:39 AM

Amazing, is it not, that a song like this one -- well built and good-sounding but with nothing deathless in itself -- will still be alive and being played 100 years after it was written? That's only seven years from now.


A

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Come Back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From: Big Tim
Date: 17 Mar 05 - 02:49 PM

Spot on Amos, that's the essence of Percy French.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Come Back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From: Joybell
Date: 17 Mar 05 - 06:05 PM

We first came across this song while watching the film of "The Birthday Party" (one of my all-time favourite plays.) The sinister feeling of the film is contrasted with this sad, innocent song to great advantage. Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Come Back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From: Bill D
Date: 17 Mar 05 - 11:37 PM

It owes 'some' of its survival to being recorded by Burl Ives in the early 60s.."Songs of Ireland"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Come Back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From: Little Robyn
Date: 18 Mar 05 - 02:43 AM

It was sung in the first Blue Lagoon movie, back in the 50s (or was it earlier) by the old Irish sailor who survived the shipwreck but drank himself to death.
Robyn

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Come Back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From: Big Tim
Date: 18 Mar 05 - 06:14 AM

Were there ever any recordings made of Percy French singing? I think not but am not certain. He died in 1920, was in something of a decline in his later years, and there was also the little matter of a World War to disrupt things. His forte was live shows and I suspect that he just didn't realise how big and important an industry the recording one would become.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Come Back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesd
From: ard mhacha
Date: 18 Mar 05 - 02:06 PM

That old Irish sailor in the Blue Lagoon was an old Dublin favourite Noel Purcell, Noel took part in numerous films, a distinctive figure with a long flowing white beard.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Come Back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From: Little Robyn
Date: 18 Mar 05 - 03:40 PM

That's the one!
And the kids called him Paddy and when they found him they cried and I cried and so did my sister! (I must have been about 10 at the time.)
Robyn

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Come Back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From: Joybell
Date: 18 Mar 05 - 05:38 PM

We love Noel Purcell. He was in some great movies. Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Come Back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From: Brakn
Date: 18 Mar 05 - 08:45 PM

I think Noel Purcell took my mother out for lunch many many years ago.

Subject: Origins: Paddy Reilly of Ballyjamesduff
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 10 Aug 10 - 01:58 PM

Someone who is researching ancestors from Ballyjamesduff asked if I knew what happened to Paddy Reilly..was he a real person? This person thought he had become a priest or monk. mg

Subject: RE: Origins: Paddy Reilly of Ballyjamesduff
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Aug 10 - 04:45 PM

He was Percy Frenchs' jarvey

Subject: RE: Origins: Paddy Reilly of Ballyjamesduff
From: Joe Offer
Date: 10 Aug 10 - 05:12 PM

Wikipedia has an interesting little tidbit on the town and the jarvey:

Ballyjamesduff (Irish: Baile Shéamais Dhuibh, meaning "Town of Black James") is a medium-sized town with a population of 2,240 in County Cavan in Ireland, located on the R194 regional road. It is famous for being in the Percy French song "Come back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff", which was written about a man from the area who acted as Jarvy (coach driver) for French and decided to emigrate to Scotland. It is said that he drove his horse and cart to Carrick-on-Shannon, parked the horse and cart outside the railway station and took the train to Dublin. Legend has it that the horse ran all across Ireland looking for Paddy, until Paddy Reilly was said to have returned. Paddy Reilly is now supposedly buried in St Joseph's graveyard, in the town of Ballyjamesduff.

---

Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry on this song:

Ballyjamesduff

DESCRIPTION: "The garden of Eden has vanished, they say, But I know the lie of it still": Its image survives in Ballyjamesduff. Paddy Reilly tells that he was a quiet baby because he knew he was born there. Now grown, every breeze tells him to come back
AUTHOR: Percy French
EARLIEST DATE: 1953 (recording, Margaret Barry); French died 1922
KEYWORDS: home exile baby
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
DT, BALLYJAM*
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 32, #4 (1987), pp, 24-25, "Come Back, Paddy Reilly" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Margaret Barry, "Ballyjamesduff" (on IRMBarry-Fairs)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Bally James Duff
NOTES: In addition to a transcription of this song, there was an interesting article about Percy French, who was an Irish-born engineer and entertainer, in Sing Out magazine, Volume 32, #4 (1987), pp, 18-20, It quotes extensively from James N. Healy, Percy French and His Songs, 1966, a book which I have not seen.
Apparently this song was based on the story of a real person.
The "Sing Out!" article reports a story that French was challenged to write a song containing the name "Ballyjamesduff," and this is the result. But it may also have been based on the line of one of French's friends, who for economic reasons went the Scotland. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: RcBalJDu

---

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography

The Ballad Index Copyright 2015 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.

---

And here are the lyrics we have in the Digital Tradition:

COME BACK PADDY REILLY
(By Percy French)

The Garden of Eden has vanished, they say
But I know the lie of it still;
Just turn to the left at the bridge of Finea
And stop when halfway to Cootehill.
'Tis there I will find it,
I know sure enough
When fortune has come to me call,
Oh the grass it is green around Ballyjamesduff
And the blue sky is over it all.
And tones that are tender and tones that are gruff
Are whispering over the sea,
"Come back, Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
Come home, Paddy Reilly, to me".

My mother once told me that when I was born
The day that I first saw the light,
I looked down the street on that very first morn
And gave a great crow of delight.
Now most newborn babies appear in a huff,
And start with a sorrowful squall,
But I knew I was born in Ballyjamesduff
And that's why I smiled on them all.
The baby's a man, now he's toil-worn and tough
Still, whispers come over the sea,
"Come back, Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
Come home, Paddy Reilly, to me".

The night that we danced by the light of the moon,
Wid Phil to the fore wid his flute,
When Phil threw his lip over "Come Again Soon",
He's dance the foot out o' yer boot!
The day that I took long Magee by the scruff
For slanderin' Rosie Kilrain,
Then, marchin' him straight out of Ballyjamesduff,
Assisted him into a drain.
Oh, sweet are the dreams, as the dudeen I puff,
Of whisperings over the sea,
"Come back, Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
Come home, Paddy Reilly, to me".

I've loved the young women of every land,
That always came easy to me;
Just barrin' the belles of the Black-a-moor brand
And the chocolate shapes of Feegee.
But that sort of love is a moonshiny stuff,
And never will addle me brain,
For the bells will be ringin' in Ballyjamesduff
For me and me Rosie Kilrain!
And through all their glamour, their gas and their guff
A whisper comes over the sea,
"Come back, Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
Come home, Paddy Reilly, to me".

Encore verse

I've struck oil at last!
I've struck work, and I vow
I've struck some remarkable clothes,
I've struck a policeman for sayin' that now,
I'd go back to my beautiful Rose.
The belles they may blarney,
the boys they may bluff
But this I will always maintain,
No place in the world like Ballyjamesduff
No guril (sic) like Rosie Kilrain.
I've paid for my passage, the sea may be rough
But borne on each breeze there will be,
"Come back, Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
Come home, Paddy Reilly, to me".

@Irish @emigrate @home
filename[ BALLYJAM
TUNE FILE: BALLYJAM
CLICK TO PLAY
EX
Apr98

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Come Back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff
From: GUEST,Patrick Purcell, Son of Noel
Date: 28 Sep 10 - 10:57 PM

Hello, Joybell and all.

Yes, Dad sang 'Ballyjamesduff' to lullaby the children as he rowed them to the Island.
He told a great story about being accosted on a London street by a well-dressed gentleman :

" You're Noel Purcell, arent you?"

Da: 'Yes, Buncer"

Man: 'Well, you gave me a lot of trouble!"

Da: 'How could I, we've never met before"

Man: It was my job to dub you into the Spanish version of the Blue Lagoon, but we couldnt translate Ballyjamesduff!"

So there was Noel in the movie, 'talking' 20 to the dozen in Spanish, until: 'De garden of Eden has......." which stayed in English.
Dad said later - " I never knew I spoke Spanish!"