Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 24 Apr 20 - 05:31 PM

Okay, Joe, if you think they will go, but if there any complaints just delete em. thanks anyway.

---

Thank you, Steve. -Joe- ;-)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Apr 20 - 05:08 PM

Steve had second thoughts about three verses he posted above, because he did not want to stimulate animosity. I like them, and asked him to let me leave them up, but I'll follow his request if that's what he wants done.
I'm hoping he'll let me undelete them.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: An Buachaill Caol Dubh
Date: 24 Apr 20 - 03:08 PM

Hah! Brian o' Linn gets contemporary. Great material, both senses. I always greatly admire "feminine rhymes" and, in comic verse, outrageous or unexpected ones. With regard to the bould Brian, he's always been noted for being a bit... rough and ready:

Briany o' Linn wrocht his ain PPE Kit
Frae auld hessian sacks, thaim wi' safety-pins steekit,
He keeps aa the neebor-fowk weel oot o' reach,
And gee's-up his Voddie wi' wee dauds o' bleach.

Briany o' Linn, art-historian, guessed
Why Napoleon aye kept his richt haun in his vest;
"A bulfie like thon, wi' the left haun within,
Wad be feelin' a Right Tit," quo Briany o' Linn.

I'm resisting the urge to see what there is about Peggy Ramsay, or anyone who sounds like her. Good Luck, ABCD.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 24 Apr 20 - 02:08 PM

Tam o' the Linn had no mask for his face
His wife then took off her bra all frilled with lace.
She said, You have the right cup if it will fit,
Says Tam o' the Linn, Now I look a right ***.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 24 Apr 20 - 02:02 PM

Says Tam o' the Linn I'm feelin' just grand
But just oot o' fairness we'll try a new brand,
His wife said, Now this it'll put you in fettle
And she filled up his left arm wi' a bottle o' ******

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 24 Apr 20 - 01:37 PM

Like it, ABCD.

Tam o' the Linn he got Covid 19,
His wife said, Now Tam, I'll soon get you clean,
Bugger this waiting for coming to test us,
And she filled up his arm with a load o' Domestos.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: An Buachaill Caol Dubh
Date: 24 Apr 20 - 09:06 AM

I knew someone with a pet called Flynn.
A squirrel.


Briany o' Linn happ'd himself in his coat
(In his oxters aye packing the horns o' the goat);   
"It's pleasant, at times, for to act a bit mad,
And that's it, for now", quo the Dark Slender Lad.

Good Luck!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 24 Apr 20 - 07:47 AM

And their sisters Vera and Mandy, oh and their three-legged uncle Errolf. Enough! Enough! I'll get me coat.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: An Buachaill Caol Dubh
Date: 23 Apr 20 - 10:43 PM

No, no; that's "Lamb o' linn", a descendant of Lamkin, owned by the Heir of Linne, and a distant relative of Puir Mailie. Ah, the card-indexing of it a'.

"Briany o' Linn tae ane 'Folk Session' went,
A rowth o' Child Ballads, Ilk version he kent;
Wi' finger in lug, his voice nasal and thin,
'Faith, 'tis I'm a Source Singer', quo Briany o' Linn."

Caetera Desunt.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Lighter
Date: 23 Apr 20 - 06:33 PM

Might there be an ancient connection between Tam o'Linn and lanolin?

I don't see why not....

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 23 Apr 20 - 02:39 PM

That was just a small sample ABCD. There are many more in his headnotes particularly in the first 2 volumes. Heck, Peter was only following in the footsteps of Scott. It's just that he went way over the top, whereas Scott was much more subtle.

...and the Pied Piper of Tamlyn. Plenty of magic in there.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Lighter
Date: 23 Apr 20 - 01:25 PM

And don't forget actor Russ Tamblyn:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russ_Tamblyn

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: An Buachaill Caol Dubh
Date: 23 Apr 20 - 10:40 AM

"nauseating repetition"? I struggle to see how that feature would serve to distinguish a fake ballad from many others ( alone, I mean).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 23 Apr 20 - 10:37 AM

Scrimshaw,
Peter B. Even his biographer and greatest supporter William Walker had to admit that he 'eked' out his versions. The only question is to what extent did he do this. My own opinion is that his eking went to the lengths of wholesale composition of ballads in some cases and Professor Child slates his versions mercilessly using phrases like 'nauseating repetition'.

To get at Baring Gould's hoaxes which started out when he was a student you need to read his early biographies.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: GUEST,Scrimshaw
Date: 23 Apr 20 - 08:10 AM

Sorry, I forgot to put my name in the box.

Thanks, yes, I think I'd picked that bit up! Burns certainly seemed to have a fondness for the name and song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: An Buachaill Caol Dubh
Date: 23 Apr 20 - 07:41 AM

GUEST, I'm sure your reference to T o' S and D. McL. concerns an article of clothing, so I'm just adding, in case none of your sources has mentioned this, that "Duncan MacLeerie" was among the various noms de plume that Burns used. Not very often, admittedly. Good Luck.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Apr 20 - 06:41 AM

Thanks, all.

Yes, I wondered about 'Linwood' being related to the Linn family. The Tam o Lin org website has notes on possible Lin locations, too, mostly in the borders. There are LOTS of 'Linns' all over Scotland, could relate to many different ones! I mean, virtually any waterfall might be called a Linn.

I will admit that yes, I would like them to be related - I'm writing a poem that is hopscotching through different characters, back from Nannie in Tam O Shanter, Duncan MacLeerie, Tam O Linn - and then there is a tantalising glimmer of a route to move back to Tam Lin and potentially Norse myth!

- But in fact, it doesn't need to be historically accurate, and I don't have to link the characters - I would just like to know as far as possible whether they were linked or not. It seems sensible to presume not, given your thoughts here.

The hoaxes and uncertainties I can actually use to emphasise the point of the poem, in fact. So, it's all grist to the mill!

Really appreciate all your comments. Baring Gould sounds interesting, I'll look him up. And I didn't know Peter Buchan was unreliable, thanks for the tip!

There's also Tom Boleyn, Tambourlane, Thomas the Rhymer and the cat tangles to add to the merry confusion.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 21 Apr 20 - 10:55 AM

Agreed. I've been known to become part of the fun, but at least I endeavour not to leave a mess behind for someone else to wipe up. I admire Baring Gould for all his pranks and hoaxes, but wish he'd left behind a disclaimer of some sort, and even old Peter Buchan gets my admiration for pulling the wool over the eyes of so many academics, even now!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Lighter
Date: 21 Apr 20 - 10:28 AM

It's understandable though.

Much folklore scholarship even into the age of Bert, occupied itself with searching for parallels and surprising connections with ancient, unwritten, often pagan (and notional) antecedents.

It's easy to get carried away. In fact, it can be part of the fun.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 21 Apr 20 - 10:06 AM

And that in a nutshell has ever been the problem, Jon. The romantics don't half cloud the issues for truth-seekers.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Lighter
Date: 21 Apr 20 - 09:32 AM

Thanks, Buachaill. there are several "Linne" place names in Scotland, which I suppose would be pronounced "Linn" in English. And there may once have been others.

Steve, you beat me to it. The name in the ballad may well be based on the names in the earlier works.

Or it could be the other way around. The late date of known texts of the ballad, however, makes this an empty assertion.

Probably we will never know. The available evidence - a pair of faery "Tom a Linn" references and a few late"Tam Lane" ballad texts - is just too scanty.

What's undeniable is that people interested in one or both of the songs really, really want them to be closely related.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 21 Apr 20 - 06:56 AM

The 1621 reference is given as specifically a 'Puck/Robin-good-fellow' character, whereas we have a member of the fairy court and an unfortunate human in our two songs.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 21 Apr 20 - 06:09 AM

I posted this earlier. It might be more pertinent here. Tomlin and similar were very common Christian names in previous centuries in Britain. Proof, simple...just try looking up the surname 'Tomlinson' i.e., Tomlin's son' in a telephone directory, so any use of the name in a song shouldn't be linked to another use of it without other corroboratory evidence.

The 17th century usages probably refer back to stories about a mischievous sprite with that name, which may or may not have had influence on the ballad and the humorous/racist song.

The 1627 usage yes very likely influenced the 18th century writer of the long ballad. (IMO).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: An Buachaill Caol Dubh
Date: 21 Apr 20 - 12:07 AM

Don't they hide under bridges, though?

(Incidentally, I first heard this song quoted, not sung, by my grandmother, and to her the hero was "Briany o' Linn". The verse concerned his hat; "There was none of the crown, there was less of the brim,/Sure, there's fine ventilation, said B o' L."). Good Luck.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Lighter
Date: 20 Apr 20 - 09:22 PM

Undoubtedly.

Not that it would make "Tom of the Waterfall" a troll or anything like that....

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: An Buachaill Caol Dubh
Date: 20 Apr 20 - 08:41 PM

Note that some of your texts have "Tam o'the lin" (permutations). In Scots English, a "linn" is a waterfall. The "Linn o' Dee" is a popular beauty-spot in ?Aberdeenshire. It wouldn't be uncommon for people to be known by the name of their location, not necessarily a farm or estate (Tam o' Shanter, Logie o' Buchan, The Guidman of Ballengeich, even The Sage of Chelsea...), and I myself have known "T L of the Shore", "The McDs of the fit o' the toun", "J H of the Woodside" and "P McD of the Heather". Might the same practice not be used in a song?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Apr 20 - 03:30 PM

Thanks, Lighter.

I missed the Johnson/Tom Thumbe reference, will look into it. The various spellings, variations, allusions and connections are fascinating - and surprisingly little research done on it, I would say!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Lighter
Date: 20 Apr 20 - 02:45 PM

As I posted last year, above, there are two intriguing 17th century allusions to "Tom a Lin" and the supernatural in one breath:

1621 Richard Johnson, History of Tom Thumbe: “Nor shal my story be made of the mad merry pranckes of … Tom a Lin, the Divels supposed Bastard.” Also mentions “the lusty Pindar of Wakefield.”

1627 “Tomalin” is a fairy in Michael Drayton’s Nimphidia, the Court of Faery (1627).

These are the only authentic such references I was ever able to find in years of on-and-off research.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Apr 20 - 02:13 PM

Thanks, Steve. It is just a name, yes, but I'd say a closer analogy might be if two people were called Steve Gardham and Steve O Gardham, and originated in the same country when there were no doubt not all that many popular figures to be made into ballads/stories. Then, I might think there was a fairly strong possibility of a connection.

What is it that suggests the Complaynt was referring to the Tam O lin ballad instead of Tam Lin, do you know?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 20 Apr 20 - 01:25 PM

Apart from a similar name I've seen absolutely nothing to connect them. Sort of makes me related to Steve McQueen just because we have the same name.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: GUEST,Scrimshaw
Date: 20 Apr 20 - 12:10 PM

Fascinating thread!

I'm wondering what people's thoughts are on the possible likelihood of links between Tam O Lin and Tam Lin?

Walter Scott claims the former was a 'burlesque' of the latter. I idly wondered if all of the animal parts worn as clothing might be a rough reference to the shape-shifting of Tam Lin.

Has anyone seen any further research into the possibility that the one song was a pastiche of the other? I'm digging into various theses and academic essays, but most seem disappointingly vague about either the difference between the two ballads, or any possible connection.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Lighter
Date: 25 Sep 19 - 10:20 AM

Charles Hoy Fort, "Ructions" (short story ca.1906) [takes place in N.Y.C.]:

" 'Bryan O'Lynn, his wife and wife's mother, all went over the bridge together.' Mary Ann Thornton capering on a table, screeching, 'Bryan fell out and his wife fell in! `She's gone to the divil!' said Bryan O'Lynn!'

        "Cousin Mary Ellen, lively as anybody, sour jeering side of her mouth tucked away and smiling side dominating, taking up the next stanza:

'Oh, Bryan O'Lynn had no breeches to wear!
Bought a sheep's skin and made him a pair;
Fleshy side out and woolly side in--
"They itch like the divil!" said Bryan O'Lynn.' "

[Fort is better known as an indefatigable collector of weird events; see "The Book of The Damned" and its sequels.]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 24 Jan 19 - 11:12 AM

N. America.
Belden as Mick says Tom B
Our Singing Country, Lomax/Seeger, p117, 10sts based on Coverley, Ky 1937
Pankake, p35, 4sts, 'O'Brien O'lin. c1960, Minnesota
Texas FS Owens p110, 2sts, 1952
Leach, LLC, p272, 3sts, Labrador, 1960
Hubbard, p322, Utah, 1947, 2sts
Wells, The Ballad Tree, p167, 6sts, Ky 1938 (Tom)
Sharp, Vol 2, p202 11 sts, Ky, Pace 1917, + 1 st from Morgan
Vermont FSB, p178, 5sts, Coolidge, 1930 (Old Tom B)
Brown, Vol II p459, 5sts, battle, 1910, NC
In The Pines, p306, 3sts, Nelson, 1959, Ky

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 24 Jan 19 - 11:00 AM

British. 1890-1972. All Brians unless otherwise marked.
Alfred Williams. Oxon 7sts 1910s
Irish Street Ballads, Dublin 10sts c1841
My own recordings, E Yorks, 3 sts 1972
ditto             E. Yorks, 1 st 1972
Folk Song Journal, 33, p137, Edmondson, 7sts, Lancashire, 1910
English Folk Singer/New Penguin Book of FS, Todd of Derby, 6sts, 1960s
Songs of the West, Dart, 7sts, (Tommy) Devon 1890s
Kennedy, p644, 5sts, Co. Leitrim, 1954

Sam henry/Huntington Songs of the People, p52, 10sts, N Ireland.
Songs and sayings of an Ulster Childhood, Kane & Fowke, p32, 3sts, 1930s
Cecil Sharp Mss, Warren, Somerset, 1905, 1 st
My own recordings, E Yorks 2sts, 1920s
Voice of the People CDs Vol22 track 13, 5sts, Fuller, 1952, Sussex.


Australia
single st 'sheepskin' Folk Songs of Australia, Meredith Anderson, p14.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 24 Jan 19 - 10:46 AM

Also I can't see the 4st version in Chambers' Popular Rhymes of Scotland 1829.

There is in Scottish Tradition, by David Buchan a 4st version said to have come from Sharpe and reprinted by David Laing in 1880.

You don't mention Deeming's Boston reprint of Coverley which might have helped to spread that version in America.

You haven't yet included the many broadside printings c1840-70.

It will be easier for me to put up my own lists as it would take me longer to compare.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 24 Jan 19 - 10:45 AM

I've just noticed a 1786 entry in Ford: Broadsides, ballads, &c. printed in Massachusetts 1639-1800 (1922, many copies at archive):

2457. [Cuts.] Tom Bolin: | Together with | Collin and Phebe.
I A Couple of excellent New Songs; with good Tunes. [Printed
and] Sold at the Office Street, next Liberty Pole. 1786.
— Cash for Linen Rags. aas


There are also 2 entries for 1800:

3370. [Cut.] Tom Bolin.
Tom Bolin was a Scotchman born,
His shoes worn out, his stockings were torn,
+ AAS. EI

3371. [Cut.] Tom Bolin, | And the Maid of Boston.
Where Charles's tide encircling leaves
The sweets of Boston's fertile shore,
HC


AAS= American Antiquarian Society, Worcester
EI = Essex Institute, Salem
HC = Harvard College

3371 looks like it could be the same as your 1810-14 entry above, but with earlier date.

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 24 Jan 19 - 10:38 AM

Hi Jon,
Looking at your lists, I'll try to send you copies of any you haven't got if that's useful to you. I'll start with the earliest stuff. I can't see the 2 really long versions c1790, the one without imprint which is probably the earlie and the Aberdeen print which is almost identical but lacks one verse.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 24 Jan 19 - 10:14 AM

Your list omits this short version from Belden Ballads and Songs Collected by the Missouri Follk-lore Society, 1940. It's short so I'll give it all here. Belden's notes include the following: The first of the following stanzas from Missouri is found in most versions; the other I have not seen elsewhere


TOM BO-LIN

Not title. Secured by Miss Hamilton in 1912 from Mary Morrison of the Kirksville Teachers College, who traced it back to her great-grandmother, born near Richmond, Virginia, in 1801.

Tom-bo-lin had no breeches to wear;
He bought a sheepskin to make him a pair.
With the skin side out and the woolly side in,
Make a fine summer suit for Tom-bo-lin.
  Larry-ho-ho, ho-larry-ho.

When you go to old Ireland, you know,
This is the way to milk an old ewe:
One at the head and one at the hams,
Two little boys to knock off the lambs.
  Larry-ho-ho, ho-larry-ho.



Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Lighter
Date: 22 Jan 19 - 07:27 PM

"Tom Boleyn," etc., 1896-2019:

1903 Sharp coll. “Brian O Lynn or Tom Boleyn” in Somerset. Text recollected from Brian O’Linn broadside.

1906-07 Sharp coll. 1 stz (“Thomas A Lynn…I’ll marry them both”) in Somerset.

1907 4 stzs. of “Wiley Bolin” coll. in E. Tennessee by E. C. Perrow.

1912 The Hardware Reporter (St. Louis): “I’ll sleep in the middle.”

1917 Sharp coll. 2 texts to different tunes in Hyden, Ky.

1930 George Brown coll. 4 stzs (and 1 new one), with tune and refrain (“Old Tombolin”) from lady whose father, born 1800, had sung the song. Pub. In H.H. Flanders & Brown, “Vermont Folk Songs and Ballads” (1931).

1940 Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.) 1 stz. : “Tom Bo-lin…no watch to wear.”

1940 Downes & Siegmeister, “Treasury of American Song,” “Tombolin” adaptation of Brown-Flanders.

1945 Helen Flanders coll. 14 stzs., with tune, in Middlebury, Vt.

1957 Oscar Brand, LP “Bawdy Songs and Backroom Ballads,” Vol. IV. Bawdified rewrite, at least partly inspired by Flanders-Brown.

ca1958 Brand’s polite version on LP “Laughing America.”

1962 folkie group The Swagmen record adaptation of Brand, LP “Meet the Swagmen.”

1966 Helen Vita, German-language adaptation of Brand on LP “Freche Chansons aus dem alten Frankreich” [!]

1979 Brand records his own new song, in old form, about “Tam O’Lynn…a leprechaun king.”

1980s “Annie Boleyn had no panties to wear”: 2 stzs. reported by “Leslie” to Mudcat in 2005. “Jim” replies that his mother had learned it ca1950.

1989 G. Legman receives "Xeroxlore" copy of "Tumble O'Lynn's Farewell," a new song about AIDS partly inspired by "Tom Boleyn."

2011 “Nicole” reports same 2 stzs of “Annie Boleyn,” app. Adapted from Brand. Another online report (1 stz.) from Martin Wainwright.

2014 Oakland group Starboard Watch performs Brand, with 1 stz. added from “Bryan O’Linn.”

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 22 Jan 19 - 03:53 PM

Jon,
Have you anything that positively recognises 'Tam Lin' before 1769? If not it's highly unlikely to have any connection to our song here. The tentative supernatural connection you make here could, I suppose, have influenced the writer of 'Tam Lin' in the middle of the 18th century. Just an opinion.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Lighter
Date: 22 Jan 19 - 11:10 AM

"Tom Boleyn," etc., 1830-1900.

1830 Columbian Register (New Haven, Conn.): 1 stz. with chorus: “I’ll sleep in the middle”

1830 Daily National Journal (Washington, D.C.): 1 stz. “Tommy Linn…hot skin.”

1830 Boston Saturday Morning Transcript: “The good old ballad that we knew when we were knee-high to a mosquito.” Full text, like Coverly.

1832 The Day (Glasgow) 1 stz. (“gryce”), perh. with new humorous final line, also allusion to “dochter” and bridge.

1833 Salem (Mass.) Gazette, breeches stz.

1834 Arkansas Times and Advocate: full Coverley text with two added stzs.

1839 Wreck of schooner “Tom Bolin” off coast of Massachusetts.

1842 Kellogg Crosswell diary. (Pa.), printed in E. Garner, Folklore of the Schories Hills (1937), 15 stzs. like Coverly, with tune.

1846 Mass. Poetaster Albert White, Poems, has bullfrogs croaking “Tombolin, Tombolin, Tombolin.”

1849 Republican Farmer and Democratic Journal: identical but for one phrase with 1834 Ark. Times.

1851 Joanna Baillie’s humorous “Tam o’ the Lin,” 9 stzs., a complete rewrite (written perh. as early as ca1780).

1853 Literary World (London), two humorous paragraphs about “Tom Bolin” and the bridge.

1854 "Marsh’s Selection; or Singing for the Million": full text like Coverley, with tune.

1858 The Child’s Friend and Family Magazine mentions “Tom Bolin,” poss. as a broadside.

1869 Saturday Evening Post, bridge stz. but with kittens: “May the rats go with you, said Tom Bolin.”

1872 Sarah Emory, Three Generations, gives 3 ½ stzs. of “Tom Bolyn,” whole song called “vulgar.”

1876 Christie reprints Chambers’s text with a tune sung in Buchan “from time immemorial,” app. Collected before ca1850.

1890 G. W. Russell, “Up Neck” in 1825: 1 stz (bridge) “from an elderly lady.”

1892 Elizabeth Ward, Old Times in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts: 4 trad. stzs “The Song of Tombolin”; claims song was written about “an eccentric individual who lived here [about 1740] by the name of Tombolin.”

1893 Daily News (London): “There is an English hero called Tom o’ the Linn”; prints initial stz.

1895 Baring-Gould, A Book of Nursery Songs and Rhymes: 2 texts of ”Tommy-a-Lynn” (“a Dutchman born”), coll. in Devonshire.

None of these lists should be considered complete.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Lighter
Date: 22 Jan 19 - 11:03 AM

Uh-oh. Didn't recognize Gardner's name in the "Tom..." context. And forgot that the "Siege" had a "Brian." Too much information to keep track of while working on other things.

So far all references are to "Tom" forms. Especially interesting is the 1621 remark that Tom a Lin is "the supposed devil's bastard." (Like Merlin.) There must have been some folklore tradition behind this, possibly related (by confusion?) with the "Tam Lin" ballad.

(Might as well remind everyone that the Irish reel "Tam Lin" was composed ca1974 by Davey Arthur and has nothing to do with the present discussion.)

I have so many "Brian O'Linns" that I'll have to list them separately - if I can find time.

They begin in the late 18th C. and are mentioned (no text) in America in 1793. I believe that the "Siege" version of the previous decade is the earliest.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 22 Jan 19 - 04:35 AM

17th 6.43. You posted it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Lighter
Date: 21 Jan 19 - 08:56 PM

I do have the Siege of Gibraltar but don't' think I 'm familiar with Gardner.

If you don't mind posting the latter, it would be helpful and interesting.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 21 Jan 19 - 06:54 PM

You've missed out the Gardner 1794 set which contains 2 genuine sts.
and The Siege of Gibraltar set of 5 sts from about 1785. Do you want me to post them?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Lighter
Date: 21 Jan 19 - 04:38 PM

"Tom o' Lynn," 1700-1830:

Ca 1765 Distracted Sailor’s Garland, “Tommy Linn”

ca1775 Distracted Sailor’s Garland ed. 2

1781-85 St. Clair ms., 3 stzs. Scots “Tom o’ Lin.”

1802 Ritson, North Country Chorister (text from Distracted Sailor?)

1810 The Farmer’s Magazine (Edinburgh), 2 lines of “Tam o’ the Lyn.”

1810-14 Coverly broadside, “Tom Bolin,” 15 stzs.

1810-14 Mass. broadside “Tom Bolin, and the Maid of Boston.”

1816 Scott, “Old Mortality”: “Ye ken what the auld sang says,
                   Take turn about, mither, quo Tam o' the Linn.”

1822 Earl of Somerset, “Blighted Ambition,” bridge stz., “Tom o’ Lyn.”

1823 C. K. Sharpe, “A Ballad Book,” 2 stzs “Tam o' the Lin.”

1824 Scott gives 6 stzs. in a note to Sharpe, “Tam o’ the Linn,”
learned before 1812 from James Drummond of Strageath.”

1825 Morning Chronicle (London) reports boxing match involving Jemmy Wilson, who called himself “Tommy O’Lynn.”

1826 Chambers “Tam o’ the Lin,” 1 stz. (fell in the fire), from recitation in Lanarkshire.

1828 New England Galaxy mentions “Tom Bolin, a personage of great notoriety in the world of song.”

1827-29 Kinloch ms., 6 stzs. “Thomas o’ Linn,” 2 resembling Sharpe’s.

1829 Chambers, "Scottish Songs," 3 stz. ‘Tam o’ the Linn, same stanza form as Scott’s, mostly different words.

1830 Scott sings three stanzas of “Tom o’ the Linn” or “Thomas O’Linn” to John Leycester Adolphus of London, who also had of it “boyish recollections.” Adolphus was struck by the excellence of Scott’s “set.”

1830 Columbian Register (New Haven, Conn.): 1 stz. with chorus: “I’ll sleep in the middle”

1830 Daily National Journal (Washington, D.C.): 1 stz. “Tommy Linn…hot skin.”

1830 Boston Saturday Morning Transcript: “The good old ballad that we knew when we were knee-high to a mosquito.” Full text, like Coverly

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 21 Jan 19 - 10:19 AM

A few observations on some of the sts that don't occur in early versions. Considering the earliest date I have for 'bed/blankets' is c1840 a count of 13 is quite good going, but the 'turnip/watch' doesn't turn up until 1858 and that scores 18 hits. Of course we have no way of knowing how old these stanzas are.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 21 Jan 19 - 09:29 AM

I think they're all relevant in establishing that Tomlin (and derivatives) is simply a well-established Christian name, but that's just my opinion.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Lighter
Date: 21 Jan 19 - 08:46 AM

I doubt that Blind Harry's "Thomlyn" is relevant here.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Brian O'Lynn & Tam o' the Linn
From: Lighter
Date: 21 Jan 19 - 08:45 AM

References to "Tom a Lynn" to 1700:

ca1475 Blind Harry the Minstrel, Acts and Deeds of Wallace, mentions “John of Lyn” (a pirate) and “Thomlyn of Wayre.” James Moir (1889) speculates that “Thomlyn” is an error for “John Lyn.”

1549 Complaynt of Scotland mentions tale of “Yong Tamlene” and “dance” of “Thom of Lynn.”

1558 Lost “Ballet of Thomalyn” licensed.

1569 Wager, “The Longer Thou Livest”: one stanza of the song (about the bridge).

ca1593 “Tomalin” is the frustrated narrator of Thomas Nashe’s comic-erotic poem, “Choice of Valentines.”

1617 Nicholas Breton, “Machiavel’s Dog,” mentions “Tom a Lin” as an avatar of the spellbinding tale-teller.

1621 Richard Johnson, History of Tom Thumbe: “Nor shal my story be made of the mad merry pranckes of … Tom a Lin, the Divels supposed Bastard.” Also mentions “the lusty Pindar of Wakefield.”

1627 “Tomalin” is a fairy in Michael Drayton’s Nimphidia, the Court of Faery (1627).

1632 The Pinder of Wakefield: earliest full text of “Tom a Lin,” a “Welch man borne.”

1646 “Tomalyn” mentioned as a place in Co. Clare.

1658 “Tomalin” is the name of the demonic familiar of Mother Sawyer, the protagonist of “The Witch of Edmonton: a known true story composed into a tragi-comedy, by divers well-esteemed poets, William Rowley, Thomas Dekker, John Ford, &c.”