Lyr Req: Grandma's Old Woollen Vest

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Grandma's Old Woollen Vest
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 17 Aug 02 - 04:06 PM

Oooops, boo boo: Forgot to put a line-space. "It's made of scraps and pieces" is actually the start of a new verse.

Fixed. --JoeClone, 20-Aug-02.

Subject: Lyr Add: MY GRANNY'S WOOLLEN VEST (Packie M Byrne)
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 17 Aug 02 - 04:00 PM

Here, at last! I had to get Packie to sing it to me over the phone while I juggled the receiver on one shoulder and typed as best I could (you should have seen this before the corrections). Sorry about mis-remembering the "terrible shade of green" line: as you'll see it's supposed to be "beautiful yellow sheen". Oh well.

MY GRANNY'S WOOLLEN VEST
Packie Manus Byrne

Paddy Malone may boast about the shirt his father wore.
No doubt it was a useful thing in bygone of yore,
But if you care to listen, I know you'll feel impressed
When I tell to you the story of my granny's woollen vest.

CHORUS: For it's blue, brown, pink and red with a beautiful yellow sheen.
It's grey and gold along the fold and the buttons they are green.
It's white and black around the back and orange across the chest.
Every colour of the rainbow is my granny's woollen vest.

It's made of scraps and pieces but my granny doesn't mind,
The reason being my granny is completely colour blind.
We all take turns at tending it. We keep it washed and pressed,
And a credit to our family is my granny's woollen vest.

My father says he'll swear that it's a hundred inches wide.
My mother tried to wear it but got tangled up inside.
It took us almost twenty hours working at our best
To extricate my mother from my granny's woollen vest.

Home from Alabama came my poor oul Uncle Bert.
He saw the vest and thought it was a Technicolor shirt.
He wore it to the village. The folks ran east and west,
For he looked a proper nana in my granny's woollen vest.

It's long gone out of fashion and it hasn't been worn for years.
My granny keeps it in a box amongst her souvenirs.
She says she'll take it with her when she's finally laid to rest,
And that will be the finish of my granny's woollen vest.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Grandma's Old Woollen Vest
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 16 Aug 02 - 12:50 PM

Google gets 108 hits on Packie Byrne and 145 hits on Packie Manus Byrne. However, neither of them gets any hits when coupled with "vest". And the new bits of lyrics supplied by Bonnie don't raise anything either.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Grandma's Old Woollen Vest
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 14 Aug 02 - 12:23 PM

Just to keep life from being too simple: I seem to remember Packie sometimes calling it My Granny's Woollen Vest, so you could also try looking under the M's (fortunately there aren't too many ways you can spell "my").

I KNOW I have these words lying around somewhere (in Packie's own hand) but can I find them? Of course not. I'm just back from a two-month absence overseas and my house is littered with suitcase contents and unanswered post, so I'm buried under a mountain of work at the moment, but IF I can find these words I'll post them - though I did look in the place where they're Supposed To Be.

I can remember the final line of the refrain, which is "all the colours of the the rainbow was my granny's woolen vest" (or close to that); and there was also something about "a terrible shade of green". Sorry I can't be of more use, but if/when I get a chance I'll look through my song files again, and failing that, I can always ring Packie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Grandma's Old Woollen Vest
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 14 Aug 02 - 10:22 AM

Just to illustrate why titles of folk songs are often hard to find on the Internet:

If it's in dialect, OLD could be spelled OL', OLE, AULD, AUL', OULD, or OUL'.

WOOLLEN could also be spelled WOOLEN.

GRANDMA could be GRANMA, GRANDMAW, GRANMAW, or, if your memory isn't perfect, GRANNY, GRANNIE, GRAN, or GRANDMOTHER.

It might help if we had more information. Can you quote any other lines from the song? Do you know whether anyone has recorded it?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Grandma's Old Woollen Vest
From: Sorcha
Date: 12 Aug 02 - 06:00 PM

Original thread. Aitch, it works better if you keep track of your requests instead of starting a new one for the same song. See the link on the far right that says Trace? That's what it is for. (Not slamming; lots of stuff here folks don't know about until they need it)

Subject: Grandma's old woollen vest
From: Aitch
Date: 12 Aug 02 - 05:54 PM

Just heard Packie Byrne sing this one at Sidmouth and wonder if anyone has the words, please?

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Messages from multiple threads combined.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Grandma's Old Woollen Vest
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 11 Aug 02 - 01:47 PM

Packie wrote the song. He's booked at Herga next month, but I'm sure you won't have to wait that long. Bonnie Shaljean may have the words.

Kitty

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Grandma's Old Woollen Vest
From: Sorcha
Date: 11 Aug 02 - 10:49 AM

I found Packie's home site, but nothing else.

Subject: Grandma's Old Woollen Vest
From: Aitch
Date: 10 Aug 02 - 07:39 PM

I've just had a wonderful time at Sidmouth. One of the highlights was 'In the Tradition' afternoon show in which I met up for the first time Packie Byrne who sang amongst others a song he called His Grandma's Old Woollen Vest.I've tried to find the lyrics here but failed. Does anyone know the song, please? Cheers Aitch