Lyr Add: Johnny the Daisy-O (Irish)

Subject: Lyr Add: JOHNNY THE DAISY-O (Irish)
From: GUEST,Guest, Big Tim
Date: 23 Jul 05 - 04:21 AM

JOHNNY THE DAISY-O

I wish I had Johnny the Daisy-O,
I wish I had Johnny the Daisy-O,
We'd tramp it all day,
We'd be happy and gay,
And me life would be idle and easy ["aisy"]-O.

I'll make tea ["tay"] for you old man,
And I'll make coffee for me old man;
Tea for you and coffee for me
And whiskey for Johnny the Journeyman.

Chorus
Oh here's to Johnny the Daisy-O,
Polished his boots so neatly ["nately"]-O,
With his three cocked hat
And his double row knot
And his fiddle for coaxing the ladies-O.

I wish you were dead in your grave old man,
I wish you were dead in your grave old man,
I wish you were dead and a stone at your head,
The way I could marry the journeyman.

There's soup in the pot for me old man,
There's soup in the pot for you old man,
Soup for me, the bones for you,
And chicken for Johnny the Journeyman.

Chorus

I wish I was single and free again,
An old man would never get me again;
Bad cess to the day and bad cess to the way
That I jilted Johnny the Journeyman.

I wish that I never was wed old man
To yourself and your old feather bed old man,
With a drop in your eye and a tear and a sigh,
You keep me away from the Journeyman.

Chorus

I wish that you were in jail, old man,
I wish that you were in jail, old man,,
If you were in jail I'd give you no bail,
And that would suit Johnny the Journeyman.

I wish I had Johnny the Journeyman,
I wish I had Johnny the Journeyman,
With his weekly pay we'd be happy and gay,
And me life would be happy and easy-O.

Chorus

As recorded by Delia Murphy in 1941.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Johnny the Daisy-O (Irish)
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 23 Jul 05 - 12:12 PM

"W B Yeats used part of this song in his first comedy 'A Pot of Broth', and the theme may have suggested Synge's comedie noire 'The Shadow of the Glen', in which a faithless wife goes on the road with a wandering man."

Sleevenotes, Dick Cameron, Irish Folk Songs and Ballads (Smithsonian Folkways). A short sound sample can be heard at http://www.smithsonianglobalsound.org/containerdetail.asp?itemid=337.

See also Songs Collected by Donagh MacDonagh

Number 5884 in the Roud Folk Song Index, where several examples are listed from Scotland and Ireland, the earliest being O Gin Ye were Dead, Gudeman in Johnson, Scots Musical Museum, V, 421 (no. 409).

In 1978, Gordeanna McCulloch recorded a short set, There's a Herrin in the Pan, which came from Jim Mahon, who had it from his grandmother in Glasgow. For further information and links to other examples, see thread There's a Herrin' in the pan, noting that I seem to have misquoted the Roud number there, and that the Traditional Ballad Index has misunderstood the term "ludgin-man"; he is not the landlord, but the lodger.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Johnny the Daisy-O (Irish)
From: GUEST,Guest. Big Tim
Date: 23 Jul 05 - 01:41 PM

Thanks Malcom.

By an amazing coincidence, I know both Gordeanna McCulloch and Jim Mahon personally (the 2Clutha" connection).

Can anyone post the tune? It's a catchy one!