Lyr Add: Tommy Linn

30 Mar 99 - 03:30 PM (#66914)
Subject: Lyr Add: TOMMY LINN
From: Bruce O.

DT has two 'Tom Bolynn' songs from different sources, but the same singer. Here's one (no tune unfortunately) from Ritson's 'The North Country Chorister', 1802.

Tommy Linn is a Scotchman born,
His head is bald, and his beard is shorn;
He has a cap made of a hare skin;
An elder man is Tommy Linn.

Tommy Linn has no boots to put on,
But two calves skins, and the hair it was on;
They are open at the side and the water goes in;
Unwholesome boots, says Tommy Linn.

Tommy Linn has a mare of the gray,
Lam'd of all four, as I hear say;
It has the farcy all over the skin:
It's a running yade, say Tommy Linn.

Tommy Linn no bridle had to put on,
But two mouse tails, and them he put on:
Tommy Linn had no saddle to put on,
But two urchin skins, and them he put on.

Tommy Linn went to yonder hall,
Went hipping and skipping among them all;
They ask'd what made him come so boldly in,
I've come a wooing, says Tommy Linn.

Tommy Linn went to the church to be wed,
The bride followed after, hanging down her head;
She hung down her cheeks, she hung down her chin;
You are fair enough now, says Tommy Linn.

Tommy Linns daughter sat on the 'brig,'
Oh, dear father, gin I be not trig!
The bridge it broke, and she fell in,
You are trig enough now, says Tommy Linn.

Tommy Linn, and his wife, and his wifes mother,
They all fell into the fire together;
They that lay undermost got a hot skin:
We are not enough, says Tommy Linn.

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30 Mar 99 - 03:54 PM (#66917)
Subject: Lyr Add: TAM O' THE LIN
From: Bruce O.

[A supplement from C. K. Sharpe's 'A Ballad Book', 1823]

TAM O' THE LIN.

Tam O' Lin's daughter scho sat on the stair,
And, "Wow," quo scho, "Father, am na I fair?
There's mony ane wed wi' an unwhiter skin"--
"The deil whorl't off," quo Tam o' the Lin.

Tam o' Lin's daughter scho sat on the brig,
And, "Wow," quo scho, "Father, am na I trig?"
The brig it brak', and she tummel'd in--
"Your tocher's paid," quo Tam o' the Lin.

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05 Apr 00 - 02:58 PM (#207187)
Subject: Lyr Add: TOMMY LINN
From: GUEST,Bruce O.

Tommy Linn.

Tommy Linn is a Scotchman born,
His head is bald, and his beard is shorn;
He has a cap made of a hare skin;
An elder man is Tommy Linn.

Tommy Linn has no boots to put on,
But two calves skins, and the hair it was on;
They are open at the side and the water goes in:
Unwholesome boots, says Tommy Linn.

Tommy Linn has a mare of the grey,
Lam'd of all four, as I hear say;
It has the farcy all over the skin:
It's a running yade, says Tommy Linn.

Tommy Linn no bridle had to put on,
But two mouses tails, and them he put on;
Tommy Linn had no saddle to put on,
But two urchin skins, and them he put on.

Tommy Linn went to yonder hall,
Went hipping and skipping among them all;
They ask'd what made him come so boldly in,
I've come a wooing, says Tommy Linn.

Tommy Linn went to the church to be wed,
The bride followed after, hanging down her head;
She hung down her cheeks, she hung down her chin;
This is a gloomy quean, says Tommy Linn.

Tommy Linns daughter sat on the 'stair',
Oh, dear father, gin I be not fair!
The stairs they broke, and she fell in:
You are fair enough now, say Tommy Linn.

Tommy Linns daughter sat on the 'brig',
Oh, dear father, gin I be not trig!
The bridge it broke, and she fell in,
You are trig enough now, says Tommy Linn.

Tommy Linn, and his wife, and his wifes mother,
They all fell into the fire together;
They that lay undermost got a hot skin:
We are not enough, says Tommy Linn.

--The North-Country Chorister, Durham, 1802.

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05 Apr 00 - 06:28 PM (#207328)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Tommy Linn
From: Susanne (skw)

Thanks, Bruce. I have an Irish version called Brian O'Lynn. Apparently 1802 was not the earliest date for this song family:

[1975:] [A] possible relative of Tam Lin's, Brian O Lynn (who may be a burlesqued son of the Irish god-mother Danu) crops up in comic songs in Ireland, Scotland and America, and the first printed version of Brian's song, in 1568, called him Tom a Lin. (Karl Dallas, notes 'The Electric Muse' 13)

[1979:] The tune is taken from Pili cat ban and the words were learned in childhood by Colm O'Lochlainn. Sam Henry [...] found some old records about a man from Cashel, Portglenore, which makes reference to a Brian O'Lynn, who on 18th April 1786 was appointed both Grand Juror and Apprizor. Under the signatures of the Grand Jurors he found the following couplet:
Brian O'Lynn was a Scotchman bold
His head it was bald and his beard it was shorn
The Scottish version of this song is Tam o' the Lin. It may have been an English satire upon the rude shifts and unruffled complacency of the savage Gael - whether Irish or Scotch. (Peter Kennedy, Folksongs of Britain and Ireland, quoted in Loesberg I, 55)

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06 Apr 00 - 12:25 AM (#207536)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Tommy Linn
From: GUEST,Bruce O.

There are many versions of this song. Tomlym is mentioned in a medley in 'Bassus', 1530. It's under 'Songs from Bassus' in Scarce Songs 1 on my website. There are other 16th century references to songs with similar names, but what evidence is there that they refer to our song here or the ballad of Tam Lin? If you have a text of 1568, I'd certainly like to see it. [See also 'The Complaynt of Scotland', 1549.]

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06 Apr 00 - 01:01 PM (#207753)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Tommy Linn
From: GUEST,Bruce O.

Sorry, I made a mistake. There is one verse of our song in W. Wager's play 'The Longer Thou Livest The More Fool Thou Art', which was entered in the Stationers' Register in 1569.

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06 Apr 00 - 01:41 PM (#207771)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Tommy Linn
From: GUEST,Bruce O.

Sorry for the typo, too. That should have been Tomlyn above, not Tomlym.

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06 Apr 00 - 04:28 PM (#207872)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Tommy Linn
From: GUEST,Bruce O.

There are several copies on the Bodley Ballads website called "Bryan O'Lynn".

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