Mother Leary's Cow

DESCRIPTION: "Late last night, when we were all in bed., Mrs. O'Leary put a Lantern in the shed and when the cow Kicked it over, She blinked her Eyes and said "It'll be a hot time in the old town tonight. Fire Fire Fire, Pour on Water... Save my Children.... Jump..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Harbin-Parodology)
KEYWORDS: death fire campsong
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Harbin-Parodology, #91, p. 26, "Mother Leary's Cow" (1 text, tune referenced)
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 110, 285, 389, 415, 444, 519, "Mrs. O'Leary"/"Mother Leary's Cow"/"Old Lady Leary"/"Old Lady Murphy"/"Old Mrs. Leary" (notes only)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "There'll Be a Hot Time (In the Old Town Tonight)" (tune)
cf. "Scotland's Burning" (lyrics)
cf. "London's Burning" (lyrics)
cf. "One O'Leary's Cow" (lyrics)
NOTES [115 words]: On p. 415, Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs refers to a song "Old Lady Murphy." There may be a camp somewhere that has a song by that name, but diligent searching shows that there is no well-known camp song with that title -- and Averill claims there are 31 versions of the thing.
It so happens that Averill has 31 versions of this song. It seems pretty clear that "Old Lady Murphy" is a mistake for "Old Lady Leary," which was the name Averill used for the song elsewhere on p. 415 (though she used multiple other names on other pages).
There was a song from the 1870s, "One O'Leary's Cow" (Dime-Song-Book #31, p. 61). It's the same subject but, despite the similar title, not the same song. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: ACSF110M

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