O'Reilly from the County Leitrim

DESCRIPTION: Singer meets woman who "appeared to me like the queen of May" She rejects his proposal. She was jilted years ago by O'Reilly. If singer had her in Phoenix Island he'd convince her to sail to Pennsylvania. She rejects him. He says he is foolish He leaves
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1828 (Rathvon-EnglishFolksongTradition)
KEYWORDS: love seduction rejection emigration separation beauty America Ireland rake
FOUND IN: Ireland Canada(Newf,Ont,Mar) Scotland(High)
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H580, pp. 357-358, "Farewell, Darling" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-FolkBalladsSongsOfLowerLabradorCoast 128, "Young Riley" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn-IrishStreetBallads 94, "O'Reilly from the County Leithrim" or "The Phoenix of Erin's Green Isle" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: P.W. Joyce, _Old Irish Folk Music and Songs_, pp. 233-234 #422 "When First I Came to the County Limerick" (Dublin: Hodges, Figgis & Co., Ltd (1909 ("Digitized by Microsoft"))
Edith Fulton Fowke and Jay Rahn. _A Family Heritage_ (Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 1994), pp. 72-73, "Peggy Gordon" (1 text, 1 tune)
Nick Dow, Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne and Steve Gardham. _A Secret Stream_ vol. 2 (London: Francis Boutle Publishers, 2023) pp. 97-98,214, "Reilly from the Co. Leitrim"
Orain Thormaid, _Folksongs from the Highlands_. (Isle of Skye: Taigh ma Teud, 1987), p. 28, "As I Went into Inverness-shire"
Sheila Stewart, "As I Went in by Inverness-shire" (Tobar an Dualchais/Kist o Riches, Archive SA1971.191.7 @ https://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/43481?l=en
Roud #4720
RECORDINGS:
Martin Reidy, "O'Reilly from the County Kerry" (on IRClare01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 340, "Young Riley ("As I was walking through the county of Cavan"), Frederick Edwards (London), c.1835; also 2806 b.9(31), "O'Reilly from the Co Cavan" or "The Phoenix of Erius Green Isle," P. Brereton (Dublin), c.1867; Harding B 26(486), "O'Reilly from the Co. Kerry" or "The Phoenix of Erin's Green Isle"
Hesburgh Libraries, Identifier BPP 1001-217, Brereton (Dublin), 1870, "O'Reilly from the Co. Cavan or the Phoenix of Erin's Green Isle"
Hesburgh Libraries, Identifier BPP 1001-253, Brereton (Dublin), 1870, "Reily from the Co. Kerry"
Peal Collection 1, n.d., "O'Reilly from the Co. Kerry, or the Phoenix of Erin's Green Isle"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Peggy Gordon" (lyrics in common with the "Youth and Folly" texts)
cf. "Young Riley (I)" (another member of "Young Riley" family; notes and references there)
cf. "John (George) Riley (II) [Laws N37]" (another member of "Young Riley" family; notes and references there)
cf. "The Swan (II)" (fragment of "O'Reilly from the County Leitrim")
cf. "Phoenix Island" (chimera component PHOENIX ISLAND of "O'Reilly from the County Leitrim"; notes and references there)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
O'Reilly from the County Kerry
When First I Came to County Limerick
NOTES [1359 words]: Although it would seem on its face that the two John (George) Riley songs (Laws N36 and N37), are related, and this one related to both, this does not seem to have been originally so. Rather, they originated separately, then N37 was modified to be closer to N36. Ben Schwartz has done a detailed study of this which turns N37 into three songs, "Young Riley (I)," "John (George) Riley (II)" [Laws N37], and "O'Reilly from the County Leitrim." Ben's conclusion is that "If you are not aware of the history of Laws N37 -- specifically that RILEY RETURNS is a two-line add-on that changes Riley from a jilter to a noble sailor -- then Laws N36 and Laws N37 look like the 'same story.' Laws N36 broadsides were circulating around 1800. RILEY RETURNS may have been added to create Laws N37 'John Riley' later than that. Maybe the Laws N36 story 'inspired' Laws N37 singers to add RILEY RETURNS and create the 'same story.' In any case, they are not the 'same song.'" Ben demonstrates this by showing that, in addition to originally-divergent plots, there are no lines the same in the original versions.
Ben's detailed discussion of the history of the three N37 types is below. - RBW
The "Young Riley" Family of Songs
Introduction
Three closely related songs are entries in this index.
"Young Riley" developed first, in Ulster, late in the eighteenth century.
"John (George) Riley (II) [Laws N37]" developed a few years later and, though it added "Irish" features, has been collected only in North America.
"O'Reilly from the County Leitrim" likely developed in Ulster in the middle of the nineteenth century. It has since been carried to Scotland and Canada.
The NOTES for each of the songs includes my speculation about how that song developed.
Each note includes this "Introduction."
Each ends with my speculation: "How I think it developed"
The notes for "John (George) Riley (II) [Laws N37]" and "O'Reilly from the County Leitrim" include a "Previously" paragraph explaining my view of the text as it looked before this branch of the family developed.
The differences between songs are all a matter of accretion.
The early "Young Riley" remains the core of the other two songs.
Each of the three adds verse-sets that change the story.
I refer to a text built of "the early 'Young Riley'" and one or more verse-sets as "chimera."
Chimera, in Greek mythology, is a composite being made up of parts of recognizable creatures:
"Iobates ordered him to kill the Chimera ...;
it had the fore part of a lion, the tail of a dragon,
and its third head, the middle one, was that of a goat,
through which it belched fire"
(Frazer, 1921, 151 The Library 2.3.1-2)
(James George Frazer, Apollodorus The Library Vol. 1 (London: William Heinemann: 1921 ("Digitized by Internet Archive"))
A chimera, in the notes, is a composite text that includes a theme or verse-set taken from one source and grafted onto an already complete text of another source.
In this case, the "complete text of another source" is "Young Riley."
When I refer to the whole piece of introduced text by name I capitalize it. The main grafts that affect the "Young Riley" family tree are PHOENIX ISLAND, SWAN, RILEY CURSED, and RILEY RETURNS.
Each is described in the note for the song it appears in.
--- Previously ---
The "Young Riley" text, after the SWAN has been grafted to the story, is the starting point for the development of "O'Reilly from the County Leitrim."
Hypothetically, here is the story at this point.
The story takes place in County Cavan, Ulster.
The narrator-courter meets a woman who "appeared to me like an angel bright"
When he asks her to marry she says she prefers the single life.
Years before she was jilted by John Riley, who lived in this country.
Riley had courted her "night and day," until "he gained his free will of me."
Then Riley "left this country and went away."
SWAN
-- You're like the swan that sails the ocean
-- And makes a motion with both her wings.
-- Your snow white breast would be a portion
-- For any lord or any king
The narrator tells her to sail with him to Pennsylvania.
She refuses, saying she will always love Riley.
Youth and folly makes young maids bind themselves and they "must obey";
"what can't be cured must be endured."
The narrator-courter leaves, alone.
--- "O'Reilly from the County Leitrim" - How I think it developed. ---
Notes to "Phoenix Island" explain the relevant history of the naming of that Pacific Island group by whalers around 1828. Quoting my "Phoenix Island" note,
"'O'Reilly from the County Leitrim' texts I have that are dated 1828 or earlier have no Phoenix Island lines. There is a good reason for that if, as I believe, Jim Carroll--in his liner notes for Mary Delaney's song--is right in identifying "Phoenix Island" as the South Pacific Island group. The text of the PHOENIX ISLAND component of "O'Reilly from the County Leitrim" is the following set of verses.
I said if I had you on Phoenix Island
One thousand miles from your native home
Or some lone valley where none would find you
You might consent to be my own.
She said you will not have me in Phoenix Island
One thousand miles from my native home
Nor in a valley where none can find me
So I'll ne'er consent to be your own.
In the morning when I can't come near you
My heart lies bleeding the whole day long
And in the evening when I'll still be grieving
When we are bound we must obey.
Patrick Weston Joyce (1827-1914) writes about his copy of "When First I Came to the County Limerick":
"I have known both words and air of this song from my earliest days. The words were often printed on ballad sheets, of which I have some copies: but they have never been published till now. The air is a setting of 'Youghal Harbour'" (P.W. Joyce, Old Irish Folk Music and Songs, p. 233)
PHOENIX ISLAND is a set of verses that is inserted into the story, without affecting any other verses. It was likely created after the naming of the South Pacific Phoenix Island group by whalers in 1828. It is an exotic island, far from home. Whether PHOENIX ISLAND was originally a stand-alone song is an open question. As inserted into "O'Reilly from the County Leitrim," the story seems incomplete to me. Nevertheless, the fantasy dialog works for both men and women singers.
O'Reilly from the County Cavan continues to be collected in Ulster. It has also been collected all over Ireland, in Nova Scotia, Labrador, Ontario, and Caithness in Scotland. In Leinster, Munster, and Caithness it has been sung by Travellers. The locale is often still Ulster, but may also be Munster, Leinster, Caithness, or "this country." O'Reilly's home may be anywhere in Ireland, Caithness, "this country," "foreign country," or not specified at all.
The basic story is:
While walking through County Cavan, Ulster, the narrator-courter meets a woman.
She "appeared to me like the queen of May."
When he asks her to marry she says she prefers the single life.
Years before she was jilted by O'Reilly from County Cavan.
PHOENIX ISLAND (as above)
He says, if he had her in Phoenix Island he would tease and please her,
and then we'd sail over to Pennsylvania.
She tells him not to tease her:
Sail away back whence you came from
I'll wait for O'Reilly for evermore
SWAN
-- You're like the swan that sails the ocean
-- And makes a motion with both her wings.
-- Your snow white breast would be a portion
-- For any lord or any king
The narrator tells himself that youth and folly make young men marry,
and "make them sigh for another day."
He won't stay longer.
What can't be cured must be endured.
He sails away, alone. - BS
Hesburgh Libraries: Hesburgh Libraries Irish Broadside Ballads @ https://archivesspace.library.nd.edu/repositories/3/resources/1644
Peal Collection 1: W. Hugh Peal Manuscript Collection Album of Broadside Ballads vol. 1 @
https://exploreuk.uky.edu/catalog/xt7qjq0stw34_4355?q="W.+Hugh+Peal+manuscript+collection+album+of
- BS
Last updated in version 7.0
File: HHH580

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