Wee Falorie Man, The

DESCRIPTION: "I am the wee falorie man A rattling roving Irishman. I can do all that ever you can." Sister Mary Ann "washes her face in the frying pan And she goes to hunt for a man." "I am a good old working man Each day I carry a wee tin can" with a bun and ham.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (_Rann Magazine_ Summer 1952, according Roud); 1870s (recorded by Anne Gilchrist, according Opie/Opie-TheSingingGame)
KEYWORDS: work food nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond,North)) Ireland
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Hammond-SongsOfBelfast, p. 13, "The Wee Falorie Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brady-AllInAllIn, p. 127-128, "The Wee Polony Man" (1 text)
Kane-SongsAndSayingsOfAnUlsterChildhood, p. 70, "I'm a wee Filory Man" (1 short text)
Peirce-KeepTheKettleBoiling, p. 65, "(I'm the wee Filoree Man)" (1 text)
Opie/Opie-TheSingingGame 116, "Wee Melodie Man" (4 texts, 1 tune)
DT, WEEFALRY*
Roud #5106 and 13175
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Sam, Sam, Dirty Old Man" (form)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
John Healyman
NOTES [104 words]: Also collected and sung by David Hammond, "The Wee Falorie Man" (on David Hammond, "I Am the Wee Falorie Man: Folk Songs of Ireland," Tradition TCD1052 CD (1997) reissue of Tradition LP TLP 1028 (1959))
Sean O Boyle, notes to David Hammond, "I Am the Wee Falorie Man: Folk Songs of Ireland": "The word 'falorie' is not of Gaelic origin, but probably derives from the English word 'forlorn,' which in rural Ulster is pronounced 'fa-loorn' and is associated not only with lonliness, but with mystery. The song is used in a singing game by the children of Belfast."
Roud has the first Opie/Opie-TheSingingGame text as #13175. - BS
Last updated in version 6.6
File: Hamm013

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