"Brian O'Lynn"
by Mellinger Edward Henry
The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 54, No. 211/212 (Jan. - Jun., 1941), pp. 83-84
"BRIAN O'LYNN":
-In April, I930, Frank E. Mathewson, director of the industrial department of Dickinson High School, Jersey City, New Jersey, recalled and copied down three stanzas, given below, of a version of the song his father used to sing in western Connecticut. Alfred Williams in his Folk-songs of the Upper Thames, London, 1923, prints a version of seven stanzas with a chorus. He says in his head-note:
"Bryan O'Lynn was a favorite along the Thames side from Malmesbury to Faringdon, and in the neighboring Cotswold villages as far as Aldsworth. I am not certain as to its age." This song has also been printed in JFSS, VIII, I37.
I
Oh, Brian O'Lynn had no pants for to wear;
He stole him a sheepskin to make him a pair;
With the skinny side out and the woolly side in-
"Shure, they'll be nice and warm", says Brian O'Lynn.
2
Brian O'Lynn had no watch to put on,
So he got him a turnip to make him one;
He hollowed it out and a cricket put in-
"Shure, they'll think it's a-tickin'" , says Brian O'Lynn.
3
Brian O'Lynn and his wife and wife's mother,
They all walked over the bridge together.
The bridge it fell down and they tumbled in-
"Shure, we'll find ground at the bottom", says Brian O'Lynn.
RIDGEFIELD, N. J. MELLINGER EDWARD HENRY.