{"id":15061,"date":"2022-03-05T10:45:41","date_gmt":"2022-03-05T10:45:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=15061"},"modified":"2022-03-24T09:24:03","modified_gmt":"2022-03-24T09:24:03","slug":"grandfather-brian","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/grandfather-brian\/","title":{"rendered":"Grandfather Brian"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>Grandfather Bryan
My Grandfather Brian
Grandfather O’Brien<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>c1860<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>unknown<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN17696<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Sam Collins<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Lawrence, Mrs; Ireland : Co. Wicklow; 1937\/38
Wills, Gordon; Canada : Newfoundland; 1952
Rice, Gordon; Canada : Newfoundland; 1952
Townsend, Bob; England : Gloucestershire; 1975
Lyons, Jack; Ireland : Co. Kerry; 1980
Modern performances<\/strong>
The McNulty Family<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Grandfather Brian departed this life,\nIt was on Saint Patrick's day.\nHe started off to the next world\nWithout ever asking the way;\nLeaving me all his riches,\nWith a great deal of wealth, d'ye see?\nWith a pair of his cloth leather breeches.\nThat buttoned up down to the knee.\n\nHurrah, for my grandfather Brian!\nI wish he was living, och, sure!\nAnd every day he'd be dying,\nTo be leaving me ten times as much more.<\/em>\n\nHe left me the whole two sides of bacon,\nOnly one half was just cut away,\nWith a broomstick, with the head of a rake on,\nAnd a held full of straw to make hay;\nHe left me some props and some patches,\nWith a beautiful new smock frock;\nSix beautiful hens to lay duck's eggs,\nOnly one turned out to be a cock.\n\nHe left me a well full of water,\nOnly some said it was dry;\nThree pitfulls of sand, lime and mortar,\nAnd a squinting tom-cat with one eye;\nHe left me an old dog and kitten,\nHis lapstone, knife and brad-awl;\nWith a lump of Dutch cheese that was bitten,\nAnd a box full of nothing at all.\n\nHe left me a glass that was broken,\nWith a pair of new boots without soles;\nAnd, faith! if the truth must be spoken,\nA kettle with fifty-five holes;\nA knife board make out of leather,\nA treacle pot half full of glue;\nA down bed without ever a feather,\nAnd a fine coat nigh handy in two.\n\nHe left me a mighty fine clock, too,\nFull of brass wheels made out of wood;\nA key without ever a lock, too,\nA stool to sit down where I stood;\nA blanket made out of cloth patches,\nA bread basket made of tinware;\nA window without any sashes,\nAnd a horse collar made for a mare.\n\nHe left me a starling, a beauty,\nBut it turned out to be a thrush;\nHe bid me in life do my duty,\nAnd never comb my hair with a brush;\nHe left me six pounds all in copper,\nWith a splendid straight rule double bent;\nAnd a beautiful 'bacca stopper,\nWith a view of Blackwater, in Kent. \n\nHe left me some whiskey for drinking,\nAnd a beautiful stick, look at that;\nAnd also a she bull for milking,\nAnd a second-hand silk beaver hat;\nHe left me a shirt all in tatters.\nAmongst other things, I must state;\nAnd a rare stock of old broken platter,\nAnd, In fact, all the family plate. \n\nHe left me the bog for a garden,\nOne night it got covered with the flood,\nAnd when I went out in the morning,\nI went up to my two eyes in mud;\nHe left me a fine mare for breeding,\nIts age was over threescore,\nAnd when I come here next evening,\nI will tell you ten times as much more.<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
An Irish comic song, probably sung by Sam Collins<\/a> in the early British music halls, remembered by members of the Irish diaspora throughout the English-speaking world. It proved particularly popular in Newfoundland where its found in several versions (see GEST Songs Of Newfoundland And Labrador)<\/em><\/a>. It was recorded by popular Irish American performers The McNulty Family<\/em> in 1938. You can hear an English version collected by Gwilym Davies from the singing of Bob Townsend at the Glostrad site <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
The song is often credited to Newfoundland songwriter Johnny Burke (1851-1930) though it is very unlikely that he wrote the original version. The original song seems to have been written in the late 1850s – local newspaper reports indicate that a song called Grandfather Brian\/Bryan<\/em> was regularly sung at amateur entertainments in England from 1864 on. It also appears widely in 19th century broadsides and songsters on both sides of the Atlantic, though where the song was written and by whom is a mystery to me. The earliest vaguely datable publication seems to have been in The Rose , Shamrock and Thistle song book : songs of the old country for people of the colonies<\/em> (New York, c1860). It has appeared regularly in collections of traditional Irish songs throughout the late 19th and 20th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An undated London broadside held in the Madden Collection<\/a> suggests it was “sung by  Sam Collins” and there is a reference to Collins singing a song with a very similar title in 1858 at a concert for the Dover Catch Club at the Apollonian Hall, Dover in Kent: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sam Collins gave a comic song entitled “My grandfather’s will<\/em>” and created roars of laughter. His style is peculiarly his own and he does not indulge in the low sort of grimaces which many comic singers will<\/em> have it tell so much with an audience [sic]<\/em>. He sings with ease and freedom and his points always provoked most hearty laughter.<\/p>Dover Chronicle, Saturday, 20 November 1858, p5<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
[There was also an early 19th century play by Frederick Reynolds called My grandfather’s will<\/em> but I have not found any connection]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n