Uncle Joe’s Song

Today, I took Hil and my mom to my sister’s so I could watch the football game with her husband, while the ladies went out for some wine tasting.  On the way home, my mom asked me if I remembered “Old Uncle Joe”.  Joe wasn’t really our uncle.  He was just an elderly man who lived in the same apartment building we did.  Joe was a World War I veteran.  He used to sing us little songs from the early days of radio and phonographs.  My mom’s comment was that not many people can say they grew up actually knowing someone who fought in World War I (tomorrow is Veterans Day).
I said that I did remember Joe and I asked if she remembered that little song about the Irishman which he taught us.  She said she did not.  After a few minutes, some of it came back to me and I started singing it for them.  I didn’t remember all of it.  Just the part after “rigged him out so gay”…
As usual, curiosity got the better of me and I looked the song up on Google…  The first verse and chorus follow:
Jim O’Shea
Was cast away
Upon an Indian
Isle
The natives there
They loved red hair
They loved his
Irish smile
They made him
Chief Panjandrum
The Nabob
Of them all
They called him
Jij-i-bob Jhai
And rigged him out
So gay
He wrote
To Dublin Bay
To
His
Sweet-
Heart,
Just
To
Say
Sure,
I’ve got
Rings on my fingers,
And bells on my toes
Elephants
To ride upon,
My little Irish
Rose
So come to
Your Nabob,
On next
Patrick’s Day
Be
Missus
Mumbo
Jumbo
Jij-i-bob
J.
O’Shea
Song Title: “I’ve Got Rings On My Fingers” Written by: F. J. Barnes and R. P. Weston Originally written in 1909
I didn’t know this was a “proper” song or that it was fairly popular in its day.  I also didn’t know there were other verses.  At least I don’t remember ever hearing them or singing them.  You can Google the song title and the lyrics are available on multiple sites and a couple of recordings are available on YouTube – including one version on a scratchy gramophone.
Hil commented (while we were in the car) she was surprised I remembered so much of the song since I obviously learned it quite young.  I admitted I was pretty surprised too.
.
On This Day In:
2012	Still Trying
2011	Not Deserving

Read Full Post »

Live, Then, As If…

What shall we know of our death?  Either the soul is immortal and we shall not die, or it perishes with the flesh and we shall not know that we are dead.  Live, then, as if you were eternal, and do not believe that your life has changed merely because it seems proved that the Earth is empty.  You do not live in the Earth, you live in yourself.
—  André Maurois
Quoted by Will Durant
From his book: “On the Meaning of Life“
.
On This Day In:
2012	Still Trying
2011	Not Deserving

Read Full Post »