P stands for Paddy
- pipersgrip
- Posts: 2454
- Joined: Fri Feb 16, 2007 7:43 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Location: Land-of-Sky
P stands for Paddy
I just don't get this song. I love it, but I don't quite understand it. P for Paddy, J for Johnny, and W for false William. Is there some sort of significance between these letters? The only thing clear about this song is that Johnny is the fairest one.
"In prayer, it is better to have a heart without words, than words without a heart." John Bunyan
- Cathy Wilde
- Posts: 5591
- Joined: Mon Oct 20, 2003 4:17 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Location: Somewhere Off-Topic, probably
Re: P stands for Paddy
D stands for Drunk as in "Drunk songwriter"?
Deja Fu: The sense that somewhere, somehow, you've been kicked in the head exactly like this before.
Re: P stands for Paddy
That's a good question. Mudcat also has a version called
"T Stands for Thomas", so I suspect there is no other
significance to the letters. I think the context is that the
woman has lost Johnny so she's musing over other men
"Paddy's OK but boring, and Willie's a jerk. Man, I sure
miss my love Johnny."
There are kids songs I'm sure I've heard from jump-ropers
that throw out random letters like that.
"T Stands for Thomas", so I suspect there is no other
significance to the letters. I think the context is that the
woman has lost Johnny so she's musing over other men
"Paddy's OK but boring, and Willie's a jerk. Man, I sure
miss my love Johnny."
There are kids songs I'm sure I've heard from jump-ropers
that throw out random letters like that.
- Nanohedron
- Moderatorer
- Posts: 38224
- Joined: Wed Dec 18, 2002 6:00 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Tell us something.: Been a fluter, citternist, and uilleann piper; committed now to the way of the harp.
Oh, yeah: also a mod here, not a spammer. A matter of opinion, perhaps. - Location: Lefse country
Re: P stands for Paddy
I always figured that there was nothing more to it than that, myself. It's just a way to deal with the matter of crafting lyrics.fearfaoin wrote:That's a good question. Mudcat also has a version called
"T Stands for Thomas", so I suspect there is no other
significance to the letters. I think the context is that the
woman has lost Johnny so she's musing over other men
"Paddy's OK but boring, and Willie's a jerk. Man, I sure
miss my love Johnny."
"If you take music out of this world, you will have nothing but a ball of fire." - Balochi musician
- s1m0n
- Posts: 10069
- Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2004 12:17 am
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 10
- Location: The Inside Passage
Re: P stands for Paddy
She's choosing between suiters.
And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving - moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ('And I suppose,' thought Lucy, 'when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.')
C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis
- Nanohedron
- Moderatorer
- Posts: 38224
- Joined: Wed Dec 18, 2002 6:00 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Tell us something.: Been a fluter, citternist, and uilleann piper; committed now to the way of the harp.
Oh, yeah: also a mod here, not a spammer. A matter of opinion, perhaps. - Location: Lefse country
Re: P stands for Paddy
Right.s1m0n wrote:She's choosing between suiters.
"If you take music out of this world, you will have nothing but a ball of fire." - Balochi musician
- pipersgrip
- Posts: 2454
- Joined: Fri Feb 16, 2007 7:43 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Location: Land-of-Sky
Re: P stands for Paddy
ahhh, ok. Thanks for clearing that. I thought that was it, but I wasn't sure if I was missing a hidden meaning or something.
"In prayer, it is better to have a heart without words, than words without a heart." John Bunyan
- Innocent Bystander
- Posts: 6816
- Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2005 12:51 pm
- antispam: No
- Location: Directly above the centre of the Earth (UK)
- Nanohedron
- Moderatorer
- Posts: 38224
- Joined: Wed Dec 18, 2002 6:00 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Tell us something.: Been a fluter, citternist, and uilleann piper; committed now to the way of the harp.
Oh, yeah: also a mod here, not a spammer. A matter of opinion, perhaps. - Location: Lefse country
Re: P stands for Paddy
Someone had to say it.Innocent Bystander wrote:They make suits? Ah, suitors!...
"If you take music out of this world, you will have nothing but a ball of fire." - Balochi musician
- colomon
- Posts: 2140
- Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2001 6:00 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Tell us something.: Whistle player, aspiring C#/D accordion and flute player, and aspiring tunesmith. Particularly interested in the music of South Sligo and Newfoundland. Inspired by the music of Peter Horan, Fred Finn, Rufus Guinchard, Emile Benoit, and Liz Carroll.
I've got some compositions up at http://www.harmonyware.com/tunes/SolsTunes.html - Location: Midland, Michigan
- Contact:
Re: P stands for Paddy
It's just basically a nonsense chorus added to the song, no? (Altan sings a version without the chorus, for instance.) The verses don't name the characters at all.
Sol's Tunes (new tune 2/2020)
-
- Posts: 360
- Joined: Fri Nov 28, 2008 6:42 am
- antispam: No
- Location: Darkest Buckinghamshire, UK
- Contact:
Re: P stands for Paddy
Meh. C is for Cookie and that's good enough for me.
Finally feel like I'm getting somewhere. It's only taken 6 years.