Now that winter has arrived in Tennessee, it is time to stoke the fire in our woodstove to heat the house. Daily, wood is brought into the house and piled in the metal washtub to keep it off the floor (thus preventing SOME of the dirt from reaching the floors!). Vince is best at starting fires in the woodstove, but I am learning (or should I say 'relearning') how to start a fire.
It never fails that I will be watching Vince start the fire and the Chicago Fire song pops into my head. You know the one:
One dark night
When we were all in bed
Old Mother Leary
Left a lantern in the shed
And when the cow kicked it over,
She winked her eye and said,
"There’ll be a hot time
In the old town, tonight."
"FIRE, FIRE, FIRE!"
I believe I learned this song at Girl Scout Camp!!
Nevertheless, I sing it a lot during the winter months and Vince really doesn't enjoy it, but he laughs anyway.
I did a bit of research and found these expanded lyrics
I also liked this essay about the O'Leary Legend. It provided a lot of insight into the history of Chicago at that time and the evidence that supports that Mrs. O'Leary's and/or her cow was responsible for this devastating fire.
2 comments:
I'm fairly certain I learned the song in Girl Scouts too but I learned 2 lines differently:
"Miss O'Leary left a lantern in the shed" and "It'll be a hot time in the old town tonight"
I also remember after "Fire! Fire! Fire!" we would chant "Second verse, same as the first!" and start all over ad infinitum.
When I was looking up the history of this song, I found several different versions of the lyrics along with numerous different verses!
I do remember that each verse was a bit louder than the one before!a
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