Life of Riley (1918)

[Michael Quinion]

Fred Shapiro wrote

> Alright, I won't put down the usefulness of the Hartford Courant for
> linguistic research any more, as it yields this great antedating that
> strengthens Dave's point above that the 1919 song was not the origin:
>
> 1911 _Hartford Courant_ 6 Dec. 1 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)  The
> famous wild cow of Cromwell is no more.  After "living the life of Riley"
> for over a year, successfully evading the pitchforks and the bullets of the
> farmers, whose fields she ravaged in all four seasons, the cow today fell a
> victim to a masterfully arranged trap, and tonight lies skinned and torn
> into quarters at the the home of Jesse Canfield in Rocky Hill.

Forgive me, if coming late to this exchange, I'm repeating material
already discussed. William and Mary Morris point to a comic song written
by the vaudevillian Pat Rooney in 1890 in which the hero of the song, a
hotel-keeper named Reilly (or Riley), describes what he will do when he
strikes it rich: New York "will swim in wine when the White House and
Capitol are mine". I've not been able to confirm this song's existence,
but if it was widely known, it would be likely to be the origin of the
expression, at least in the USA.


--
Michael Quinion
Editor, World Wide Words
E-mail: wordseditor at worldwidewords.org
Web: http://www.worldwidewords.org

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