My first passage today is the concluding pages of the Wake's second chapter. This also happens to be the last two-thirds or so of "The Ballad of Persse O'Reilly." The text of the ballad picks up with the townfolk saying that they will soon burn O'Reilly's property in a bonfire and the sheriff will soon liquidate O'Reilly's business. O'Reilly's painted as a viking invader of Ireland, and it's at this point where the "simplicity" I noted yesterday gives way to some Joycean complications. The eighth verse of the ballad recounts O'Reilly's arrival on Ireland's shores, and the language incorporates some foreign words and a Norwegian accent. O'Reilly gives his Norwegian name as "Fingal Mac Oscar Onesine Bargearse Boniface," which, it's explained in McHugh's Annotations, is an amalgamation of Oscar Wilde's full name ("Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde"); the slang word "Bargearse" (someone with an ass that's . . . shaped like a barge); and the generic last name of innkeepers, "Boniface." I feel like this also has to encompass Saint Boniface, who in a sense was an English invader who sailed to Europe to attack paganism (or, like O'Reilly, to promote religion's reform).
The ballad -- which, it's important to remember, is based upon HCE's original defense of himself to the Cad after it's been retold by a number of dubious sources -- says that HCE's fall was caused when he "Made bold a maid to woo." As a result of HCE's wooing -- the balad says he "shove[d] himself that way on top of her" -- the maid "lost her maidenloo." HCE, then, is the invading force that emerges "victorious" in this version of Waterloo (which, like the version in the Wellington Museum, takes place in Phoenix Park). The ballad implies that HCE's wife will secure her revenge by placing "Big earwigs on the green, / The largest ever you seen." This doesn't faze the balladeer too much, though. After all, the ballad concludes that all the king's horses and all the king's men won't be able to put this Cain back together again.
Within the text of the ballad are a few interruptions, which are the shouts of the crowd encouraging Hosty. For instance, "Lift it, Hosty, lift it, ye devil ye!" and "Suffoclose! Shikespower! Seudodanto! Anonymoses!" (equating Hosty with the likes of Sophocles, Shakespeare, Dante, and Moses). I'm sure Joyce got a kick out of assigning such high popular praise to the writer of the ballad, which, in reality, is Joyce. I'd say he wasn't overrating himself.
Yesterday I said I would search for a recording of "The Ballad of Persse O'Reilly." Perhaps unsurprisingly, there's not a real wealth of great recordings out there, but as Joyce might have said, "Buggers can't be choosers." Maybe once I finish reading the Wake, I'll record the definitive (U.S. Midwestern-accented) version.
In the meantime, I found two versions that get my begrudging seal of approval. First is "Humpty Dumpty" as performed by the Dubliners, which is a performance that I like, but it's unfortunately an abridged version of the original ballad.
This second version is performed by Freddi Price (not Freddie Prinze). His version is laudable for staying fairly faithful to Joyce's text, but he does flub a few things up. Those flub-ups, combined with his borderline-obnoxious introduction, make this a commendable, but imperfect version.
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