Folk and Traditional Song Lyrics:
Singular Dream

Singular Dream

Singular Dream
Oh, Johnny Bull was an Englishman,
      went out on a tramp one day,
With three cents into his pocket
     to bear him a very long way.
He traveled on for many a mile
     and no one did he see,
Till at length he fell in with an Irishman
     by the name of Paddy McGee.

"Good morning," then says John to Pat,
      "and where are you going to?"
"Indeed, I hardly know, sir,
      I'm searching a job to do."
"Have you any money about you?",
     at length said Paddy McGee;
"Indeed, if that's what you're searching for,
     I haven't got any for thee. "

So they travels on for many's a mile
     and no one did they meet,
At length fell in with a Scotsman,
     Like themselves he was out for work;
"Have you any money about you7 ",
     at length one upped and said...
"Indeed if that's what you're searching for,
     I haven't got a red. "
"Well",  says Johnny Bull , "I have three cents
     now what'll we do with that? "
"We'll buy three cents worth of whiskey,
     it'll cheer us up," says Pat.
"Oh no," said the Scotsman,
    "I'll tell you what we'll do,
We'll buy three cents worth of oatmeal
     and make a little McGrew. "

"I will go and buy a loaf,"
     Johnny Bull did say,
"We'll go down by yonders haystack,
   and sleep our hunger away;
 We'll take a drink of water
   from yonders pearling stream,
The loaf will be his in the morning
   that dreams the most singular dream."

"Well," says Scottie, "I've been dreaming
     of fifty thousand men,
 Been ten years digging a turnip,
     the largest ever was seen;
 At length they got that turnip dug,
     by digging night and day,
 And it took just fifty thousand teams
   to draw that turnip away."

Says Johnny, "I've been dreaming
   Of fifty thousand men,
Been ten years maKing a boiler,
  the largest ever was seen."
"What was your boiler made of, sir,
  sure was it copper or tin?"
"By the powers that be it was copper, sir,
  to boil your turnip in."

Well the Irishman rose in the morning
  And told what he had dreamed:
"Sure I dreamed I was under the haystack
  down by the pearling stream,
I dreamed that Scottie and you was there,
  as sure as I must go,
By the powers, I dreamed I was hungry,
  I got up and I ate the loaf..'

recorded by Stekert, Songs of a NY Lumberjack (Folkways)