Recently, while culling through some files, I came across this Ask the Globe (Boston Globe) article from 6/16/92, and thought you would get a kick out of it.

Q. Who leads the “Life of Reilly”?

A. Anyone who so chooses, although the original name was “O’Reilly.” The expression comes from the American vaudeville song “Are You the O’Reilly?” popularized by Pat Rooney in the 1880s about everyone’s pleasures once the the song’s namesake strikes it rich. Two of the promises made in the lyrics are “A hundreds day will be small pay,” and “On the railroads you’ll pay no fare.” At the end of each verse the vaudeville audiences would join in the chorus: “Are you the O’Reilly they speak of so well? Are you the O’Reilly they speak so highly? Gorblime me, O’Reilly, you’re looking well.”