Life of Reilly/Riley

Living the life of Reilly, means living an easy, affluent life. The evidence points to an expression of Irish-American origin dating from the late 19th century. There does not appear to have been a real person named Reilly or Riley (the spelling varies) who lived a life of affluence and luxury. The Reilly referred to, was the subject of a popular American musical hall song in the 1880s called Is That Mr Reilly? Mr Reilly, according to the song, most certainly lived the good life in America, but the actual words ‘living the life of Reilly’ do not appear in the lyrics. The earliest known citation for the actual words appear in a Connecticut newspaper in 1911. The original song was updated in 1915 as a patriotic war song, and re-named Are You the O’Reilly? Thereafter, there are two letters from US soldiers in France in 1918 that use the expression ‘living the life of Reilly’. All of which pre-date the popular 1919 British music hall song My Name is Kelly in which ‘living the life of Reilly’ is used in the lyrics and which is sometimes cited as the origin. Weighing the evidence, it would seem that the Irish-American origin from the late 19th century is the correct one.