The song's lyrics are addressed to a bluebird by a woman in Kentucky whose sweetheart is vainly pursuing musical stardom in New Orleans; the woman asks the bluebird to take a message to Michael, asking him to return to her.

The Merman role of Reno Sweeney - a nightclub-singing evangelist who vainly pursues a young stockbroker, Billy Crocker, before falling for an English lord - offers an actress the perilous chance to call down unfortunate comparisons on herself.

After the sultan sold his domain to the British, his descendants vainly pursued claims to the surrounding property.

One of the President's advisers was flung to the ground by a blast of wind and papers she was carrying were scattered across the hurling pitch, pursued vainly by Gardaí.

With Ged, vainly pursued the Drokh that escaped the Battle of Stormhelm Defile.

"Jacob's argosy is well and truly launched upon the high seas, and nothing - certainly not the harpoons of the critics vainly pursuing in the wake - can stop its passage."

Certainly they have won Ms. McCaughey Ross in three short years something most New York politicians spend a lifetime vainly pursuing: statewide name recognition.

The mountains are named for Sergeant Nathaniel Hale Pryor, a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition who vainly pursued horses stolen from the expedition in the area.