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GUEST,Jim Alt. names for folk songs. (26) RE: Alt. names for folk songs. 15 Aug 08


The fiddle tune that is popularly known as The Red Haired Boy goes by several other names, but when the title changes, the words do too.
I first heard it called The Little Begger Man and sung by Ian and Sylvia;
"I am a little beggerman a begger I've been
For three score or more on this little Isle of green."

I've heard Jamie Snyder sing a Newfoundland version called The Old Ragadoo:
"I'm a hearty Newfoundlander Michael Chaser is my name
I was born on Green Island I'm a fisherman by trade."

John Carter remembers his dad, from the Ottawa Valley singing The Old Soldier With The Wooden Leg:
"There was an old soldier and he had a wooden leg
And he had no tobacco so tobacco he would beg."

I've heard some contemporary singer/songwriters use this tune for songs of their own - Washboard Hank has one that I can't recall right now.

The tune is sometimes called Gilderoy, which is a anglicized version odf the Irish for Red Haired Boy.


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