G'day all,

I seem to remember the late John Meredith (Australian folk song collector - 1950s - 1990s) saying there were over 30 collected tunes for The Wild Colonial Boy ... so what's a few more?

He also reckoned that the "original" tune was The Wearing of the Green. That could well be so, as Dion Boucicault pinched that Scottish tune for Shaun the Post's song in his 1848 musical play (Arragh na Pogue ... ?) and the tune quickly became identified with Ireland / Rebellion / general dislike of the English ... and, allegedly, the singing, playing or whistling of that tune became a "treasonable offence". This was his suggestion for the plethora of alternative tunes.

There is at least one Australian-collected version of The Wild Colonial Boy to the tune The Wearing of the Green ... and that has quite old words, as shown by the fact that it doesn't mention horses - or "roaming the ranges": Jack Donahue, the bushranger (escaped convict) who was commemorated in the c. 1833 poem by Frank MacNamara ("Frank the Poet") that is the earliest form of this song ... operated on foot - in the area around the outskirts of early Sydney Town. This suggests a version that hasn't been altered much by later variants that developed as people forgot about the original protaganist ... but kept singing of rebellion!

Regards,

Bob Bolton