Lyr ADD: The Fenian Record Player

Subject: The Fenian Record Player
From:
Date: 12 Oct 97 - 05:32 PM

In the second verse as sung by the Irish Brigade Wee Willie took a brick in his hand Headin' down the road to Falls He was mumblin' up the Rangers And hummin' Derry's Walls He broke the bakeshop window To Annoy the (Cobal) row (Road) He took a record player out And then he started home. ----I am trying to find out the correct word I am using for (Cobal)

Subject: RE: The Fenian Record Player
From: Wolfgang Hell
Date: 13 Oct 97 - 04:16 AM

Mike, I have been looking for these lyrics without success yet. I'd appreciate very much to read them here even with one or two words missing.

Yours Wolfgang

Subject: RE: The Fenian Record Player
From: bigj
Date: 13 Oct 97 - 07:20 PM

wolfgang,
The poem was written by the late Freddie Mackay, of Belfast and London, who recorded it on a commecially available cassette which, I think, is available from Musical Traditions e-magazine - see their site.

Subject: RE: The Fenian Record Player
From: Mike Ruddy
Date: 13 Oct 97 - 07:29 PM

Wolfgang Give me your email and I will send the lyrics I have. It is difficult to do in the serial string these messages are in. Mike

Subject: RE: The Fenian Record Player
From: Wolfgang
Date: 14 Oct 97 - 03:38 AM

Mike, that would be most welcome. Here's my e-mail: [e-mail]

Subject: RE: The Fenian Record Player
From: Wolfgang
Date: 16 Oct 97 - 10:41 AM

just in case someone is curious what the "Cobal row" was: it was "the Pope of Rome"

Subject: Lyr Add: THE FENIAN RECORD PLAYER
From: Wolfgang
Date: 21 Jul 99 - 02:32 PM

Here are the lyrics in response to a request in another thread. They are what Mike sent me with part of a line amended by me. Reminds me of 'The Old Orange Flute', just worse.

Wolfgang


THE FENIAN RECORD PLAYER
(Tune: Yellow rose of Texas)

Wee Willie John McFudgeon was a loyal Orange Prod
Who thought that Ian Paisley was one step down to God.
He thought they ate the children in the backwoods of Ardoyne,
And he thought that history started with the The Battle of the Boyne.

One day he took a brick in his hand and went down the road to Falls.
He was mumblin' 'Up the Rangers' and hummin' 'Derry's Walls'.
He broke the bakeshop window to annoy the Pope of Rome.
He took a record player out and then he started home.

Next night they had a hooley in his local Orange Hall.
Wee Willie brought his player along to make music for the ball.
He choose a stack of records of a very loyal kind,
But when the music started up, Wee Willie lost his mind.

This Fenian record player was a rebel to the core.
It played the songs an Orange Lodge has never heard before.
For 'Dolly's Brae' and 'Derry's Walls' it didn't give a fig,
And it speeded up 'God Save the Queen' 'til it sounded like a jig.

It played 'The Woods of Upton' and 'The Wearing of the Green',
Such turmoil in an Orange Hall has never yet been seen.
It played 'The Boys of Wexford' and 'The Men of Ninety-Eight',
But when it played 'A Soldier's Song' it sealed poor Willie's fate.

The boys were plain demented. To the ground he well was thrown.
They kicked his ribs in one by one to the tune of 'Garryowen'.
They threw him out the window to a song about Sinn Féin,
And they kicked him all 'round Sandy Row to 'A Nation Once Again'.

That Fenian record player was heard no nevermore.
They prodded it with piggin' poles and threw it on the floor;
But still the funniest sight, me boys, that I have ever seen:
The flashes flyin' out of it were Orange, White and Green.

Wee Willie's up in the mental home, crazy as a coot.
He sits there in his padded cell and tootles with his flute.
When he tries to play a song, he just lets out a groan,
For halfway through the 'August Fights' he's playin' 'A Soldier's Song'.

There's a moral to this story. What it is I cannot say.
Maybe it's the ancient verse that 'crime will never pay'.
If you ask Wee Willie McFudgeon, he'll tell you: 'Crime be blowed!
If you want to pinch a record player, do it up the Shankill Road.'

Subject: RE: The Fenian Record Player
From: Ferret
Date: 21 Jul 99 - 04:18 PM

thank for the lyrics all the best ferret

Subject: RE: The Fenian Record Player
From: John Moulden
Date: 21 Jul 99 - 04:52 PM

This song was written not by Freddy McKay but by Crawford Howard. The words are printed in a book called "Great Verse to Stand Up and Tell Them" edited by Doreen McBride (Adare Press, Banbridge [Co Down])

The book is available from Ulstersongs (me) at £5.00

I will save this thread (so I have a version to alter) and post Crawford's original version later.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE FENIAN RECORD PLAYER (Crawford Howard
From: John Moulden
Date: 21 Jul 99 - 05:39 PM

Here goes - I’m going to paste them in but I think that they may not retain their format when submitted - it’s happened before - if so I’ll try again.

THE FENIAN RECORD PLAYER
(Words, Crawford Howard. Tune: “Yellow Rose of Texas”.)

Wee Willie John McFadyean was a loyal Orange Prod,
And he thought that Ian Paisley was just one step down from God.
He thought they ate the “childer” in the backwoods of Ardoyne,
And he knew that history started with the Battle of the Boyne.

One night he took a brick in his hand and he wandered up the Falls.
He was mutterin’ “Up the Rangers” and hummin’ “Derry Walls”.
He bust a big shop window to annoy the Pope of Rome,
And he took a record player out and then he staggered home.

Next night they had a hooley in the local Orange Hall.
Wee Willie took his player to make music at the ball.
He choose a stack of records of a very loyal kind,
But when the music started up, he nearly lost his mind.

This Fenian record player was a rebel to the core.
It played the songs the Orange Hall had never heard before.
For “Dolly’s Brae” and “Derry’s Walls” it didn’t care a fig,
And it speeded up “God Save the Queen” ‘til it sounded like a jig.

It played the “Boys of Wexford” and “The Wearing of the Green”.
Such turmoil in an Orange Hall has never yet been seen.
It played the “Woods of Upton” and “The Men of ‘98”,
But when it played “The Soldier’s Song”, it sealed wee Willie’s fate.

The boys went clean demented. To the ground wee Will was thrown,
And they kicked his ribs in one by one to the tune of “Garryowen”.
They threw him out the window to “A Song of Old Sinn Féin”
And they kicked him all down Sandy Row to “A Nation Once Again!”

That Fenian record player was heard no never more,
For they prodded it with deacon poles and threw it on the floor.
But yet it was not finished. ‘Twas the funniest thing you’ve seen,
For the flashes flyin’ out of it were orange, white and green.

Wee Willie’s up in Purdysburn. He’s crazy as a coot.
He just sits there in his padded cell and tootles on his flute,
And when he tries to play “The Sash”, he always gets it wrong,
For halfway through, he always finds he’s playin’ “The Soldier’s Song”.

There’s a moral to this story. What it is I cannot say.
It may be just the ancient one that crime will never pay.
If you ask Wee Willie McFadyean, he says, “Ah, crime be blowed!
If you want to pinch a record player, do it up the Shankill Road!”

Some of the differences between this and Wolfgang’s are down to the singers whose version he transcribed. Some are due to lack of local knowledge.

Some words may need explanation:
“Childer” is dialect for children.
Falls and Shankill are respectively Catholic and Protestant areas of west Belfast.
Deacon poles are (I think) the poles which support a banner as it is being carried in procession.
Purdysburn is a mental hospital near Belfast.

Subject: RE: The Fenian Record Player
From: John Moulden
Date: 21 Jul 99 - 05:46 PM

Why did that happen? I pasted the message as before - the first time the program didn't seem to recognise the line ends. The second time I inserted extra line ends after pasting and the program recognised some of them!!

Sorry - you'll have to reformat.

Subject: RE: The Fenian Record Player
From: Ferret
Date: 21 Jul 99 - 10:28 PM

thanks for the help john all the best Ferret

Subject: RE: The Fenian Record Player
From: Wolfgang
Date: 22 Jul 99 - 05:07 AM

John, thanks for the correct lyrics. It does make a difference to me whether I have lyrics close to correct or correct.
As for the line breaks. It works if you end each line with <br>. In case you copy and paste a text as you have done, there is an easy way (easier than to print <br> at the end of each line). Copy it into a text processor and go to the replace function of your text processor and replace all Carriage Returns by <br>. The sign for CR can be found on my processor (MS-Word) just on one of the buttons available if I go to the Replace function. It looks weird after the replacement, but it comes out great here.

Wolfgang

Subject: Re: The Fenian Record Player
From:
Date: 28 Sep 04 - 07:51 AM

Does anyone know when the lyrics to "The Fenian Record Player" were written?

I am editing someone's autobiography for Random House:
http://www.janeygodley.co.uk/book.html

and the person, as a young girl, was sexually abused by her Orangeman uncle in Glasgow. She used to sing Irish rebel songs at him, to annoy him, when he attacked her, but she can't remember the specific songs. She was aged around 5-12 and this would be 1966-1973, so let's assume 1967.

"The Fenian Record Player" has quite good lyrics which I would like to use but, obviously, it has to have been written by 1967!

We were going to use "The Fields of Athenry" but I believe the modern lyrics to that were not written unti 1979.

Any info you can give is gratefully received!

Best wishes and thanks,

John Fleming
London
[e-mail]

Subject: RE: The Fenian Record Player
From: GUEST,Gordon Ramsey
Date: 28 Sep 04 - 07:58 AM

The lyrics for this song are on one of the Orange websites - I can't remember which lodge but you'd probably find it through orangenet - as I remember he broke the big glass winder to annoy the Pope of Rome!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Fenian Record Player
From: GUEST,Bigmooth
Date: 21 Apr 08 - 08:31 AM

I think the author was actually Crawford Howard, who also wrote "The Diagonal Steam Trap" and a parody on Willie McBride.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Fenian Record Player
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Jan 09 - 05:35 PM

written in the seventies i think by a chap called crawford howard, from northern ireland, he had an lp called the diagonal steam trap

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Fenian Record Player
From: Muckart
Date: 07 Jan 09 - 10:38 AM

Well, it's a good follow-on to "The Ould Orange Flute".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Fenian Record Player
From: GUEST,jim bainbridge
Date: 07 May 13 - 01:48 PM

I got this song from Freddie Mackay of Belfast but he was living in London- many years ago but I know Colum Sands has re-issued the 2x cassette tapes of Crawford Howard (its writer)as a CD on the Spring label- it's very funny if you can penetrate the accent! It's also on one of my CDs- 'Lights on the River' in a Geordie accent...
Freddie was a real one-off,his versions of Billy beentt's monologues were hilarious.