Lyrics & Knowledge Personal Pages Record Shop Auction Links Radio & Media Kids Membership Help
The Mudcat Cafesj



User Name Thread Name Subject Posted
Tannywheeler Irish Republican ballads - need advice (63* d) RE: Irish Republican ballards - need advice 24 Jun 06


One from the Clancy Bros. & Tommy Makem, some years back. Started:
1)" 'Twas early, early in the spring;
    The birds did whistle and sweetly sing,
    Changing their notes from tree to tree,
    And the song they sang was "All Ireland Free."
       (Old Ireland free?)

2)" 'Twas early, early in the night.
    The (Allman? Yeoman?) cavalry gave me a fright.
    "    "       "       "    was my downfall,
    And taken was I by Lord Cornwall."

I remember most of the rest--the rebel is taken to places of imprisonment, he passes his "aged father"'s(& aged or tender mother's) door, passes his first cousin on the road(who betrayed him), gets locked in a guardhouse, tried, and sentenced to hang. Called "The Croppy Boy", a nickname for the rebels who kept their hair "cropped", or cut short. Ends:

"It was in Dungannon this young man died,
And in Dungannon his body lies.
Now all good people who do pass by
Just drop a tear for The Croppy Boy."

I didn't remember the title until I thought my way through the last verse. Enjoy. I think Liam sings this one on whichever album it's on. There's quite a turn on the word "tear" in the last line. Tw


Post to this Thread -

Back to the Main Forum Page

By clicking on the User Name, you will requery the forum for that user. You will see everything that he or she has posted with that Mudcat name.

By clicking on the Thread Name, you will be sent to the Forum on that thread as if you selected it from the main Mudcat Forum page.
   * Click on the linked number with * to view the thread split into pages (click "d" for chronologically descending).

By clicking on the Subject, you will also go to the thread as if you selected it from the original Forum page, but also go directly to that particular message.

By clicking on the Date (Posted), you will dig out every message posted that day.

Try it all, you will see.