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User Name	Thread Name	Subject	Posted
Reinhard	Lyr Req: Haul Away Boys (Cruel was my parents...) (4)	RE: Lyr Req: Haul Away Boys (Cruel was my parents...)	24 Jul 17
In Sheila Kay Adams' version I hear the phrase in question as " it never raced a realm" but that doesn't make much sense either. The last line of her first verse should be "took him far from land". And in Kate Rusby's version the second line should end "took him off to sea". This song is Roud V1836, Oh Cruel, and this is the Traditional Ballad Index entry: Cruel Was the Press Gang DESCRIPTION: "Oh! cruel was the press-gang That took my love from me; Oh! cruel was the little ship That took him out to sea; And cruel was the splinter-board That took away his leg; Now he is forced to fiddle-scrape And I am forced to beg." AUTHOR: unknown EARLIEST DATE: 1962 (Baring-Gould-MotherGoose) KEYWORDS: husband wife pressgang injury begging disability FOUND IN: REFERENCES (1 citation): Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #196, p. 137, "(Oh! cruel was the press-gang)" NOTES: Although I haven't met this in any traditional collections, it sounds so traditional that I decided to risk including it in the Index. - RBW `File: BGMG196`

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Cruel Was the Press Gang