Lyr. Add: The Rambling Boy

I am a reek* and a ramblin' one,
From Eastern shores I have lately come,
To learn my books an' to learn my trade,
Some call me the reek and ramblin' blade.

I come here a-spendin' money free,
A-spendin' money at balls and play,
At length my money did grow very low,
An' then to rovin' I did go.

I married me a handsome wife,
A girl I loved as dear as my life,
To keep her dressed so neat an' gay
Caused me to rob on this here highway.

I robbed old Nelson, I do declare,
I robbed him on St. James Square,
I robbed him of five thousand pounds,
Dividin' with my comrades round.

But now I am condemned to die,
An' many a lady will for me cry,
Pretty Nelly weeps, tears down her hair,
A lady alone, left in despair.

My father weeps, he makes his moan,
My mother cries my darlin' son,
But all their weepin' won't never save me,
Nor keep me from the gallows tree.

When I am dead, laid in my grave,
The final funeral preached over my head,
All round my grave play tunes of joy,
Away goes the reek an' ramblin' boy.

The song "Rake and Rambling Boy" in the DT, sung by Joan Baez, is a shortened version of this song collected in 1930, from Emma L. Dusenbury, Mena, Arkansas, by Randolph. The word *reek probably is a mis-pronunciation of rake.

The song is English-Irish, part of the "Newry Highwayman" - "Jolly Blade" - "Rambling Boy" - "Wild and Wicked Youth" - "Irish Robber" cluster.
This song cluster appeared in American printings of broadsides in mid-19th century; it may not have arrived with immigrants, but was learned from broadsides.


Vance Randolph, Ozark Folksongs, vol. 2, # 148, "The Rambling Boy," pp. 83-85 with music.