I often find myself wondering about the facts of a song. I Loved "The Haughs of Cromdale" from the first moment I heard it. A great song of battle and retaliation with a victory for the good guys. What isn't explained in the song is the battle and the retaliation are some 60 years apart. I learned this from the liner notes, not the song.

I used to do workshops on cowboy songs as sung around the chuck wagon and the drag. Quite often people were surprised when I'd start out with Jeanie With the Light brown Hair or The Bright Mohawk Valley. The Cowboys took the songs they learned in the states out wesr with them. They were there for quite awhile before Old Paint came along. Just as in the case with Finnegan's Wake, much of what we know as cowboy songs probably went west rather than come east.

As a perfornmer I find it incumbent on me to do my own research and prove or deny the song. This won't stop me from doing a good song, even if the history is bad. I'll just tell the truth of it.

As to the Clancy Brother's question, I find them to be more often than not right about their history.

Don