Not only pre-internet, but pre-computer.

The Croppy Boy
Words & Music: traditional (early 19th century)

It was very early in the spring,
The birds did whistle and sweetly sing,
Changing their notes from tree to tree,
And the song they sang was old Ireland free.

It was early, early in the night,
The yeoman cavalry gave me a fright;
The yeoman cavalry was my downfall,
And taken was I by Lord Cornwall.

'Twas in the guard-house where I was laid,
And in the parlour where I was tried;
My sentence passed and my courage low
When to Dungannon I was forced to go.

As I was passing by my father's door
My brother William stood at the door;
My aged father stood at the door
And my tender mother her hair she tore.

As I was walking up Wexford Street
My own first cousin I chanced to meet;
My own first cousin that did me betray,
And for one bare guinea swore my life away.

My sister Mary heard the express,
She ran upstairs in her mourning-dress -
Five hundred guineas I will lay down
To see my brother through Wexford Town.

As I was walking up Wexford Hill
Who could blame me to cry my fill?
I looked behind and I looked before,
But my tender mother I shall ne'er see more.

As I was mounted on the platform high,
My aged father was standing by;
My aged father did me deny,
And the name he gave me was the Croppy Boy.

It was in Dungannon this young man died,
And in Dungannon his body lies;
All you good Christians that do pass by
Just drop a tear for the Croppy Boy.


From 'Ballads from the Pubs of Ireland' by James N Healy
The Mercier Press, 4 Bridge Street, Cork
3rd Edition - Spring 1968

Healy compares it to "The Sailor Boy" and notes that they often share the same traditional Irish tune. He prefers it sung to another air "which Bunting lists as 'Charley Reilly'."

I bought this book, together with 2 others, on a holiday in Dingle in 1968. I remember it so well because we had two weeks of constant sunshine, except the day we drove to Killarney.

Phil