The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #159951 Message #3880426
Posted By: GUEST
05-Oct-17 - 06:42 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Trooper Cut Down in His Prime (Roy Palmer
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Trooper Cut Down in His Prime (Roy Palmer
Hello
I was interested in the use of the word 'trooper', as it didn't sound like English to me. It sounded more North American. I got interested after, like others on this thread, coming across 'Rake' variety songs without any clear provenance.
In case anybody would like to consider the 'linguistic' evidence, this is what I have found out about the word 'trooper'.
In English, it referred to a member of the cavalry ie a person who rode a horse into battle. In the USA and Canada it is used, I believe, to refer to mounted policemen, or sometimes to police in general.
Maybe MacColl used Trooper to appeal to the US market?