Lyr Add: The Wonderful Grey Horse

Subject: Lyr Add: The Wonderful Grey Horse
From: Fergie
Date: 28 Jan 08 - 09:08 AM

I transcribed these lyrics from from this wonderful site .
I have worked out an air for it and I'm going to learn it and see how it goes down at the Góilín Club.

I have sorted out some of the obvious misspellings etc and I have done some minor honing to some of the lines to fit better into the meter of the tune that I have written. I have done some research to try and discover some of background to the classical events that are mentioned. In the transcription I have capalised the passages that I am unsure of. Can my very learned friends at Mudcat help to enlighten me further.

The Wonderful Grey Horse

My horse he is white, although at first he was bay,
He took great delight in travelling by night and by day;
His travels were great, if I could the half of them tell,
He was rode in the garden by Adam the day that he fell.

When banished from Eden, my horse was losing his way,
From all his fatigues, no wonder that now he is grey;
At the time of the flood he was rode by many a spark,
And his courage was good when Noah led him into the ark.

On Babylon plains he ran with speed for the plate,
He was hunted next day, it is said, by Nimrod the great;
After that he was hunted again in the chase of a fox,
WHEN NEBUCHADNEZZAR ATE GRASS IN THE SHAPE OF AN OX.

He conducted him home straightway into Babylon Town,
Where the king was restored once more and solemnly crowned,
He was with King Saul, and all his troubles went through,
And was with King David the day that Goliath he slew.

When he saw King David hunted about by King Saul,
My horse took his leave and bid farewell to them all,
He was with King Pharaoh in Egypt when fortune did smile,
He rode him very stately along the banks of the Nile.

He followed Moses, who rode him through the Red Sea,
He then led him out, and he sensibly galloped away;
He was with King Cyrus, whose name is in history found,
And he rode on my horse at the taking of Babylon Town.

When the Jews remained in chains and mercy implored,
King Cyrus proclaimed again to have them restored;
He was in Judea when Judas Macebus the great,
Had rode on my horse, as ancient historians relate.

The poor captive Jews received this news with great joy;
My horse got new shoes and pursued his journey to Troy.
WHEN THE NEWS REACHED TROY, WITH MY HORSE HE WAS FOUND,
HE CROSSED OVER THE WALL, AND ENTERED THE CITY I'M TOLD.

The city being in flames, by means of Hector's sad fate,
My horse took his leave, and there no longer would wait;
I saw him again in Spain, and he in full bloom,
With Hannibal the great, and he crossing the Alps into Rome.

My horse being tall, and the top of the Alps very high,
His rider did fall, AND HANNIBAL THE GREAT LOST AN EYE;
My horse got no ease although his rider did fall,
He was mounted again by young Scipio who did him extol.

On African's Plains he conquered that part of the globe.
My horse's fatigues would try the patience of Job;
He was with Brian the Brave when the Munster men he did command,
Who in thirty-six battles drove the vile Danes from our land.

At the battle of Clontarf he fought on Good Friday all day,
And all that remained my horse drove them into-the sea;
He was with King James when he reached the Irish shore.
But, alas! he got lame, when Boyne's bloody battle was o'er.

To tell the truth, for the truth I always like to tell.
He was rode by St Ruth the day that in Aughrim he fell,
And Sarsfield the brave, at the siege of Limerick town,
Rode on my horse and crossed o'er the Shannon I'm told.

He was rode by the greatest of men at the famed Waterloo,
And Daniel O'Connell long sat on his back it is true,
To shake off the yoke which Erin long patiently bore,
My horse being ill he means to travel no more.

He is landed in Erin, in Kerry he now does remain,
The smith is at work to fit him with new shoes again;
PLACE LAN ON HIS BACK HE IS READY ONCE MORE FOR THE FIELD,
And he never will stop till the Tories, he'll make them to yield.

Fergus Russell

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Wonderful Grey Horse
From: Fergie
Date: 28 Jan 08 - 09:13 AM

OOPS! The link didn't take. Try this Word on the Street

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Wonderful Grey Horse
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 28 Jan 08 - 09:31 AM

Other copies are at the Bodleian website. I don't know why the transcriber guessed at 'ill' in verse 14, line 4: the word is 'fatigued'.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Wonderful Grey Horse
From: Fergie
Date: 28 Jan 08 - 10:09 AM

Thanks Malcolm. I went to the Bodleian website and found some copies. This cleared up one of my queries because I discovered that LAN mentioned in the second last line is a misspelling of DAN this helps in dating the song because it implies that O'Connell(1775-1847) was still living at the time of composition.

Fergus

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Wonderful Grey Horse
From: Fergie
Date: 29 Jan 08 - 08:30 PM

Come on Mudcatter, I don't want this to drop off the radar so soon
Fergus

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Wonderful Grey Horse
From: Fergie
Date: 22 Feb 08 - 02:20 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Wonderful Grey Horse
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 24 Feb 08 - 09:16 PM

Nebuchadnezzar was a king of Babylon. The story of his temporary madness is told in the book of Daniel, 4:33: "He was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' [feathers], and his nails like birds' [claws]." William Blake made a famous engraving depicting Nebuchadnezzar.

Hannibal lost an eye due to conjunctivitis while his army was marching toward Rome.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Wonderful Grey Horse
From: Fergie
Date: 24 Feb 08 - 09:44 PM

Thanks Jim, you have cleared up two of my queries, I love the William Blake engraving.
Fergus