Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water

Subject: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 26 Jan 09 - 10:11 PM

Micks, Sticks, Boyne Water

Greetings this is Gargoyle. If you are afraid run away NOW!

(Mr. Joe and Max - I am NOT attempting to resurrect "The Mudcat Irish Troubles of years past"

(Moderator/Urinal-Swisher please consult the above authorities before thread obliviation)

A little help please. I have spent a delightful day with a kindred friend from kindergarten days.

May we...might we finally return to a true discussion of an "Irish" song???

Boyne Water

A bunch of micks
With some sticks
At Boyne Water

It is the phrase his father, born from mixed Irish/Scot roots, would sing.

It was recited to me almost tune-less, with the enhanced sylobic beat, it appears to be, perhaps, a chorus.

The history of the event is clear

Anything to add to the lyrics?

SOURCES - (Oral Trad is GRAND - but IF could you add a location, approximate time period, and a real name with the above it would be like one of those "male empowerment experiences" my e-mail is flooded with.

I believe that this fragment may have distant Oral Trad roots...it would be nice to establish a scion.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Not ALL the world is contained within Google(rest your blessed souls my little LK and Spew you both have your lower kingdom, stay there) so PLEASE do not do a Google and spew the same lazy laughing KatKrap back...

The history of the event is clear
Anything to add to the lyrics?

If this goes beyond ONE it will be a surprise. The unfortunate state of Mudcat is HITS - some here have over 30 THOUSAND postings - but little is above petty pebbles in a brook.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 26 Jan 09 - 10:20 PM

Greg -

I'm not familiar with your Boyne song, but it sounds as though it's from the opposite school to this one:

Ireland was Ireland when England was a pup;
Ireland will be Ireland when England's broken up;
I am the best wee Catholic that ever went to Mass,
And every Limey son-of-a-bitch can kiss my Irish ass.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 26 Jan 09 - 10:29 PM

Seamus

No intention to offend - I respect your grand style.

The man mentioned above did mention that discussion of the above might insight more than one man's Ire.

There is NO intent to inflame:

Obviously this is a hot spot -

"pure research roots of acamedia" into the "oral traditoin" of this lore is my sole purpose.

You have contributed far, far, more by your responce than I ever hoped to recieve.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 27 Jan 09 - 02:30 AM

Greg - no offense taken or achieved, nor do I consider it flaming or trolling.
I see it as legitimate attempt to find out about a song which to my Northern Irish ears sounds like an Orange provocation, just as the little one I posted could be considered a Catholic provocation.

Unfortunately, though I know several Orange songs, and am the possessor of an Orange songbook, I'm not familiar with this one, and would like to learn more myself.
So I'll ask around, and if I find out anything I'll pass the information on to you.

Conrad Bladey, who sometimes frequents the 'Cat has a fine collection of Orange material. Perhaps he would elucidate on your fragment.

He used to go by the name of #1 Peasant, If I recall.

Good luck with your search.

Seamus

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: MartinRyan
Date: 27 Jan 09 - 03:05 AM

Sounds more like a chant than a true chorus?

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 27 Jan 09 - 03:27 AM

Could be, Martin.
Not enough to go on.
I'm currently leafing through the Orange Marksman looking for it.
No luck so far.

Seamus

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: Big Mick
Date: 27 Jan 09 - 10:47 AM

When you're done, Seamus, be sure and wash your hands.....

Sorry, ..... couldn't help meself ..... I'll get me aul cap and wellies and be off........

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: MartinRyan
Date: 27 Jan 09 - 10:50 AM

When you're done, Seamus, be sure and wash your hands.....


... in holy water, of course.

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: Big Mick
Date: 27 Jan 09 - 10:57 AM

***ROARING WITH LAUGHTER***

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: MartinRyan
Date: 27 Jan 09 - 11:00 AM

Anyone ever seen "micks" used in this sense in Orange songs/chants produced on this (East) side of the pond? I don't recall it - and a quick scan of the few Orange songbooks I have shows no sign. "Teagues", of various spellings, yes.

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: Big Mick
Date: 27 Jan 09 - 11:12 AM

Interesting point, Martin. Might be a variant from the Know Nothing time in the US when the anti Catholic, Irish Emigrant movement was very strong. They held parades and the whole bit, according to my understanding.

All the best,

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 27 Jan 09 - 12:03 PM

My father learned this on the building sites

Oh me Uncle Mick had a great big stick
And he went down town to slaughter,
He killed ten hundred thousand prods
At teh Battle of the Boiling Water

Some lay here and some lay there
And some lay round the corner,
And one poor soul got a bullet up his hole,
In the Battle of the Boiling Water.

Is that the one?

Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 27 Jan 09 - 12:15 PM

PS Tune - Girl I Left Behind Me - Brighton Camp
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 27 Jan 09 - 01:47 PM

Jim - I can't speak for Gargoyle, but that sounds right to me.
And I could see where 'Boyne' and 'Boiling' could easily be transposed.

From the building sites...possibly Liverpudlian in origin?
There's a history of sectarian disagreement there.


Seamus(drying his hands)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 27 Jan 09 - 02:31 PM

"There's a history of sectarian disagreement there."
You might say that!! It was sung around Liverpool Seamus; I heard it on the docks during my apprenticeship as well.
The response there was usually (to the same tune).

The cat did a load in the middle of the road,
And the tramcar couldn't get past it.
Took a hundred thousand, million men
To shift it away in a basket.

Sectarianism on the docks was somewhat easy-going except for the slack periods when there wasn't much work about - then you couldn't get a job in Cammel Lairds if you were a catholic or at Brown's if you were a protestant.   

While this subject is open - I wonder if anybody has any more to this, which is one line I was given by a carpenter from Kildare when I was living in London (tune obvious).

What's the news, what's the news, DeValera's sold his shoes,
To buy ammunition for his men.

Certainly from the 1922 Civil War.
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: MartinRyan
Date: 27 Jan 09 - 03:33 PM

Air would be "Kelly from Killane", of course. Not sure there was any more - there are a few "fragments" like that around, aren't there?

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: MartinRyan
Date: 27 Jan 09 - 03:35 PM

... and bits of skipping/ballgame rhymes.

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 27 Jan 09 - 05:03 PM

Jim & Martin -

"Oh me Uncle Mick had a great big stick
And he went down town to slaughter,
He killed ten hundred thousand prods
At teh Battle of the Boiling Water."

From the fragment that Gargoyle posted, I assumed (silly me!) that it was a Protestant/Unionist bit of sectarian doggerel, but from Jim's posting, I now gather that it's Catholic/Nationalist.

"The cat did a load" piece seems more like a kids' schoolyard chant similar to:

The beer was spilt on the Bar room floor
When the pub was shut for the night,
When out of his hole crept a wee brown mouse
And he stood in the pale moonlight.

He lapped up the beer from the bar room floor
And back on his tail he sat,
And all night long we could hear him roar
"Bring on the goddamn cat!"

Also to the tune of "The Girl I left Behind Me."

Never heard the DeValera one though.


Seamus

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 27 Jan 09 - 09:38 PM

Thank you so VERY much.

I will attempt to get the man to post into this thread with more details and probably a more precise wording. The McCloud (sic?) clan were involved and were VERY surprised/delighted when he came up with this song as he researched family roots. We discussed the color orange in connection to the lyrics

Obviously, this is a civil group - I will highly urge him to contribute the snippet that he brought to my attention.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: GUEST,Arley
Date: 27 Jan 09 - 10:14 PM

I'm the original source (though not the fellow who started this thread yesterday) of one line "Ten Thousand Micks picked up their sticks at the Battle of Boyne Water". Here's what little I know. When I was a little kid, my father told me that one of our ancestors had fought at the "Battle of Boyne Water". My father had no clue of the religous or political significance of the Battle of the Boyne. It was merely a story he had learned from his father. In addition to this, he even sang the one line, "Ten thousand Micks picked up their sticks at the Battle of Boyne Water".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 28 Jan 09 - 02:42 AM

This subject is, by its very nature, a 'dark area' of song making, though a very important one, thanks to the political situation that has existed throughout the twentieth century.
I can remember bits and pieces of parodies from my childhood and youth aimed either at the 'left-footers' or the 'prods', (though, coming from an atheistic background, I was a spectator).
Liverpool was a great place for one-liners (somebody suggested that this was because the concentration-span was so short there).
For instance, I can remember a schoolmate singing

"And we'll hang John Knox on the barren rocks,
With the sash his father wore".

Would be interested to see if anybody comes up with any more.
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: Jim McLean
Date: 28 Jan 09 - 05:51 AM

The West of Scotland produced lots of this type of lyric;

King Billy slew the fenian crew
At the battle o' Boyne Water (waater)
A pail o' shite cam o'er the dyke
An' hit him on the napper
Beads an' beads an' holy beads
An' beads an' holey water(waater)
A pail o' shite cam o'er the dyke
An' hit him on the napper.

I'm not sure the repeat is correct, it's a long time since I heard it. Again, the tune is The Girl I left Behind Me.
PS I come from Paisley but not a 'Paisley man'!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 28 Jan 09 - 11:49 PM

Another childhood one from my native Falls Rd. area of Belfast was:

King Billy was a bendy soldier,
He fought for the bendy crooks,
He fought for the sake of Linfield*
To buy a pair of boots.

When baps and scones* were flyin',
He got hit by a hard barm-brack,*
And he dropped dead like a tatey bread*
All warapped in the Union Jack.

*Linfield - local Unionist soccer team;
*baps and scones - bread rolls;
*tatey bread - potato pancake


Seamus

I'm surprised Alison or Jimmy C haven't weighed in with some more.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: GUEST,alison
Date: 29 Jan 09 - 01:33 AM

'bout ye seamus, ah well........... in for a penny.................

The Pope he had a pimple on his bum
and it nipped, nipped, nipped very sore,
he sent for King Billy to rub it with a lily,
and it nipped, nipped, nipped, no more.

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 29 Jan 09 - 03:00 AM

'Bout ye, big girl!
How come you're guesting?

Seamus

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: alison
Date: 30 Jan 09 - 12:22 AM

my computer is in bits - I visit remotely a fair bit of the time

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Feb 09 - 01:48 AM

This is the first time I've been on this site. Got here by Googling "Battle of the Boiling Water." Why? Well, I'm 63 years old and it's getting to be around the time of my late father's birthday. I remember when I was a little boy asking him about this tune I'd heard (this was in Erie, Pa., mind you) in grade school. He was enraged. Said I was not to be asking about garbage like that because we were Catholics. Of course, I had no idea what he was talking about.
After reading the posts on this forum, I have a better idea what the fuss was about. But, the version I'd heard -- and it included Micks and sticks -- was very anti-Catholic. Heaping bad upon bad, I was in third or fourth grade at St. Patrick's elementary school in Erie when I heard it.
I've been researching our proud "Catholic" family for a few years now and what I've learned is that we came to America from County Donegal in 1820. From the books I've seen, we came over as Presbyterians. It seems to have taken a generation or two before at least part of the family converted to Catholicism, with one great-aunt becoming a nun.
We seem to be strange folk. Unfortunately, at some point, long ago, parts of the family broke apart. I have no idea, outside my brother and sister, where any of my kin have gotten. Anyway, thought I'd add my two cents about the song.

Bill McKinney
Erie, Pa.
[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: MartinRyan
Date: 19 Feb 09 - 03:19 AM

Thanks for that, Bill. You might post any of the words you remember, pleasse.

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: GUEST,guest
Date: 18 Jun 11 - 04:08 AM

we used to sing, on Orange walk days
Holy Father I am dying,
just a word before I go
We'll hang king Billy with his orange willy and stick a poker up his
Hole
y father I am dying etc.
ah, good old Scottish sectarianism! I can remember the tune but not all the words to the hit him on the napper song..

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: Jim McLean
Date: 18 Jun 11 - 10:32 AM

I remember as a child hearing, to the tune of What a friend we have in Jesus:

Holy Mary I am dying,
Just a word before I go,
If you see a Gerrie soldier,
Shove a bayonet up his
Holy Mary I am dying .........

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Jul 11 - 04:41 AM

My uncle (apparently I never met him) led the Orange parade in Glasgow in the Fifties. My father told me of this song, (sung to Lilibulero):

King Billy had a wee bulldog that sat upon the fender
And every time the Pope passed by he'd call out "no surrender."
The beads, the beads, the holy beads that sat upon the ewsater.
It was I that slew that Fenian crew at the battle of Bourne Water.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: GUEST,Geordie Lass
Date: 01 May 12 - 02:19 PM

Strange finding this site. My two sons were talking the other day about the song that their late Grandad used to sing to them and we wondered whether the "Battle of the Boiling Water " was in fact the Battle of the Boyne.

Lyrics as sung by a geordie with Irish roots both Catholic and Protestant:
Well me Uncle Mick had a bloody big stick
He made one hell of a slaughter
He killed 10 thousand men or more at the battle of the Boiling Water
Some were killed and some were wounded
some were shouting "murder"
then me Uncle Jack got a bullet up his crack (substituted for young ears as "back")
At the battle fo the Boiling water

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Nov 12 - 12:33 AM

i heard it went like this im up to my knees in irish blood im up to my knees in snotters we took a rope and we hung the pope at the battle of the boiling waters

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Apr 13 - 03:16 PM

Phil, originally from Adlington in Lancashire..

We used to sing along with my mum in the late 1950's to this song. I recall the start about Uncle Mick and his stick. I don't know why, but I found myself singing this verse today:

Some were shrieking, some were scriking (Adlington for crying but unsure of the spelling - rhymes with hiking)
Some were shouting 'mercy'
And some were running with their arseholes brunning (Adlington for burning)
in the attle of Boiling Water.

There was no religious intent as far as we knew, but it was just a good song for us kids to sing along with.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 02 Apr 13 - 06:01 PM

Hey Gargoyle - see what you started? Great thread, folks!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: GUEST,Mary Tulley Spittel
Date: 19 Dec 13 - 07:41 PM

It's a little late, but I just discovered this site. My Dad, who would have been 115 yesterday (12/18/2013),used to sing this little ditty to my 4 brothers and I when we were kids:

Oh, Pat hit Mike with a penny clay pipe,
And the blood ran down his shoulder,
And a thousand Micks lay down their picks
At the Battle of Boyne Water.

At least that's how I remember it.Actually, I thought it was "...the battle of boiling water" but Boyne Water is more likely.Now I have something to look up!

Thank you all!

Mary

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: 12-stringer
Date: 19 Dec 13 - 10:04 PM

My grandmother had this from her father (set to "Girl I Left Behind Me"):

Oh some fell here and some fell there
And some fell over yonder
Ten thousand Micks got killed with bricks
In the battle of the Boiling Water.

She was born in 1903 at Broomhill, Northumberland, but went to America as an infant. Her father was a collier, born in 1870 at Blyth.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: Thompson
Date: 20 Dec 13 - 02:12 AM

Laughing so much I've tears in my eyes - I particularly love the one with the mouse!

Here's one, normally sung in a tight Presbyterian accent, preferably with the whistly 'S' and 'T' sounds.

Last Sunday morning, as I was going to Mass
I met a guid wee Orangeman and I shot him… as I passed
His body fell down, and his soul it went to Hell…
(missing bit)

Now there is a tree
And it grows down in Hell
And there's ne'er a leaf upon it
But the souls of old Orangemen

And if one of them should die
Och, the Devil he leaps for joy
Saying "I've a warrum corner
"For you, my Orange boy."

Rally right fol the daddy
Rally right fol the dee
Rally right fol the daddy
And bad luck unto the Queen

(and further verses, gone from me now).

The 'de Valera sold his shoes/to buy ammunition for his men' is a skipping rhyme, I think, rather than specifically sectarian fun. Dev used to appear a lot in our skipping games.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 20 Dec 13 - 02:37 AM

"His body fell down, and his soul it went to Hell…"

And when it got below it had a strange tale to tell.

Fol-de-roddy-rye, fol-de-roddy-rye, fol-de-roddy-rye,
there's whiskey in the jar-O!

They way we sang it in the wee dank North was:

One Sunday morning as I was going to Mass.
I met a bloody Orangeman and killed him for his pass;
I killed him for his pass, my boys, and sent his soul to hell;
And when it got below it had a strange tale to tell.

And "stout Orange boy" was the Devil's last line.

Ah, the warm memories of nostalgia. This must be what Proust was jabbering on about...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: GUEST,JC
Date: 02 Oct 15 - 05:28 AM

My recollection from the 50s told to me by my father was a fragment..

"Then up came Mick with a great big stick and killed four thousand men in the battle of the Boyen Water".

JC

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: GUEST,xian
Date: 10 Feb 18 - 10:26 AM

my old da used to sing it as "ten thousand micks got hit with bricks at he battle of Boyne Water" so often that we finally parodied it as "then thousand micks got hit with bricks at the battle of boring father"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: GUEST,Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 10 Feb 18 - 11:10 AM

Interesting thread.

The song has a Roud number (24541), though only one entry in the online index. It's a small fragment in the Bayard collection, which you can hear on youtube: Charles S. Brink at 14:49.

The fragment has:

  My Uncle Dick, he took a stick,
  And he killed five hundred Irishmen,
  At the Battle of the Boiling Waters.


A Great War Forum, in a thread on My Old Man's A Dustman parodies, has this post from MikeyH (Lieut-Colonel):

   "A playground ditty we would sing in the 1950's in Lancashire ran something like this:-
  
   
  
  Oh my Uncle Ben he killed ten men
  
  At the batle of Boiling Water
  
  One lay here and one lay there
  
  And one lay round the corner
  
  One poor soul with a bullet up his hole
  
  Lay crying out for water
  
  A man came by and pissed in his eye
  
  At the battle of Boiling Water.
  
   
  
  Interesting to see similar lyrics in the 'Battle of Mons' quoted above." 
  

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 08 Apr 18 - 05:56 AM

My Irish Grandmother's version was:

My uncle Mick, he had a stick
He made one hell of slaughter
He killed ten thousand Orangemen
at the Battle of the Boyne Water.
One flew up and one flew down and
one flew round the corner
poor John Bull got go a bullet up him bum
and (can't remember the last line)

My English father later told me about the battle of the Boyne.
The rhyme was a lot of nonsense

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: GUEST,Guest again
Date: 08 Apr 18 - 10:23 AM

I have remembered it.

My Uncle Mick, he had a stick
he made one hell of a slaughter.
He killed ten thousand Orangemen
at the Battle of the Boyne Water.
Some flew up and some flew down and
one flew round the corner.
Poor John Bull got a bullet up his bum
at the Battle of the Boyne Water.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: GUEST,Tom O'Leary
Date: 27 Jul 19 - 01:53 PM

As a child in the 1950's, I clearly remember my late uncle (and a few
locals, here in West Cork) singing this to the air of
THE RARE OUL' MOUNTAIN DEW.
He used to call it the Battle of the Rising Water (?), but it is no doubt originally the Battle of the Boyne Water.
Hope this helps.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 27 Jul 19 - 03:17 PM

Reading over this thread as it's popped up again, it reminded me of ?toast my grandmother had:

  Here's to King Billy that sailed up the river
  A knife in his arse and a fork in his liver!

(We were a Catholic family, if you hadn't guessed!)


Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: GUEST,Gill
Date: 21 Aug 19 - 05:28 AM

Finally thank you! I have been hunting for this for years, I too thought it was the boiling water. Hearing it as small child growing up in the North East in the 50’s I remember this being sung to the tune of ‘The girl I left behind me’ which is an American marching song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 21 Aug 19 - 06:17 AM

The Liverpool repertoire was full of snippets like these, including jokes
"Two flies climbing up the window; which one was the Catholic ?
The one who shit on the sash"
Harmless, compared to some
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mick Stick - Boyne Water
From: GUEST,Carol Boyan
Date: 16 Sep 19 - 06:39 AM

I also heard this growing up from my father. I just came back from Ireland vacation and saw a picture in the Kylemoore Abbey that mentioned the Boyne Waters and it reminded me of it.


'A Thousand Micks picked up their sticks to beat the Brits at the Battle of the Boyne Waters'


We believe the spelling of our name got changed on arrival to America.