Lyr Req: Red-haired boy/little beggar boy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Begger Man
From: GUEST,Moone Family pirates
Date: 29 Feb 12 - 03:25 PM

Dennis,

Here is the full song...

I am a little beggarman, a beggar I've been
For three score years on this little isle of green
I'm known from the Liffey way down to (don't know how to spell it, sounds like sagu)
And the name that I'm known by is old Johnny Dhu

(B part)
Of all of al trades a-goin' I'm sure beggin is the best
For when a man is tired he can sit him down to rest
You beg for your dinner and you've nothin' better to do
But to toddle around the corner with your old rigadoo

I slept one night in a barn in Coorabagh
T'was a wet night comin' on, so I slept 'til the dawn
With holes in the roof and the rain comin' through
And the cats and the rats were playin peek-a-boo.

{B} When who should awaken but the woman of the house
In a white spotted apron and a calico blouse
She began to frighten when I said "Boo!"
"Ah, don't be afraid m'am, it's only Johnny Dhu."

I met a little flaxy-haired girl one day
"Good mornin', little flaxy-haired girl." I did say
"Good mornin' little beggarman, and how do you do
With your rags and your tags and your old rigadoo?"

{B} I'll buy you a pair leggings and a collar and a tie
And a nice young lady I'll fetch you by-and-by
I'll buy her a pair of gogles and color them blue
And an old fashion lady I will make her too.

So it's over the roads with me pack on me back
And it's over the hills with me great haversack
With holes in me shoes and me toes peeking
Singing skitamarink-a-doodle with me old rigadoo
(by the way, "skinamarack-a-doodle-idle-eedle-idle-doo" isn't Irish, it's scatt (or a folk/traditional version it))

{B} I must be going to bed now, it's getting late at night
And the fire's all stoked [sp?] so it's out goes the light
And now you've heard the story of me old rigadoo
So it's good-night and God be with ya', says old Johnny Dhu.

Subject: RE: Red-haired boy/little beggar boy
From: PHJim
Date: 19 Mar 10 - 12:31 PM

I recall Jamie Snider singing The Old Ragadoo at Folk At The Forum in Cobourg, Ontario in the nineties. His last verse was:

And now I am a married man and settled down for life
In my cozy little cottage with my darlin', lovely wife,
But many's the time I calls to mind the days I courted Sue
With me hands in the pockets of me old ragadoo.

Jamie sang the whole song to the A part of the fiddle tune. It was sung a lot slower than the tune is played. I think he played the fiddle tune, with both parts and up to speed, after the last verse was sung.

I recall both Ian & Sylvia and Tommy Makem & The Clancy Brothers did versions of The Little Begger Man in the sixties. They sang them very quickly.

I just found another thread asking about this song:

thread.cfm?threadid=68076

Subject: Lyr Add: THE ROVING JOURNEYMAN
From: Davetnova
Date: 19 Mar 10 - 03:36 AM

1. Oh I am a rovin' journeyman. I roam from town to town.
Whenever I get a job of work, I'm willing to sit down.
My kit's all on my shoulders and my graftin' tool in hand,
And around the country I will go a roving journeyman.
Whenever I come tae Glasgow toon, lassies jump for joy.
Says one unto the other: “Well, here comes a rovin' boy.”
Some treat me to a bottle and the others to a dram,
And that toast goes round the table: “Health unto the journeyman!”

CHORUS: Wi' yer lintern addie, toorin addie, linten addie aye,
Tooran linten addie, tooral linten addie aye.
Pots and pans and helping hands will see you through day.
Linten addie tooral ooral ooral addie aye,
Gie a penny tae the journeyman tae help him on his way.

2. I hadna been in Glasgow toon a week but barely three
Before the provost’s daughter went and fell in love wi me.
She asked me for to dine wi her an' took me by the hand,
And she proudly told her mother that she loved the journeyman.
“Ach! away ye go, ye silly maid. I'll hear you speak nae more.
How can you love a journeyman you've never seen before?”
“Mother sweet, I so entreat. I love him all I can,
And around the country I will go to see my journeyman.” CHORUS

3. “You need nae tae trudge on foot. You'll have a horse and pair.
My wealth with thee and poverty contented I will share.
So overflow the flowing bowl and drain it if you can.
Toast the provost’s daughter and the a roving journeyman.”
I am a roving journeyman. I roam from town to town.
Whenever I get a job of work, I'm willing to sit down.
My kit’s all on my shoulders and my grafting tool in hand,
And around the country I will go a roving journeyman. CHORUS

Subject: RE: Red-haired boy/little beggar boy
From: PHJim
Date: 18 Mar 10 - 04:39 PM

I have a friend who's father, from the Ottawa Valley, called this song The Old Soldier With The Wooden Leg, and had words that started:

There was an old soldier
And he had a wooden leg
And he had no tobaco
So tobaco he would beg.

Subject: RE: Red-haired boy/little beggar boy
From: GEST
Date: 17 Mar 10 - 08:01 PM

Better late than never, Joe. ;-)
The Newfoundland version courtesy of GEST Songs of Newfoundland and Labrador: http://www.wtv-zone.com/phyrst/audio/nfld/08/ragado.htm
Cheers, GEST

Subject: RE: Red-haired boy/little beggar boy
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Nov 01 - 02:04 PM

I guess we never did find the Newfoundland version of this song.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Red-haired boy/little beggar boy
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 21 May 97 - 04:04 PM

Hi- We have that one in the database. I was looking for the Newfoundland version.

Subject: ADD: Red-haired boy/little beggar boy^^^
From: Dennis Wood
Date: 21 May 97 - 03:03 PM

I am a little beggarman, a beggar I've been
For three score years on this little isle of green
I'm known from the Liffey way down to (?) Cooraba
And I'm known by the name of old Johnny Dhu

(B part)
Now of all your trades a-goin' now your beggin is the best
For when a man is tired he can lay down to rest
You beg for your livin' 'cause there's nothin' else to do
Except skinamarack-a-doodle-idle-eedle-idle-doo (?? I'm not Irish)

I met a little flaxen-haired girl one day
"Good mornin', little flaxy-haired girl." I did say
"Good mornin' little beggarman, and how do you do
With your rags and your tags and your old rigadoo?"

I slept in a barn way down by Coolabagh [sp ?]
Slept in the barn and I slept 'til the dawn
With holes in the roof and the rain comin' through
And the cats and the rats they were playin peek-a-boo.

{B} When who should awaken but the woman of the house
In a white spotted apron and a calico blouse
She began to frighten and I said "Boo!"
"But don't be afraid m'am, it's only Johnny Dhu."

Now buy yourself some leggings and a collar and a tie
And a nice pretty lady I will fetch you by-and-by...^^^

that's where me memory fails me. Hope it helps some. I think it was recorded by The Clancy Brothers

Subject: RE: Red-haired boy/little beggar boy
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 18 May 97 - 07:03 PM

Hi- Anyone know this one? Sounds interesting.

Subject: RE: Red-haired boy/little beggar boy
From:
Date: 18 May 97 - 12:36 AM

There's also a Newfoundland song to the same tune, called "Old Ragadoo"

I'm a hardened Newfoundlander, Michael Chaser is me name, I was born in Grange Harbour--I'm a fisherman by trade; I was born in the mornin' at a quarter after two With me hands in the pockets of me old ragadoo. ....

I can't remember the rest. It was sung by the Canadian group Tamarack on one of their first albums.

Subject: RE: Red-haired boy/little beggar boy
From: Bob Landry
Date: 13 May 97 - 12:28 PM

They're in the DT database as "The Beggarman (Johnny Dhu)" Search for "Beggarmnan"

Bob

Subject: Red-haired boy/little beggar boy
From:
Date: 12 May 97 - 09:17 PM

Looking for lyrics to a fiddle tune called "red-haired boy"

It is sometimes called "little beggar boy", although there is an unrelated song by the same name.