Lyr Req: What would you do if you had no money

Subject: Lyr Req: What would you do if you had no money
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Oct 17 - 04:13 AM

Trying to find out about this song, I heard it once a few years ago by an Irish group and it's just popped back into my head, any ideas?

Subject: Lyr Add: WHAT WILL WE DO WHEN WE'LL HAVE NO MONEY?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 26 Oct 17 - 04:25 AM

The song was recorded by us from Blind Travelling woman, Mary Delaney in London in the 1970s - Mary seems to have been the sole source of the song
She was an incredible woman, blind from birth, she reared 16 children on the road, eventually single-handed when her husband left her
She was a wonderful singer with a large repertoire of traditional songs
She died some time in the 1990s on a site in Cork
She can be heard singing this and many other songs on the double CD. From Puck to Appleby (Musical Traditions records)
These are the notes from the album

23 - WHAT WILL WE DO WHEN WE'LL HAVE NO MONEY? (Roud 16879)   Mary Delaney

What will we do when we'll have no money?
All true lovers, what will we do then?
Only hawk through the town for a hungry crown,
And we'll yodel it over again.

What will I do if I'd marry a tinker?
All true lovers, what will we do then?
Only sell a tin can and walk on with me man,
And we'll yodel it over again.

What will we do if we marry a soldier?
All true lovers, what will we do then?
Only handle his gun and we'll fight for the fun,
And we'll yodel it over again.

What will we do if we have a young daughter?
All true lovers, what would we do then?
Only take it in hand and walk on with me man,
And we'll yodel it over again.

We have not found this song elsewhere, either in print or in a recording, but it bears such a striking resemblance to Mrs Elizabeth Cronin's What would you do if you Married a Soldier (Roud 3051) that it is probably a traveller's remake of the same song. Mary has a number of similar pieces: I've Buried Three Husbands Already and If Ever You Go to Kilkenny, etc., and, despite the fact that her speciality is the long, free ballad, she takes great pleasure in singing these made-up snatches and often is not able to finish them for laughing. On another occasion, Mary gave us this alternative to verse four;

What will we do when we'll have a young daughter,
All true lovers, what will we do then,
Bring it on on my back and walk on for the crack,
And we'll yodel it over again.

Other CDs: Elizabeth Cronin (What Would You Do if You Married a Soldier) - Rounder 1742.

Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: What would you do if you had no money
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 26 Oct 17 - 01:16 PM

Spotify has 2 recorded versions of this song:

WHAT WILL WE DO WHEN WE HAVE NO MONEY? which appears to be a single recorded by Lankum in 2017. The arrangement is minimal: It begins with a single voice accompanied by a single drone note (which might be a harmonium) which doesn't begin to vary until the second verse. Some harmony voices join on the third verse. It has one additional verse:

What will we do if we marry a sailor?
All true lovers, what will we do then?
Only sail on his ships and we'll play on his lips
And we'll yodel it over again.

WHAT WILL WE DO IF WE HAVE NO MONEY? recorded by the Vox Hunters on their album "The Vox Hunters" (2017). This is a livelier cheerful version accompanied by an accordion.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: What would you do if you had no money
From: RTim
Date: 26 Oct 17 - 01:32 PM

It has been recorded by two good friends of mine - The Vox Hunters (BENEDICT GAGLIARDI and ARMAND AROMIN) and can be heard on the following link and is track 5.

https://www.thevoxhunters.com/music


Tim Radford

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: What would you do if you had no money
From: RTim
Date: 26 Oct 17 - 01:34 PM

Sorry Jim Dixon - I didn't see your reference to the same track..........

Tim Radford

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: What would you do if you had no money
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 26 Oct 17 - 03:14 PM

"The Vox Hunters"
Nice to hear it sung at that pace instead of the dirgy approach many use
Maary took it slightly more slowly, as she did most of her songs, but this was due to her chronic asthma
A quibble - could do without the reduction of the tune in the last line - but that'sme!
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: What would you do if you had no money
From: DaveRo
Date: 26 Oct 17 - 03:45 PM

I have this on an LP by the Silly Sisters (Maddy Prior, June Tabor):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXyMh4tvmlM

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: What would you do if you had no money
From: GUEST,Martin Ryan
Date: 26 Oct 17 - 06:20 PM

I sang harmony on a recording of this by my old friend Declan Coyne, of South Roscommon Singers, many years ago.

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: What would you do if you had no money
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 27 Oct 17 - 04:10 AM

"I sang harmony on a recording of this by my old friend Declan Coyne, of South Roscommon Singers, many years ago."
I know, Martin, we were there - you made a great job of it.
Pat and I were delighted when we heard it - I think you were the first one we had heard sing it apart from Mary since we recorded it
(Just as delighted when we first heard you sing 'Then Young Women' - nobody else sings that, more's the pity
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: What would you do if you had no money
From: Stewie
Date: 27 Oct 17 - 10:05 AM

Radie Peat's rendition with Lynched (now renamed Lankum) - mentioned by Jim above - at a celebration of traveller music is worth a listen. Evidently, it is included in their latest album due to be released today.

What would we do

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: What would you do if you had no money
From: Stewie
Date: 27 Oct 17 - 10:15 AM

Looking further at Youtube videos of the song, Lankum have this note which credits Jim and Pat as collectors:

Lankum say: "We first heard this song from the great Dublin singer Barry Gleeson, who included it on his debut CD, Path across the Ocean (TERR CD001). Although many people have recorded it, all sources lead back to one Mary Delaney. Mary was an Irish Traveller recorded in London in 1973 by collectors Jim Carroll and Pat Mackenzie, who speculated that it was a remake of the song ?What Would You Do If You Married a Soldier? to which it bears more than a passing resemblance. Mary can be heard singing this song, along with many others on the double CD From Puck to Appleby
(MTCD325-6)"

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: What would you do if you had no money
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 27 Oct 17 - 11:26 AM

AND HERE
A few more of our singers HERE
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: What would you do if you had no money
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Oct 17 - 05:41 PM

Thank you all for your fantastic info especially Jim Carroll, I will be practicing the song and hopefully add it to our repertoire, many thanks,Bazza

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: What would you do if you had no money
From: GUEST,Chloe
Date: 06 Sep 19 - 12:18 PM

Any idea at all where I might find some tin whistle music for this?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: What would you do if you had no money
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Sep 19 - 05:21 PM

Peta Webb and Ken Hall do a fine version of this song. It's also really taken off in the USA. It's a great song but in danger of getting overdone IMO.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: What would you do if you had no money
From: GUEST,Brian Peters
Date: 08 Sep 19 - 05:21 PM

Oops, not signed in on my mobile...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: What would you do if you had no money
From: GUEST,michaelr
Date: 08 Sep 19 - 09:38 PM

In the comments to the Radie Peat version linked above, someone named Katelyn Delaney says, "My grandmother made up the song." Jim Carroll, would that explain why there are no other sources?