Subject: ADD Version: The Oul' Rigadoo
From:
Joe Offer
Date: 16 Dec 02 - 10:23 PM
Here's the version from Sam Henry's Songs of the People. The notes say that this song, sung at the Coleraine Musical Festival by Mr. W.J. Lyons, won first prize (89 percent) out of 14 entries in the Folk Song class and gained the Cup presented by Mrs. Magee, of Dunedin Terrace, Coleraine.
The Henry book says other titles for the song are "The Beggarman's Song," "The Little Beggarman," and the Roving Journeyman."
THE OUL' RIGADOO
I am a little beggarman, a-begging I have been
For three score and more in this little isle of green;
I am known from the Liffey down to Segue,
Sure, I'm known by the name of oul' Johnny Hugh.
Of all the trades that's going, sure, begging is the best,
For when a man is tired he can sit down and rest,
He can beg for his dinner, he's got nothing else to do
But cut around the corner with his oul' rig-a-doo.
I slept in a barn down in Carrabawn,
A wet night in August, sure, I slept till the dawn,
With holes in the roof and the rain comin' through,
And the rats and the cats, they were playin' peek-a-boo;
Now whom did I waken but the woman of the house,
With her white-spotted apron and her calico blouse,
She began to frighten and I said, 'Ho,
It's don't be afraid, ma'am, it's only Johnny Hugh.'
I met a little flaxey-haired girl one day,
'Good morning, little flaxey-haired girl,' I did say;
'Good morning, little beggarman, and how do you do,
With your rags and your tags and your oul' rig-a-doo?'
'I'll buy a pair o' leggings, a collar and a tie,
And a nice young lady I'll marry by and by,
I'll buy a pair o' goggles and colour them blue,
And an old-fashioned lady I'll make her two.'
Over the road with my bag on by back,
Over the fields with my great heavy sack,
With holes in my shoes and my toes peeping through,
Singing, 'Skilly my rink a doodle, with my oul' rig-a-doo.'
I must be going to bed, it's getting late at night,
The fire's all raked and out goes the light,
So now you've heard the story of my oul' rig-a-doo,
So goodbye and good be with you, from oul' Johnny Hugh.
(16 April 1938, date of this transcription)
|
sj
