Lyr Add: The Rover from Claudy

Subject: Lyr Add: THE ROVER FROM CLAUDY
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 20 Dec 02 - 06:34 PM

Lyr. Add: THE ROVER FROM CLAUDY

I am a bold rover that's jolly and free,
Both city and village are equal to me,
Nigh sweet Cumbelclatty I once did reside,
Where the bright Faughan does murmuring glide,
I hated labor & learned no trade,
To seek for adventure sure I am the blade
Thro' Ulster & Linsley the customs to see,
But the rover from Claudy will bore the degree.

Among the air wenches so charming and young
Their favours to gain by a smooth oily tongue,
With a heart that was merry my hours I spent,
Their love to obtain fill'd(?) me still with content,
From gay Londonderry my course I did steer,
To snug Leiterkenny was my next career,
The girls in hundreds they came flocking down,
To welcome the Rover from Claudy to town.

I enjoy'd them one night(?) to Strabane took my way,
And made a short turn to Balleymesey,
Thro' hilig(?) lofty Barnes was next my landfall,
Till at length I arrive in sweet Donegal;
A twig from the Faughan I brought it from home,
That was often try'd in(?) the County Tyrone,
The girls came thronging my cudgel to see,
Declaring the Claudy man's staff should go free.

I left them to ponder the worthof my stick,
And to Ballyshannon my course it was quick,
On saturday's market that very same day,
Shillelali from Claudy my reck'ning did pay;
The price of their yarn they to me did bring,
Saying here is the boy that can cudgel & sing,
His heart is so lively and and notes in such glee,
None equals the Claudy bold Rover for me.

To sweet Enniskillen that never did fail,
Upon the nex' Thursday with a pleasant gale,
Kind Boreas' blast blew me fair into town,
Where each girl she pawned her mantle and gown;
Their shawls and pelisses, that cost them so high,
For trifles of money they soon let them fly,
To hire the Rover a while for to stay,
For the twig from the Faughan stole their hearts away.

pelisse = any kind of furred garment. Some town names perhaps incorrectly spelled; printing poor. Faughan- a tree? and a stream?

Suggestive of the "Gaberlunzie Man" and some lyrics of the "Jolly Beggar," Child # 279: Gaberlunzie Man
Bodelien Library, Harding B17(262b), Glasgow, ca. 1825, W. Carse, printer.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE ROVER FROM CLAUDY
From: nutty
Date: 21 Dec 02 - 08:57 AM

There is a broadside of the song in the Bodleian Library circa 1825.
Unfortunatley it is a poor copy and not very easy to read as it contains a number of verses not included in the version posted by GUEST,Q

Rover from Claudy

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE ROVER FROM CLAUDY
From: Big Tim
Date: 21 Dec 02 - 10:47 AM

From the Bodleian version: "Linster" (Leinster?)would make more sense than "Linsley" in verse 1.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE ROVER FROM CLAUDY
From: GUEST,Philippa
Date: 21 Dec 02 - 10:52 AM

Faughan is indeed the name of a stream/river in county Derry and there is a Claudy in County Derry; the other place names are mostly from surrounding countier
Letterkenny is the usual spelling, though it does come from the word Leitir in Irish
I don't think I know Balleymesey, not by that name or Cumbelclatty?
What is your source for this song?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE ROVER FROM CLAUDY
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 21 Dec 02 - 11:47 AM

Q's source would be the broadside named in his post, which Nutty subsequently provided a link to. As she said, it is considerably longer than the verses quoted. It doesn't seem to have been found in tradition.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE ROVER FROM CLAUDY
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 21 Dec 02 - 12:47 PM

Face red (again). I made a copy of the broadside on one sheet of paper, front and back, for my notes. Didn't turn the sheet over.
I will post the rest later today. It is an interesting broadside, and I thought worth sharing because of all the town names and its possible relationship to the beggar ballads.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE ROVER FROM CLAUDY
From: GUEST,GUEST, JEL
Date: 21 Dec 02 - 02:33 PM

Opening and general theme are reminiscent of "The Limerick Rake."

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE ROVER FROM CLAUDY
From: weerover
Date: 21 Dec 02 - 02:55 PM

Any idea of a tune?

wr

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE ROVER FROM CLAUDY
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 21 Dec 02 - 03:10 PM

As in most broadsides of the time, no tune is specified. It isn't mentioned in Roud, and, like a great many broadside texts, doesn't seem ever to have been found in tradition. Unless someone knows differently, then: no tune.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE ROVER FROM CLAUDY
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 21 Dec 02 - 04:51 PM

Second part- help with locality names (and other corrections) would be appreciated. Printing in this broadsheet is poor and hard to read.

The girls of Clones, and likewise Cootehill(?),
When I went to Monaghan mourned their fill;
Then to Castleblaney and Carrickmacross,
For a good ready penny I was ne'er at a loss;
The poteen in bottles they to me did fill,
As stout as it came from the eye of the still,-
Saying Rover from Cloudy I pray you step forth,
We long for to treat the stout plant of the north.

I took a new ramble to lovely Kingscolt,
Where an old buxom widow to me did resort,
She swore by her conscience if with her I'd stay,
She never would part me till her dying day;
Abundance of wealth she would on me bestow,
Invited me with her one night for to go,
Her pipe and tobacco she from her did fling,
She cries O! the cudgel from Claudy's the thing.

Through Kells, Trim and Naven & Drogheda town,
Ardee and Dundalk then I took a full round,
And coming to Nerry, there I happened to spy,
A nice comely damsel they called Fanny-Eye.
Into Castlewillan my course I made good,
Where I met a damsel in a merry mood,
She spoke to me kindly and told me her want,
How much she desire'd the Cloudy man's plant.

Through Ballynahinch to Downpatrick I pass'd,
And coming by Saintfield (?) I arrived in Belfast,
Lisborn, Hillsborough and likewise Dromore,
The girls did treat me to liquor galore,
Through Hamilton ---- to Armagh I did come
And down by Dungannon I safely got home,
Yet by all the fine places that e'er I did stray,
The stout Claudy plant bore the laurel away.

Linster in the first verse- Big Tim is correct. I'm sure that my attempts to read some of the names are wrong. In the last verse I have left one name or word out.
The Limerick Rake (also called the Rake of Rathkeal in one broadside, shown side-by side in Johnson Ballads 3228) in the Bodleian collection is similar in theme, as noted by guest JEL. By the dates in the Bodleian, it seems to be a later song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE ROVER FROM CLAUDY
From: Big Tim
Date: 21 Dec 02 - 05:44 PM

As a song, it's a fairly crappy piece of fantasy though, isn't it? Just a list of imaginary conquests: no humour, no social or political background detail. Not a patch on the Limerick Rake.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE ROVER FROM CLAUDY
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 21 Dec 02 - 07:45 PM

I wondered if the 7th verse came from another song. The verse about the old buxom widow is the only one that isn't a ramble through names.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE ROVER FROM CLAUDY
From: Felipa
Date: 22 Dec 02 - 06:05 AM

es Cootehill and Saintfield are towns in the appropriate localities
Castlewellen is the usual spelling for what you have as "Castlewillan", Navan for Naven and (!) Claudy for Cloudy
don't know Kingscolt & Nerry