Lyr Add: Black and Tan Gun

Subject: Lyr Add: BLACK AND TAN GUN
From: Big Tim
Date: 10 Aug 03 - 12:14 PM

BLACK AND TAN GUN

It was down by the town of old Bantry,
Where most of the fighting was done,
A gallant young soldier of Erin,
Was shot by a Black and Tan gun

They pillowed his head on the heather,
Where the blood from his body ran free,
He smiled to his comrades around him,
And whispering to them, said he,

Won't you bury me here without coffin,
Near the spot where the battle was won,
Where we dealt the final blow for our country,
From the scourge of the Black and Tan gun

They buried him there on the mountain,
Where the road down to Bantry runs clear,
And they wrote these simple words on his gravestone,
"A Soldier of Ireland Lies Here"

When you pray for the heroes who've fallen,
Remember especially this one,
Slain on the first day of freedom,
By the very last Black and Tan gun.

Refers to the Irish War of Independence, 1921. Lyrics requested by GUEST on another thread, but I thought it best to add them separately. Transcribed from a recording so absolute accuracy not guaranteed.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Black and Tan Gun
From: The Walrus
Date: 10 Aug 03 - 04:32 PM

Big Tim

Am I right in assuming that this is yet song to the tune of "Red River Valley"?

Walrus

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Black and Tan Gun
From: Padre
Date: 10 Aug 03 - 06:25 PM

Or 'The Black Velvet Band"

Or "The Men of the West"

Padre

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Black and Tan Gun
From: The Walrus
Date: 10 Aug 03 - 07:37 PM

Padre,

The lyrics fit to those tunes, but they are similar to a (later<1>)
set from the War in the Western Desert, to 'RRV'.

<1> Assuming the above song to be contemporary with the events depicted therein.

Walrus

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Black and Tan Gun
From: Big Tim
Date: 11 Aug 03 - 03:11 AM

The tune is none of those named above. Perhaps somebody who can do ABC will add the tune?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Black and Tan Gun
From: Big Tim
Date: 19 Aug 03 - 10:34 AM

"Slain on he first day of freedom" is open to various interpretations: the day the Truce was signed (9 July 1921), the day after the Treaty was signed, or the same day as the Treaty (6 December 1921),the day of the Dail vote acccepting the Treaty (7 January 1922), etc. And who was the man killed?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Black and Tan Gun
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 06 Feb 23 - 01:29 PM

The tune of this song is the same as NOBODY'S DARLIN' BUT MINE," by Jimmie Davis, recorded in 1934, which you can hear at the Internet Archive.

(Of course, I can't say for certain that Jimmie Davis didn't get the tune from somebody else.)

Recordings of BLACK AND TAN GUN can be heard at Spotify, performed by--

Johnny Flynn
Sean Dunphy & the Hoedowners
Ray McAreavey & Wolfhound
Padraig Mor
Noel Henry's Irish Showband
...and some others

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Black and Tan Gun
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 06 Feb 23 - 02:55 PM

The original tune to the original song was 'Oh bury me out on the Prairie (The Cowboy's Lament)' 1927, by Travis Hale, Dean Fitzer & Prescott Brown. It had its own original tune and some of the many parodies followed that tune for the next decade, but by WWII some parodies had adapted it to the better-known 'Red River Valley' so that by the end of the war this had become the more prevalent tune. There are forces versions from all of the WWII settings, Burma, North Africa etc., and one version we have is of a dying trawlerman off the Russian coast having been shot by a Gerry gun. The Burma version we have uses the original tune.

It would go quite nicely to 'Nobody's Darling' though.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Black and Tan Gun
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 06 Feb 23 - 03:04 PM

I'd give a rough transcription of the tune but it's in Eb and I'd struggle.

It's actually online at www.loc.gov/resource/sm1845

Music for a Nation-American Sheet Music 1820-1860 Library of Congress (although it's a bit out of place with the dating!)

The group I'm in 'Spare Hands' sing the trawlermen version, but we decided to use the RRV tune as we already knew it and the harmonies go nicely on the chorus.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE BLACK AND TAN GUN (from Sean Dunphy)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 06 Feb 23 - 04:30 PM

This book:

We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland by Fintan O'Toole (New York: Liveright Publishing, 2022), on page 175

says that THE BLACK AND TAN GUN was first recorded by “a showband called Sean Dunphy and The Hoedowners,” in 1966, that on the record label, the song was titled: “The Black and Tan Gun (Nobody’s Darling But Mine)” (hence my identification of the tune in my previous comment)--and that no songwriter was identified.

There are two recordings attributed to Sean Dunphy on Spotify. They both appear to be reissues of older recordings; therefore I can’t say which one is truly older. Neither of them exactly corresponds to the lines O’Toole quotes in his book—but maybe he is quoting from memory what he sang in 1966--it's part of a narrative.

Transcriptions are mine. I have marked the differences between the two versions with boldface.


THE BLACK AND TAN GUN
As recorded by Sean Dunphy & The Hoedowners on “The Fabulous Irish Showbands,” 2004.

It was down in the town of old Bantry,
Where most of the fighting was done—
’Twas there that a young Irish soldier
Was shot by a Black and Tan gun.

As he raised himself up on his elbow,
As the blood from his wounds it ran red,
Then he turned to his comrades beside him,
And these are the words that he said:

“Won't you bury me out on the mountain
So I can see where the battle was won?
Won't you bury me out on the mountain
With my face turned to God’s rising sun?”

So they buried him out on the mountain.
On his cross that lay facing the sun,
They wrote: “Here lies a true soldier
Who was shot by a Black and Tan gun.”

So now that we’re back in old Dublin,
With our victories over and won,
Won’t you think of the comrade you buried
Under God’s rising sun?


THE BLACK AND TAN GUN
As recorded by Sean Dunphy Ceili Band on “City by the Suir,” 2019.

It was in the old town of Bantry,
Where most of the fighting was done—
It was there that a young Irish soldier
Was shot by a Black and Tan gun.

He raised himself up on his elbow.
The blood from his wounds it flowed red.
He turned to his comrades around him,
And these are the words that he said:

“Oh, bury me out on the mountain
With my face to the God(?) rising sun.
Won't you bury me out on the mountain
So I can see where the battle was won?”

So they buried him out on the mountain.
On his cross, hear the words that were done:
“Here lies a young Irish rebel
Who was shot by a Black and Tan gun.”

Now that we are back in Cork City,
Though our battle is over—we’ve won—
Won’t you pray for the young Irish rebel
Who was shot by a Black and Tan gun?