Lyr Req: The Rambling Irishman

Subject: Rambling Irishman
From: Wolfgang Hell
Date: 07 Jan 99 - 11:57 AM

On the Moloney, O'Connell, and Keane CD "Kilkelly" there's a medley titled "Green fields of America". One of the song in the medley is called Rambling Irishman (one of many with that title I guess). I couldn't find it in the DT, so I have transcribed the lyrics as I hear them. I have two questions:

First, I don't understand a word in verse 1, line 6. Help me if you can...
Second, I seems to me that the song has more verses with the interesting ones left out. Can someone post them?

Rambling Irishman

I am a rambling Irishman
I've travelled this country o'er,
I formed a resolution
for to leave me native shore.
With me knapsack o'er me shoulder
and a (?? plack dir ??) in me hand
I headed for America
like a rambling Irishman.

When I landed in Philadelphia
the girls all jumped for joy.
Said one unto the other:
"Now, there goes an Irish boy.
" They invited me to dine with them,
they took me by the hand.
The very first toast they all drank 'round
was: Good luck to the Irishman.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Rambling Irishman
From: Liam's Brother
Date: 07 Jan 99 - 12:41 PM

Hi Wolfgang!

I don't have this recording but I do know the song. Without having listened to the version Moloney-O'Connell version, I believe the word you're looking for is "blackthorn," i.e. a walking stick.

All the best, Dan

Subject: Lyr Add: THE RAMBLING IRISHMAN
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 07 Jan 99 - 05:56 PM

Tom Brandon, of Peterborough, Ontario, sang the song for Edith Fowke with the following text. It may be heard sung by him on Folk-Legacy's "custom" cassette - C-10.

THE RAMBLING IRISHMAN

I am a rambling Irishman, I've travelled this country o'er,
I've formed a resolution to leave my native shore.
With a knapsack on my shoulder and a blackthorn in my hand,
I headed for Americay like a rambling Irishman.

Now when I reached Americay the girls all jumped with joy;
Said one unto the other, "Here comes an Irish boy."
They took me into the saloon and taking me by the hand,
The very first toast they all drank 'round was "Good health to an Irishman."

Now I had not been in Americay not more than a week or so,
When I formed a resolution to further lands I'd go.
With a knapsack on me shoulder and a blackthorn in my hand,
I started for Pennsylvania like a rambling Irishman.

Now when I reached Pennsylvania, an inn as I passed by, (sic)
The landlord's lovely daughter to me was no ways shy.
She asked me in to dine with her, and taking me by the hand,
She went home and told her mother she was in love with an Irishman.

"Now, daughter, dearest daughter, oh, what do you mean to do,
For you to marry an Irishman, a man you never knew?"
"Now, hold your tongue, dear mother, and do the best you can,
For there's a friendship and good nature in the heart of an Irishman."

Now my rambling days are over and I mean to take a wife;
I'll work for her and toil for her the dear days of my life.
I'll work for her and toil for her and do the best I can,
And I know she'll never rue the day that she married an Irishman.

Collected by Edith Fowke from Tom Brandon,
Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.

Baring-Gould has a Devonshire version in Songs of the West; John Meredith recorded an Australian version titled "Denis O'Reilly" which is very like the "Denis O'Reilly" we learned from Shirley Collins in London in 1958 and which Shirley collected from a bus driver there. Caroline sings it frequently. I can provide that text, too, if anyone needs it. It seems to be quite widely known.

Sandy

Subject: RE: Rambling Irishman
From: Wolfgang
Date: 08 Jan 99 - 08:44 AM

thanks both Dan and Sandy for the quick response

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Rambling Irishman
From: Dave Brennan
Date: 08 Jan 99 - 10:11 PM

The Rambling Irishman version I know came from Cathal McConnel of Florencecourt, Co Fermanagh. He's been with the Boys of the Lough for many years, but his father Sandy too sung it.

I am a rambling Irishman in Ulser I was born in And it's many's the happy time I spent on the banks of sweet Lough Erne. For to be poor I could no endure, like others of my station. To America, I sailed away and left this Irish Nation Rite tan tin nan aw tan tin nan aw rite tan tin nan nuar an andy

Subject: RE: Rambling Irishman
From: Barry Finn
Date: 09 Jan 99 - 12:50 AM

Hi Dave, your Irishman's in the DT(3rd verse missing). Two different songs with two different tunes. Barry

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Rambling Irishman
From: GUEST,jayblan
Date: 22 Aug 10 - 01:20 PM

I learned this song in 1976 in Northern California and it went something like:
I am a ramblin' hero
I traveled this country round
I made a resolution
To leave this Irish town
My knapsack on my shoulder
My slanty in my hand
I set sail for the USA
Like a ramblin' kerry lad.

When my ship sailed into the harbor
The women they jumped for joy
They said "look up, look up, hey,
here comes our kerry boy"

That's as much as I remember.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Rambling Irishman
From: GUEST,Jim Dixon (at the Webster, WI library)
Date: 23 Aug 10 - 02:15 PM

There's another version in Till Doomsday in the Afternoon: The Folklore of a Family of Scots Travellers by Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger (Manchester University Press, 1986), page 192.

I will transcribe it when I have more time, unless somebody else does.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Rambling Irishman
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 23 Aug 10 - 02:37 PM

These are the notes for Rambling Irishman for a proposed collection of Travellers songs.
Jim Carroll

Rambling Irishman.   (Roud 360)
Rec. from Andy Cash.

For I am a rambling Irishman and I'll travel the wide world o'er
In search of an occupation boys, like what I was before,   
I joined a resolution and I thought it my newest plan
For to take a trip to Americay to view the happy land.

When I landed in Phillidelphy the old girls they jumped over joy.
Says one of them to the other, there goes an Irish boy
With his ramsack on his shoulder and a shillelagh in his hand,
Saying, how would you like to roam the world with the heart of an Irishman.

Sure she falls to me and she spoke to me and she caught me by the hand
She brings me to a big hotel, it's there we spent the night,
She never took her two eyes o'er me when on the floor I did stand
She run home and she told her mother she was in love with an Irishman.

Oh daughter dear, oh daughter, what a foolish thing to do,
To fall in love with an Irishman, a Paddy you never knew.
For hold your tongue now mother, she says, I'll do the best I can,
Sure there's friendship and good nature in the heart of an Irishman.

This song has appeared in many guises; Rambling or Roving Irishman, Peddler Man, Journeyman or Journey Boy, Navvy, or Navigator, and can be located in Exeter, Brighton, Frisco, Pennsylvania or, as here, Philadelphia.
A Birmingham broadside entitled "The Lancashire Lads" makes the hero a soldier, in other texts he becomes "The Rambling Sailor", but nearly all the broadsides give him as "The Roving Journeyman" and it is as such that the song became an established favourite among English Gypsies. When it crossed to America he became a "Rambling Gambler" and in the Ozarks a version gives him as   "A Guerrilla Man".
The Sam Henry Collection includes a wonderful parody entitled "Neuve Chappelle", after a battle in the First World War.   It was taken down from a street singer, an ex-private, in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers; and is described as;

"…. a favourite song of the Inniskillings or The Irish Rifles….            
commonly sung when leaving the trenches………".

For when we landed in Belgium, the girls all danced with joy,
Says one unto the other, here comes an Irish boy.
Then it's fare thee well, dear mother, we'll do the best we can,
For you all know well that Neuve Chappelle was won by an Irishman.

Chorus
Then here's good luck to the Rifles, the Inniskillings too
The Royal Irish Fusiliers and the Royal Artillery too,
For side by side they fought and died as noble heroes can,
And you all know well that Neuve Chappelle was won by an Irishman.

Says Von Kluck unto The Kaiser, what are we going to do?
We're going to meet those Irishmen, the men we never knew.
Says the Kaiser unto old Von Kluck, We'll do the best we can,
But I'm telling you true that Waterloo was won by an Irishman.

Reference
The Roving Journeyman                       The Willett Family (LP record)
An American Songbag                         Carl Sandburg
Ozark Folk Songs                               Vance Randolph (ed),
Sam Henry's Songs Of The People.      Gale Huntington (ed.).

Subject: Lyr Req: THE RAMBLING IRISHMAN
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 26 Aug 10 - 05:37 PM

Here's the version from the MacColl/Seeger book I referred to earlier:


THE RAMBLING IRISHMAN
Sung by Sheila MacGregor; learned from her father.

1. For I am a rambling Irishman. I travel this country o'er.
I formed a resolution to try some other shore.
I formed a resolution, and I think it's a very good plan,
For to take a trip to America for to view that foreign land.

2. When I landed in Philadelphia, the girls all jumped with joy.
Said one unto the other, "Here comes an Irish boy!"
They invited me to dine with them, took me by the right hand,
For there's friendship and good nature in the heart of an Irishman.

3. Now, I walked into a tavern. It was there to stay all night;
And the landlady's daughter, in me she took delight.
She never took her two eyes off me as I on the floor did stand,
And she whispered to her mother dear, "I'm in love with that Irishman."

4. O daughter, my foolish daughter, what's this you are going to do?
To fall in love with an Irishman, a man you never knew?
To fall in love with an Irishman, it think it's a very good plan,
For there's friendship and good nature in the heart of an Irishman.

5. So my rambles I mean to give over and settle down in life,
And when I think I'm able, take this young girl for my wife.
I'll work for her. I'll toil for her. I'll do the owld best I can,
Then she ne'er can say that she rued the day that she wed with her Irishman.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Rambling Irishman
From: GUEST,jim bainbridge
Date: 04 Jun 19 - 08:50 AM

Much the same as I heard ( & recorded on my wee machine)from a Killarney box player in a pub on my first trip to Ireland- 1963?

I've sung it just as he did, in waltz time ever since - only one part seriously different from the above version- Verse 2

'When I landed in Philadelphia, the girls all shook with joy
Says one unto the other 'There goes an Irish boy'
They asked me for to dine with them, they took me by the hand
And the toast went flying around the room 'Good luck to the Irishman'

footnote My pal Mick Tems in South Wales enjoyed it on one of my visits to the excellent club at Llantrisant, but puzzled me at first by saying he especially enjoyed the domestic incident in the last line.....

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Rambling Irishman
From: GUEST,Starship
Date: 04 Jun 19 - 08:18 PM

https://www.irish-folk-songs.com/the-rambling-kerry-lad-lyrics.html For GUEST,jayblan if he stops by again.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Rambling Irishman
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Jun 19 - 09:21 PM

Thanks, Starship. Good to see you still active here. I hope you're well. You have my email.