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27 Dec 97 - 02:42 AM (#18324) Subject: Lyr Add: CAPTAIN THUNDERBOLT From: Ezio CAPTAIN THUNDERBOLT When Flora's flowerly mantle it bedecked each field with pride I met a comely damsel down by Lough Allen side Good morning to you fair maid I modestly did say What has you out so early or where are you going this way Her cheeks like blooming roses this fair young maid replied I'm going to seek my father's sheep down Lough Allen side I boldy stepped up to her and I gave her a kiss She says young ma be civil oh what do you mean with this The grass being mossy where we stood her feet from her did glide And we both fell down together down Lough Allen side Three times I kissed her ruby lips as we lay down on the grass And coming to herself again 'twas then she cried alas Now you have has you will with me make me your lawful bride .... me here to mourn down by Lough Allen side Says I fair maid be aesy and from mourning now refrain And we will speak of marriage sure when I come back again And never let your courage fail no matter what betide Until I see your face again down by Lough Allen side So we kissed shook hands and parted and from her I did steer I did not see her face again for over half a year Walking down those flowery dells my love I chanced to spy She was scarcely able for to walk down by Lough Allen side I seemed to take no notice but continued on my way And as I turned my head around she desired for to stay The tears like crystal fountains and they down her cheeks did slide Saying don't forget the fall you gave down by Lough Allen side Fair maid your offer it is good and I do like it well But I'm already promised and the truth to you I'll tell Unto another fair maid that I mean to make my bride She's a whealty grazier's daughter down by Lough Allen side Oh since you will not marry me pray tell me your name That when my baby it is born I may call it the same My name is Captain Thunderbolt and the same I'll never deny I have good men at my command on yonder mountainside So we kissed shook hands and parted and then she went her way And as I turned my head around these words I heard her say This ought to be a warning now to all fair maids besides To never trust a young man down by Lough Allen side. This song is usually called 'The Shannonside' but the man I heard it from in Mohill, Co. Leitrim had changed it to 'Lough Allen Side' to make it more localized. There seems to be more here than meets the eye. Capt. Thunderbolt was a pseudonym often used by the United Irishmen around the time of the 1798 rising . This gentlemen appears to be a nasty bit of work by any standards however. Andy. Sung by Andy Irvine on "Dick Gaughan and Andy Irvine - Parallel lines" (1981) Enjoy - Ezio, Italy |
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28 Sep 01 - 09:27 PM (#561132) Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Captain Thunderbolt From: MartinRyan Anyone know any more about this one? Other versions Regards |
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29 Sep 01 - 06:37 AM (#561284) Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Captain Thunderbolt From: MartinRyan Left out the question mark after "other versions?"! I've been asked about a song that may start "My name is Captain Thunderbolt..." and incleds reference to a "River Roe". Doesn't sound like its the one Ezio posted four years ago and I'm just wondering what it might be. Regards |
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29 Sep 01 - 10:45 AM (#561365) Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Captain Thunderbolt From: Malcolm Douglas I don't know much about the United Irishmen, but I doubt that there is any connection to this particular song beyond the name; there were other Captain Thunderbolts, too. In Ireland, there was John Doherty, a highwayman active between c.1810 and 1818. After a fairly high-profile career as a robber, during which he acquired the kind of romantic, "Robin Hood" reputation often attached to such people, he fled to America; after some moving around he assumed the name of John Wilson, and quietly practiced medicine (without a license) in Vermont until his death in 1847. Slightly later, the Australian bushranger Frederic Ward (1836-1870) adopted the same nom de guerre.
It is not impossible that The Shannon Side may refer to Doherty; I don't know when it first appeared, but most of the broadside examples at Bodleian Library Broadsides are of the first half of the 19th century. Richard C. Simmons' Eighteenth Century Cheap Print: A Finding Aid, however, gives a tentative location and date of Dublin, 1780 for the first printing (second example shown below), so it may be more likely that Doherty's pseudonym came from the song. The occasional verse from it has at times crept into sets of Down By a Riverside/ Abroad As I Was Walking in English tradition; James Reeves (The Idiom of the People, 1958) said, of Captain Thunderbolt, "supposedly the devil", but I don't know how much credence I'd attach to that. Mind you, Captain Thunderbolt appears as Saint George's opponent (usually the Turkish Knight or similar) in the Ilmington, Warwickshire Mummers' Play (version noted c.1913).
The broadside examples don't vary a great deal, textually; here are two:
Shannon side Printed between 1819 and 1844 by J. Pitts, Wholesale Toy and Marble Warehouse, 6, Great St. Andrews Street, Seven Dials, London.
Can't help with a set starting with that verse, or referring to the Roe, I'm afraid.
Ezio's transcription isn't marked as harvested; just in case, I'll indicate corrections to a few minor typos and omissions:
Verse 1, lines 1 and 2 (missing above, here taken from a broadside copy): It was in the month of April, one morning by the dawn,
v3 line 2: young man
v4 line 3 and 4: Now you have had your will of me v5 line 1: easy
v8 line 4: wealthy grazier's... |
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01 Oct 01 - 07:27 AM (#562443) Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Captain Thunderbolt From: GUEST,Martin Ryan Malcolm Many thanks - that's a great start! I'll compile what's there, go back to my enquirer and see what it triggers. Regards |
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07 Apr 03 - 02:24 PM (#928006) Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Captain Thunderbolt From: GUEST,Martin Ryan There's a set of this, under the title "Peter Thunderbolt", in a recently issued collection of Traveller Songs. The words and some comments are HERE . BTW, I never did find a full set for the "River Roe" version, but presume it was another relatively minor localisation. Regards |
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07 Apr 03 - 03:01 PM (#928024) Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Captain Thunderbolt From: GUEST,Martin Ryan Bloody Hell! I'm sitting here waiting to be called for an examination and doodling at the keyboard, digging up old threads. And I've found the "River Roe" variant HERE! How did I miss it last time? There's no mention of the vould Captain - but its the same song alright! Regards |
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