The Croppy Boy
Clàr 1 de 1
« An clàr roimhe | An ath-chlàr »
Tiotal a' Chlàir - The Croppy Boy
Fiosraichean - John Stewart
Luchd-clàraidh -
Geàrr-chunntas - In this (short) version of 'The Croppy Boy', the birds are singing in the trees, "And the song they sang was Old Ireland free." When the singer is forced to leave his home, he looks back but can no longer see his mother. He ends by cursing the "hens of Scotland" and the "crows of England", to whom he prays that Ireland will never yield "when they're face-to-face on the battlefield".
John Stewart heard the song around thirty years before from Paddy Delaney in Ireland. John himself travelled in Ireland for around sixteen years, but was born in Pitlochry and is the second son of Jock Stewart, who was a very fine piper in his day, and at one time piper to Lord Dudley. John, like his father, is a piper.
Fad a' Chlàir (h:m:s) - 00:02:22
Àm Clàraidh - 1956
Àm a' Chuspair - 1798 gu 1798
Cànan - Beurla
Seòrsa - Òran, Fiosrachadh
Cruinneachadh - Sgoil Eòlais na h-Alba
Àireamh a' Chlàir - 27569
Àireamh an Teip Thùsail - SA1956.127
Àireamh a' Chlàir Thùsail - SA1956.127.A2
Càileachd an Fhuaime - Meadhanach Math
Cruth Inneal a' Chlàir - R2R
Seòrsachadh - LJ14; R1030;
Àite Clàraidh:
Siorrachd - Siorrachd Lannraig
Paraiste - Glaschu
Baile/Àite -
Notaichean a' Chlàir - 3 verses of 4 lines. Of particular interest in this performance is the uncommon floating verse beginning, "May the hens of Scotland never grow."
This version of 'The Croppy Boy' is traditional, as opposed to the other popular song of the same name (which begins "Good men and true"), which Colm O Lochlainn notes was written by 'Carrol Malone', the pen-name of Dr McBurney of Belfast, and submitted by him in 1845 to The Nation.
The full song reveals that the singer has been captured by the British and tried as a rebel, with being taken first to 'New Guinea' (believed to be a corrupted reference to 'New Geneva' or 'Geneva Barracks', the remains of an abandoned Genevese colony occupied by the British and used as a torture house around the time of the 1798 uprising). He is later sentenced to death on the gallows, where he receives the (condemnatory) name 'Croppy Boy' from his father.
The term 'Croppy' or 'Croppie' was originally a derogatory term applied to Irish rebels by their enemies around the time of the 1798 uprising; it is believed to have come from the rebel custom of cropping their hair in the manner of French revolutionaries, whose cause resonated with many in Ireland. The name went on to become a popular term among rebels for themselves.
The 'Lord Dudley' referred to is almost certainly William Ward (1867-1932), 2nd Earl of Dudley, and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
See:
'More Irish Street Ballads' (C. O Lochlainn, 1978) pp. 80-81
Ceangal Maireannach - http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/gd/fullrecord/27569/1
Tweet
Fiosraichean - John Stewart
Luchd-clàraidh -
Geàrr-chunntas - In this (short) version of 'The Croppy Boy', the birds are singing in the trees, "And the song they sang was Old Ireland free." When the singer is forced to leave his home, he looks back but can no longer see his mother. He ends by cursing the "hens of Scotland" and the "crows of England", to whom he prays that Ireland will never yield "when they're face-to-face on the battlefield".
John Stewart heard the song around thirty years before from Paddy Delaney in Ireland. John himself travelled in Ireland for around sixteen years, but was born in Pitlochry and is the second son of Jock Stewart, who was a very fine piper in his day, and at one time piper to Lord Dudley. John, like his father, is a piper.
Fad a' Chlàir (h:m:s) - 00:02:22
Àm Clàraidh - 1956
Àm a' Chuspair - 1798 gu 1798
Cànan - Beurla
Seòrsa - Òran, Fiosrachadh
Cruinneachadh - Sgoil Eòlais na h-Alba
Àireamh a' Chlàir - 27569
Àireamh an Teip Thùsail - SA1956.127
Àireamh a' Chlàir Thùsail - SA1956.127.A2
Càileachd an Fhuaime - Meadhanach Math
Cruth Inneal a' Chlàir - R2R
Seòrsachadh - LJ14; R1030;
Àite Clàraidh:
Siorrachd - Siorrachd Lannraig
Paraiste - Glaschu
Baile/Àite -
Notaichean a' Chlàir - 3 verses of 4 lines. Of particular interest in this performance is the uncommon floating verse beginning, "May the hens of Scotland never grow."
This version of 'The Croppy Boy' is traditional, as opposed to the other popular song of the same name (which begins "Good men and true"), which Colm O Lochlainn notes was written by 'Carrol Malone', the pen-name of Dr McBurney of Belfast, and submitted by him in 1845 to The Nation.
The full song reveals that the singer has been captured by the British and tried as a rebel, with being taken first to 'New Guinea' (believed to be a corrupted reference to 'New Geneva' or 'Geneva Barracks', the remains of an abandoned Genevese colony occupied by the British and used as a torture house around the time of the 1798 uprising). He is later sentenced to death on the gallows, where he receives the (condemnatory) name 'Croppy Boy' from his father.
The term 'Croppy' or 'Croppie' was originally a derogatory term applied to Irish rebels by their enemies around the time of the 1798 uprising; it is believed to have come from the rebel custom of cropping their hair in the manner of French revolutionaries, whose cause resonated with many in Ireland. The name went on to become a popular term among rebels for themselves.
The 'Lord Dudley' referred to is almost certainly William Ward (1867-1932), 2nd Earl of Dudley, and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
See:
'More Irish Street Ballads' (C. O Lochlainn, 1978) pp. 80-81
Ceangal Maireannach - http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/gd/fullrecord/27569/1
Tweet
Clàr 1 de 1
« An clàr roimhe | An ath-chlàr »
