Beaver Island - evergreentrad

26 Oct

The Protestant Cow

Paddy McCarthy, a sweet Irish lad, he came from the county of Ballinafad,
Where he spent his young days until man he had grown, he come to this country a few years ago,
Where he settled him down quite neatly, faith good luck attended him greatly,
The one thing that vexed him completely, was the want of a cow to give milk.

So then he consulted his wife Peggy Ann, a nice little girl from the County Cavan,
She said that her milk she must have anyhow, so Paudie went out for to buy her a cow,
To buy one he struck out so gaily, twirling his blackthorn shillelagh,
’Til he met with old farmer Bailey, a Protestant Yankee so cute.

They haggled around and a bargain soon made, the price of the cow to the farmer Pat paid,
Singing along the way sir as he drove home his newly bought cow.

He arrived at the gate, Peggy Ann at the door, such an elegant creature she’d ne’er seen before,
“Where did you get her?” said Peggy so gaily, “To see sure I bought her from old farmer Bailey.”
“From that Protestant thief? Blood and thunder! Oh Pat she’s a Protestant cow!”

“[ ] never mind that, go into the house and mind what you’re at,
A bottle of holy water bring out to me now, and I will soon make her a Catholic cow”
A bottle of blue liquor she brought out instead, so Pat began pouring it on the cow’s head,
Making the sign of the cross as he poured, all in a sudden the cow let a roar.

They looked at each other with faces so blue, thinking that she was a Protestant cow,
Says Pat “There must be something wrong in her. Or isn’t the Protestant strong in her,”
“Musha may the Devil go on with her! Pat she’s a protestant cow.”

Searching the many online archives of American newspapers from the 1800s turns up dozens of printings and reprintings of versions of this humorous story about Pat and Peggy Ann and their attempt to convert their new cow to Catholicism. However, I can find none that tell the story in verse. Interestingly, an Irish telling of the story turns up in Ireland’s recently digitized National Folklore Collection as recounted by a school boy in Collooney, Co. Sligo–just up the road from Ballinafad.

Two sung versions were collected in Beaver Island, Michigan by Alan Lomax and Ivan Walton from brothers Barney and James Martin in 1938 and 1940. You can hear Barney’s version (my main source for the above transcription) on the Library of Congress website. James Martin said he brought the song to Beaver Island from a lumber camp in Schoolcraft County on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula where a Canadian lumberjack named Campbell sang it around 1890.

09 Mar

The Peddler

Oh of all the trades that’s going sure a peddler’s my delight,
For if he rambles all the day he’ll comfort you at night,
With his little pack upon his back he’ll travel to and fro,
And he’s called the jolly rover wherever he will go.

He roams throughout the nation his pleasure to divert,
With youthful recreation for to delight his heart,
And courting pretty fair maids through market-town and fair,
His life it gaily passes free from all strife and care.

He’s a weaver in Londonderry-o, a shoemaker in Strabane,
Hair merchant in Limavady and a brewer in Coleraine,
Where he does brew good humming ale and love a pretty maid,
And when he gets in to Belfast, he’s a butcher by his trade.

In Lisburn he’s a joiner, a glazier in Lurgan town,
In Dromore he’s a brazier and a smith in Portadown,
In Armagh he’s a piper, a merchant in Newry town,
And when he comes to Drogheda he draws good ale that’s brown.

Oh as he does roam the nation, his fancy to pursue,
Changing his occupation for every place that’s new,
Oh kissing pretty fair ones wherever he will roam,
And still at night his love is true when he’ll return home.

This month’s song comes from a 1938 recording of Andrew E. Gallagher (1878-1939) of Beaver Island, Michigan. There were multiple Gallagher families on the island including that of the great singer Dominick Gallagher whose songs I’ve written about before and whose father came from Arranmore Island, Co. Donegal. Andrew’s father and mother (a Roddy) both came from Rutland Island (aka Inishmacadurn), a smaller island between Arranmore and the mainland. The musical Bonner family on Beaver Island also originated from tiny Rutland Island.

“The Peddler” appears as “The Jolly Rake of All Trades” in a London broadside published before 1844 and was printed later in the 1800s in Dublin. I have found no evidence of the song being collected from a singer anywhere other than Beaver Island. It is similar to, and may even have been the inspiration for, the more popular “Dublin Jack of All Trades.” Unlike that locally-focused song, the “Jolly Rake/Peddler” travels, works and womanizes all around Ireland. Gallagher only sang verses one, three and five above. Several more verses covering the breadth of Ireland appear in broadsides available online through the Bodleian Library and I chose two (“He roams…” and “In Lisburn…”) to fill out the version here.

05 Jun

The First Day of April

The first day of April I’ll never forget,
When three English blades together had met,
They mounted on horseback and swore bitterly,
That they’d play a trick on the first man they’d see and sing…
Fol-de-dal-lol-ladly, fol-de-dal-lol-ladly,
Laddelyfol-lol-de-dal-lay, laddely-fol-de-dal-lee.

At Campbell the Rover they happened to spy,
He came from Tyrone, a place called The Moy,
And they saluted Campbell and he done the same,
And in close conversation together they came and sing…

They rode right along and they made a full stop,
They called upon Paddy for to take a drop,
And Paddy consented and said with a smile,
“I long for to taste the good ale from Carlisle” sing…

They ate and they drank and they sported as well,
Until forty eight shillings to pay up a bill,
Likewise for their horses some oats and good hay,
And they thought they’d leave Paddy the rattling to pay and sing…

Out of the house one by one then they stole,
They thought they’d leave Paddy to pay for the whole,
The landlord came in and this he did say,
“I’m afraid Irish Pat they’ve a trick on you played” and sing…

“Never mind them,” says Pat, “although they’re gone away,
I’ve got plenty of money the rattling to pay.
If you’ll sit down beside me before that I go,
I will tell you a secret perhaps you don’t know” and sing…

“I’ll tell you a secret contrary to law,
That two kinds of wine from one puncheon I’ll draw,”
And the landlord was eager to find out that plan,
And away to the cellar with Paddy he ran.

He bored a hole in a very short space,
And he bade the landlord place his thumb on that place,
The next one he bored, “Place the other one there,
And I for a tumbler will go up the stair” and sing…

Pat mounted his horse and was soon out of sight,
The horser came in to see if all was right,
They hunted the house from the top to the ground,
And half dead in the cellar the master he found sing…

I wish I would have come across this light-hearted song about pranking and counter-pranking a couple months ago. It’s the perfect April Fools Day song – even set on “the first day of April!” A version of this was sung in Ireland by Joe Heaney who called it “Campbell the Rover.” Variants were also collected in the Canadian Maritimes but the version above is from the vast repertoire of Johnny Green of Beaver Island, Michigan. As with most of Green’s songs, you can listen to a 1938 recording Alan Lomax made of Green singing it on the Library of Congress website. I did my best to transcribe Green’s melody and quirky chorus note-for-note but I made a couple small tweaks to his text to improve a rhyme and to help the story make sense.

I’ll be talking about Green’s life and playing recordings of his songs at a lecture on the music of Beaver Island that I’m giving this month at the Center for Irish Music’s Minnesota Irish Music Weekend. Come if you can!