FTX-167 - WHEN I WAS IN HORSEBACK

IRISH TINKER SINGERS -2-

A group of travellers from Southern Ireland, singing around a camp-fire in Belfast in July 1952, resulted in some remarkable recordings of their style from the pretty young tinker girls. By the early hours of the morning, the men were under the spell of the Guinness, leaving the younger girls, some breast-feeding as they sang, tightly grasping the microphone one-by-one, and competing with each other in their display of vocal decorations in the love-songs.

1. DEAR OLD KERRY - Lal Smith - 1'44"

2. THE GALTEE FARMER Lal - (talk bef with Liam Andrews) - 3'09"

3. Lullaby: HUSH LITTLE BABY - Winnie Ryan - 1'11"

4. THE COUNTY TYRONE - Lal Smith - 2'47"

5. OXFORD CITY - Mary Doran - 3'25"

6. WHEN I WAS IN HORSEBACK - Mary - 2'02"

7. DUBLIN CITY - Mary - 2'17"

8. WHO'S THAT KNOCKING AT MY BEDROOM WINDOW? - Anne O Neill - 3'06"

9. THE ROAD TO KILLALOE - Lal - 1'36"

10. THE THRASHING MACHINE - Anne - 2'17"

11. I AM A MAID THAT'S DEEP IN LOVE - Lal - 3'20"

12. GOING TO MASS LAST SUNDAY - Winnie - 2'14"

13. YOU RAMBLING BOYS OF PLEASURE - Winnie - 2'26"

14. THE GARDEN WHERE THE IRISH PRATIES GROW - Lal & Mary - 0'33"

15. I AM A POOR GIRL AND MY LIFE IS SAD - Winnie - 3'49"

16. JULIA DONOHOE - Winnie - 3'33"

17. LONDONDERRY TO THE COAST OF KERRY - Winnie - 3'27"

18. THE COTTAGE OUTSIDE MAROO - Lal - 2'15"

19. THE LITTLE BALL OF YARN - Winnie - 1'51"

20. THE BLIND MAN HE CAN SEE - Mary Connors with chorus - 5'24"

21. WHAT BROUGHT THE BLOOD? - Mary - 5'03"

Recorded by Peter Kennedy on Dan O Neill's Loanen, outside Belfast in July 1952. Arrangements were made for the collectors by Liam Andrews. Edited by Peter Kennedy and first published by Folktrax 1975.

#1: The word BOREEN is from the Gaelic BOTHARIN meaning a path, generally one crossing a field or meadow.

#2: is a tinker song about a Dublin horse-dealer at Enniscorthy Fair in Co. Wexford

#3: is a tinker version of HUSH-A-BYE, BABY.

#4: for a man's version of the song see Sam Henry 153.

#5: Because there are a number of ballads titled OXFORD CITY, we call this POISON IN A GLASS OF WINE (Laws P30). Like #7 it is a widely distributed murder ballad which seems particularly popular with both Irish tinkers and English gipsies.

#6: (Laws Q 26) is more widely known as THE YOUNG SAILOR CUT DOWN IN HIS PRIME (a version of THE UNFORTUNATE LAD). Another version, about a female servant, is known as ROSEMARY LANE. The Cowboy version which has perhaps influenced this one became popular in the USA as THE STREETS OF LAREDO, sung to the tune of THE BARD OF ARMAGH.

#7 THE WEXFORD GIRL, another popular murder ballad, is more usually known in England as THE CRUEL MILLER (Laws P 35) or THE OXFORD GIRL and in the USA as THE KNOXVILLE GIRL.

#8 is a version of GO AND LEAVE ME IF YOU WISH IT. It is in the Sam Henry collection as SWEET BANN WATER (No.722) and in the USA as THE DEAR COMPANION.

#9: Killaloe is about 12 miles N.E. of Limerick Town.

#10 is a bawdy ballad once popular in England, Cecil Sharp noted two versions in the West Country.

#11 was learned from the singer's second cousin in Co. Derry. Cecilia Costello sings it on FT-098.

#12, learned from her father in Co. Limerick, is sung by Robert Cinnamond on FT-158. (See Sam Henry Coll #615: FAREWELL BALLYMONEY & #625: DARK-EYED MOLL).

#13 VAN DIEMAN'S LAND (Laws L18) The English first colonised Tasmania in 1803 and transportation of convicts lasted until 1853.

#15 said to be a Galway song, learned from her brother. It can be compared with IF I WERE A BLACKBIRD, also popular with gypsies.

#16 was learned in Co. Limerick. The last verse probably refers to Johnny Patterson, a comedian-singer, whose BIDDY DONAH became a hit-song at the turn of the century.

#17: is a song of a fishing-boat wreck that could possibly be one of the "coffin ships" at the time of the Jacobite clearances (1690-2).

#18: Maroo is near Kilrush in Co. Clare.

#19: is another bawdy song popular with English gipsies.

#20: A version of THE CUCKOLD'S SONG (Child Ballad #274 OUR GOODMAN) popularised by The Dubliners under the title SEVEN DRUNKEN NIGHTS. See FTX-168 #18 with the same title but proves to be a version of MARROWBONES.

#21: is one of the finest versions collected in Britain & Ireland of the ballad EDWARD (Child #13). There is a Scots version, MY SON DAVID, from Jeannie Robertson on FTX-067. Mary Connors revealed her knowledge of the ballad when Peter, looking down at a puddle of spilled Guinness on the ground asked a group of nearby travellers: "What's this that lies a-sprinkled on the ground ?". He noticed Mary give the slightest twitch of her head. "Do you know that song ?" he asked. "No sir" she replied, emphatically denying she knew it, but Peter noticed she went on studying. At the very end of the night's singing, when the rest of the travellers had returned to their wagons, he asked her to record "that song". She knew just what was required of her and she obliged with this enduring version.