Annotation:Boys of Wexford (The)

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BOYS OF WEXFORD, THE (Buacaillide Loca g-Carman). AKA and see "Boys of Ireland," "Flight of the Earls," "In Comes the Captain's Daughter," "Lowlands of Holland," "Snowy Breasted Pearl (2)." Irish, Air or March (4/4 time, "with spirit"). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (Brody, Johnson, O'Neill): AB (Roche). Wexford is the southeastern Irish county in which the famous doomed rebellion of 1798 began, and, indeed, the phrase 'the boys of Wexford' has often been used to denote those involved in the rebellion. O'Neill (1913) classifies this air as belonging to the group with "Willy Reilly" et al (see note for "Willy Reilly (2)"). The tune was recorded as "The Boys of Ireland" by Martin Beirne and His Irish Blackbirds in the 78 RPM era. The lyric begins:

Came in the captain's daughter, the captain of the yeos,
Saying brave united Irishmen, we'll ne'er again be foes;
A thousand pounds I give you and fly from home with ye,
And dress myself in man's attire and fight for liberty.

Chorus:
We are the boys of Wexford, who fight with heart and hand,
To break in twain, the galling chain and free our native land.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; p. 55. Johnson (Kitchen Musician No. 5: Mostly Irish Airs), 1985 (revised 2000); p. 13. O'Neill (O'Neill's Irish Music), 1915; No. 42, p. 28. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 81, p. 14. Roche (Collection of Traditional Irish Music, vol. 3), 1927; p. 12, no. 42.

Recorded sources: Front Hall 01, Fennigs All Stars – "The Hammered Dulcimer" (1973).

See also listings at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [2]

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