Minstrel Boy, The

DESCRIPTION: "The minstrel boy to the war is gone, In the ranks of death you'll find him. His father's sword he has girded on And his wild hard slung behind him." The minstrel falls in battle, destroying his harp so that "no chains shall sully thee."
AUTHOR: Words: Thomas Moore (1779-1852)
EARLIEST DATE: 1813 ("A Selection of Irish Melodies")
KEYWORDS: soldier harp music death
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Moore-IrishMelodies-1846, pp. 99-100, "The Minstrel-Boy" (1 text)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #1440, p. 97, "The Minstrel Boy" (1 reference)
Jolly-Miller-Songster-5thEd, #86, "The Minstrel Boy" (1 text)
Hylands-Mammoth-Hibernian-Songster, p. 57, "The Minstrel Boy" (1 text)
Fireside-Book-of-Folk-Songs, p. 226, "The Minstrel Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 279, "The Minstrel Boy" (1 text)
Fuld-BookOfWorldFamousMusic, p. 369, "The Minstrel-Boy"
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 188, "Minstrel Boy" (notes only)
DT, MINSTBOY
ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), p. 375, "The Minstrel Boy" (1 text)
Roud #13867
RECORDINGS:
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "The Minstrel Boy" (on IRClancyMakem03)
Martin Lay, "The Minstrel Boy" (Piotr-Archive #81, recorded 09/10/2021)
Vernon Stiles, "The Minstrel Boy" (Columbia A-2435, 1917)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(1037), "The Minstrel Boy", T. Birt (London), 1828-1829; also 2806 b.9(243), 2806 c.15(207), Harding B 11(1471), Harding B 16(49c), Firth b.26(434)[some words illegible], Firth b.25(385), Harding B 11(2293), 2806 c.16(197), Firth b.27(457/458) View 1 of 4, Johnson Ballads fol. 26, Harding B 40(2) View 3 of 4[some words cut out], Harding B 19(48), Firth b.26(87)[some words illegible], "The Minstrel Boy"
LOCSheet, sm1879 02687, "The Minstrel Boy", Edw Schuberth (New York), 1879; also sm1882 21694, sm1882 22258, sm1884 25744, sm1885 05300, "The Minstrel Boy" (tune)
LOCSinging, sb30345a, "The Minstrel Boy", H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Fisherman's Son to the Ice Has Gone" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
The ASC to the War Have Gone (File: AWTBW082)
My Northern Boy to the War Has Gone! (by John Ross Dix) (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets p. 104)
The Soldier's Funeral ("He mingled not with the glorious slain," by John Ross Dix) (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets p. 145)
NOTES [231 words]: Usually sung, in these days, as an anti-war song, but originally composed as an Irish freedom piece. The music is said to be "The Moreen," though that song is obscure. Songs That Never Grow Old (1909, 1913) credits the music to the popular composer Michael W. Balfe (who wrote the music to "Killarney") -- but doesn't mention Thomas Moore!
This is another of Moore's "big works"; Granger's Index to Poetry cites it from 13 different anthologies. Ironically, I'm not sure it has ever been found strictly in tradition.
There was a broadside, "The Coal Black Steed." The most common edition was published by Thomas M. Scroggy of Philadelphia (I own one, and have seen about eight others online). This edition is subtitled "An Original Glee -- Words by John Moore." It begins, "The Knight is on his steed again, To the fields of war he's going." (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets #323; Roud V364; Bodleian, Harding B 18(88), Firth b.34(118), Harding B 15(47b), Harding B 11(4218), 2806 c.16(30)=Harding B 11(992), Harding B 11(626), Harding B 11(993)). No tune is indicated, but the form, some of the words, and even the authorship by "Moore" hint that it is a parody of "The Minstrel Boy." - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging sb30345a: H. De Marsan dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
Last updated in version 6.7
File: FSWB279A

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