Rollicking Boys Around Tandragee, The

DESCRIPTION: The song is about Tandragee, its "darling colleens" and "rollicking boys." Other places have their fine points but Tandragee has its wonderful dancers, bold men and rare singers. "The gem of oul' Ireland is Tandragee"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (IRTunneyFamily01)
KEYWORDS: dancing music Ireland nonballad home
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Tunney-StoneFiddle, pp. 91-92, "The Rollicking Boys Around Tandragee" (1 text)
Roud #3106
RECORDINGS:
Michael Gallagher, "The Rollicking Boys Around Tandaragee" (on IRTunneyFamily01)
Paddy Tunney, "The Rollicking Boys Around Tandaragee" (on IRPTunney03)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bunch of Green Rushes that Grew on the Brim" (tune, according to Tunney-StoneFiddle)
NOTES [161 words]: This song strings together references to other songs: "The House That Jack Built," "The Praties They Grow Small," "Donnybrook Fair," "Irish Jaunting Car," "The Rakes of Kildare," ...; and famous men: Robert Emmet, Burke, Dan O'Connell and Thomas Moore.
Tunney-StoneFiddle: .".. a good-humoured swipe is made at quite a few sacred cows.... 'That', he [the singer] maintained, 'is the satire to slay all stage-Irishmen!'" - BS
Heather Preston tells us, "Tandragee (formerly known as Tanderagee) was nearly 90% Protestant and famous in Ireland for having very Puritanical attitudes toward things like singing and dancing, not to mention pubs. So the song was composed to annoy the heck out of the straight-laced citizenry of Tandragee; it's not just 'stage Irishmen' who would be slain by the level of satire." Those wishing to see supporting evidence about Tandragee may consult the "Demography" section of the Wikipedia article on Tandragee [checked February 2020]. -(RBW)
Last updated in version 5.1
File: TSF091

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