Gallant Forty-Twa, The

DESCRIPTION: Weaver Willie Brown enlists. The first sergeant fears he'll "make an awfu' mess o' the gallant forty-twa." Willie is always "first man at the table." When he goes home on furlough he'll teach his comrades to handle a gun and show them he's a corporal.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (Greig/Duncan1); 19C (broadside, NLScotland L.C.Fol.70(25a))
KEYWORDS: army Scotland humorous nonballad soldier
FOUND IN: Ireland Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greig/Duncan1 70, "The Gallant Forty-Twa" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hammond-SongsOfBelfast, pp. 36-37, "The Gallant Forty-Twa" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, GALNT42*
Roud #1877
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(25a), "The Gallant Forty-Twa," Poet's Box (Dundee), c.1890
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bonnets o' Blue" (subject: 42nd Highlanders or Black Watch)
cf. "McCaffery (McCassery)" (subject: 42nd Highlanders or Black Watch)
cf. "Wha Saw the Forty-Second" (subject: 42nd Highlanders or Black Watch)
cf. "Here's to the Black Watch" (subject: 42nd Highlanders or Black Watch)
cf. "Old Recruiting Soldier (Twa Recruiting Sergeants)" (subject: 42nd Highlanders or Black Watch)
cf. "The Bonnets o' Blue" (subject: 42nd Highlanders or Black Watch)
cf. "Young Munro" (subject: 42nd Highlanders or Black Watch)
NOTES [228 words]: NLScotland commentary to L.C.Fol.70(25a): "The 'forty-twa' is the 42nd Highland Regiment, more commonly known as the Black Watch." [For the record of this regiment, see "Wha Saw the Forty-Second." - RBW]
Hammond-SongsOfBelfast attributes one verse and chorus to Oiny Boak and other verses to Hugh Quinn (1884-1956). Oiny Boak's verse ("You may talk about your Lancers or your Irish Fusiliers, Your Aberdeen Militia or the Dublin Volunteers; Or any other regiment that's lying far awa', But give to me the tartan of the gallant forty twa") is the chorus of the broadside. His chorus ("Strolling through the green fields on a summer's day, Watching all the country girls forking up the hay, I really was delighted till he stole my heart awa', Then left me for the tartan of the gallant forty-twa") and Quinn's verses (the female singer recalls the day her lover marched away to war, and then when he returned) have no broadside counterpart. If the Hammond-SongsOfBelfast version is sung in Ireland, the broadside version is sung in Scotland (see Greig/Duncan 1 70, which omits the chorus).
The source for the description is broadside NLScotland L.C.Fol.70(25a).
Also collected and sung by David Hammond, "The Gallant Forty-Twa" (on David Hammond, "I Am the Wee Falorie Man: Folk Songs of Ireland," Tradition TCD1052 CD (1997) reissue of Tradition LP TLP 1028 (1959)) - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: Hamm036

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