Where the Moorcocks Grow (The Mountain Stream; With My Dog and Gun)

DESCRIPTION: The singer sets out "with my dog and gun o'er the blooming heather." He meets a girl, and begs her to marry him, offering to give up roving if she does. She decides to wait "another season," both to test his love and to gain her parent's consent
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1924 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: rambling courting love marriage
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber)) Ireland
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 136, "The Mountain Stream" (1 text, 1 tune)
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H32, pp. 269-270, "Where the Moorcocks Grow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Tunney-StoneFiddle, pp. 20-21, "The Mountain Streams Where the Moorcocks Crow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Tunney-WhereSongsDoThunder, p. 181, "The Mountain Streams" (1 text)
OBoyle-TheIrishSongTradition 18, "The Mountain Streams" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, DOGNGUN
Roud #2124
RECORDINGS:
Eddie Butcher, "The Mountain Streams Where the Moorcock Crows" (on IREButcher01)
Dennis Cassley, "The Mountain Streams" (on FSBFTX13)
Marge Steiner, "The Mountain Streams Where The Moorcocks Crow" (on Steiner01)
Sheila Stewart, "Mountain Streams Where the Moorcocks Crow" (on Voice17); "MyDog and Gun" (on SCStewartsBlair01)
Brigid Tunney, "The Mountain Streams" (on IRTunneyFamily01)
Paddy Tunney, "The Mountain Streams" (on FSB01; as "The Mountain Streams Where the Moorcocks Crow" on Voice06); "The Mountain Streams Where the Moorcocks Crow" (on IRPTunney02)
NOTES [58 words]: Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland, based mostly on the affinity of this piece with "The Corncrake," argues that the song comes from Ayreshire in Scotland; Henry claimed that "the song was composed about 70 years ago [i.e. c. 1855] by a roving sportsman in honour of a young lady of Letterloan." I know of no solid evidence for either claim. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.4
File: K136

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