Bold Ranger, The

DESCRIPTION: The huntsmen go out to seek the fox: "Come and hunt Bull (Ranger) (Reynard?) Among the hills and rocks." Along the way, they meet various people, who may tell them where the fox has gone
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1886 (Long-Wight)
KEYWORDS: hunting animal
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South)) US(Ap,MW,NE,SE,So)
REFERENCES (20 citations):
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "THREE JOLLY HUNTSMEN"
Williams-FolkSongsOfTheUpperThames, pp. 67-68, "The Three Jolly Huntsmen" (1 text) (also Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO WT 472)
Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Ox 274
Flanders/Ballard/Brown/Barry-NewGreenMountainSongster, pp. 196-197, "Bold Reynard" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 76, "Bold Ranger" (2 texts, 1 tune)
High-OldOldFolkSongs, p. 26, "A.. Fox Hunting" (1 text)
Eddy-BalladsAndSongsFromOhio 84, "The Ranger" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Grimes-StoriesFromTheAnneGrimesCollection, p. 122, "Portsmouth Fellows" (1 text)
Cox-FolkSongsSouth 164, "The Ranger" (1 text)
Bush-FSofCentralWestVirginiaVol1, pp. 66-67, "Bo' Ranger" (1 text, 1 tune)
Boette-SingaHipsyDoodle, p. 113, "Tom Reynard (The Fox in Legend)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore2 190, "Three Jolly Welshmen" (5 text, but only "A" and "B" are "Three Jolly Huntsmen"; "C," "D," and "E" appear to belong here)
Chappell-FolkSongsOfRoanokeAndTheAlbermarle 101, "The Foxes" (1 text, 1 tune, a bare fragment with no mention of Reynard; it includes only the conversations with the people the hunters meet, and might possibly belong to other members of this song group)
Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest 117, "Bold Rangers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-1ed, pp. 269-270, "Old Fodder" (1 text, 1 tune)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-2ed, pp. 135-136, "Come All You Jolly Hunters" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wolfe/Boswell-FolkSongsOfMiddleTennessee 23, pp. 43-44, "The Hound and the Fox" (1 text, 1 tune, which Wolfe calls a version of "Three Jolly Huntsmen" but which is clearly this)
Scarborough-ASongCatcherInSouthernMountains, pp. 7+10, "Tom Redman" (1 text; tune on p. 385)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 214, "The Three Huntsmen" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: W H Long, A Dictionary of the Isle of Wight Dialect to which is appended ... Songs Sung by the Peasantry" (London, 1886 ("Digitized by Google")), pp. 117-118, "The Jovial Sportsmen" ("There was zome jolly sportsmen Went out to hunt a fox") (1 text) [Not yet indexed as Long-Wight pp. 117-118]
ST R076 (Partial)
Roud #796
RECORDINGS:
J. L. Peters, "How Happy is the Sportsman" (AFS, 1946; on LC55)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Bold Reynard the Fox (Tallyho! Hark! Away!)" (form, theme, lyrics)
cf. "Three Jolly Huntsmen" (theme, some lyrics)
NOTES [61 words]: This appears very much to be a worn-down version of "Bold Reynard the Fox (Tallyho! Hark! Away!)," possibly influenced by "Three Jolly Huntsmen." For further discussion, see the notes to "Bold Reynard."
It's worth noting that Roud subdivides this song differently, with "The Hare's Dream" being one group and "Bold Reynard" plus the "Bold Ranger" being the other. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: R076

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