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You Rambling Boys of Pleasure

[ Roud 386 ; Ballad Index FowM059 ; VWML FK/18/252/1 , CJS2/10/1159 , CJS2/9/1155 ; Bodleian Roud 386 ; Mudcat 128254 , 13144 ; trad.]

Robert Cinnamond sang You Rambling Boys of Pleasure to Diane Hamilton, probably in Co. Antrim in 1961. This recording was released in 1975 on his posthumous Topic album of traditional ballads and songs from Ulster, You Rambling Boys of Pleasure. Proinsias Ó Conluain noted:

This is the ballad on which W.B. Yeats based his poem Down by the Salley Gardens, and as with many similar adaptations, it’s open to question to what extent the poet improved on the original. Robert got the song from his father.

Paddy Tunney sang The Rambling Boys of Pleasure on his 1966 Topic album The Irish Edge. This track was also included in 1995 on the Topic sampler Bards & Ballads. Sean O'Boyle commented in the original album's liner notes:

I first heard this song in 1954 from Robert Cinnamond of Aghadalgan on the shores of Lough Neagh in County Antrim. Paddy tells me that he has heard another version in North Mayo, but in this recording he sings Robert’s song, both words and music. Students of literature will recognise in the song the source of Yeats’ Old Song Resung now better known as Down by the Sally Gardens (Herbert Hughes, Irish Country Songs). Verse two of The Rambling Boys should be compared with Yeats’:

Down in the salley gardens my love and I did meet;
She passed the salley gardens with little snow-white feet.
She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree;
But I, being young and foolish, with her would not agree.

And with this version from New Hampshire, U.S.A.:

lt’s down in Sally’s Garden O there hangs Rosies three
O there, I met a fair Maid who told to me her mind so free
She bids me take love easy as leaves they do fall from the tree
But I being young and Crazy could not with her agree

(Flanders and Olney, Ballads Migrant in New England)

The melody is in the Doh mode. As far as I know there is no other song sung to this air, either in Irish or in English.

Oliver Mulligan sang You Rambling Boys of Pleasure at the King's Head Folkclub on 2 February 1970. This recording was included in 2012 on the Musical Traditions anthology King's Head Folkclub. Rod Stradling commented:

Roud shows 85 instances of this lovely song, of which 11 are sound recordings, and almost all the others are broadsides. Only 9 instances are from Ireland—and, surprisingly, two are from England.

Despite having been famously recorded by Robert Cinnamond, Paddy Tunney and Joe Holmes, no CD versions appear to be available.

Tim Lyons sang You Rambling Boys of Pleasure in 1972 on his Trailer album The Green Linnet.

Planxty sang You Rambling Boys of Pleasure on their 1979 album After the Break. They noted:

You Rambling Boys of Pleasure was learned from the singing of Len Graham and the late Joe Holmes from Co. Antrim, and also from Ian Stevenson of Derry, to whom many thanks. This is the song that was half remembered by W.B. Yeats and rewritten by him as Down by the Sally Gardens.

Several Planxty live recordings from between 1979 and 1982 were released in 2016 on their DVD Between the Jigs and the Reels and in 2018 on their CD One Night in Bremen. This video shows Andy Irvive in 1979:

The English Country Blues Band sang Rambling Boys of Pleasure in 1982 on their Dingle's album No Rules. This track was also included in 2002 on their retrospective CD Unruly.

Patti Reid sang Rambling Boys of Pleasure in 1987 on her Fellside album Patti Reid.

Peta Webb recorded You Rambling Boys of Pleasure in Spring 1989. This recording was included in 2003 on her Musical Traditions CD The Magpie's Nest.

Bert Jansch sang The Rambling Boys of Pleasure on his 1990 Run River album The Ornament Tree.

Mick Ryan and Paul Downes sang You Rambling Boys of Pleasure in 2013 on their WildGoose CD When Every Song Was New. He also sang it on a Crows live radio recording in the early 1980s that was included in 2016 on the Crows anthology CD Time to Rise.

John Jones sang Rambling Boys of Pleasure in 2015 on his Westpark album Never Stop Moving.

Olivia Chaney sang Ramblin' Boy on Kronos Quartet's 2017 CD Folk Songs.

Luc McNally sang Rambling Boys of Pleasure on his and Charlie Stewart's 2019 CD She's a Keeper.

Andy Turner sang You Roving Lads of Pleasure as the 25 March 2019 entry of his project A Folk Song a Week. His version is based on the one collected by Cecil Sharp from William Stokes of Chew Stoke, Somerset, on 11 January 1907 [VWML CJS2/10/1159, CJS2/9/1155] .

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