eldin raigmore
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Joined: 03 May 2007
Posts: 1621
Location: SouthEast Michigan
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 Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 5:21 pm Post subject: Johnny, I hardly knew ye |
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This is the version I remember; apparently it's mostly wrong.
1.
While travlin the road to sweet Athy (harroo, harroo)
Me Johnny boy I chanced to see (harroo, harroo)
O where are the legs on which ye run
When first ye went to carry a gun?
Indeed your dancing days are done.
Oh, Johnny, I hardly knew ye.
Chorus:
Wi' their guns and drums and drums and guns the enemy nearly slew ye.
Me Johnny dear, ye look so queer;
Oh, Johnny, I hardly knew ye.
2.
Where are the eyes that used to smile (harroo, harroo)
When my poor heart ye first beguiled? (harroo, harroo)
O where are the eyes that used to smile
When my poor heart ye first beguiled?
And why did ye run from me an' the child?
Oh, Johnny, I hardly knew ye.
Chorus:
Wi' their guns and drums and drums and guns the enemy nearly slew ye.
Me Johnny dear, ye look so queer;
Oh, Johnny, I hardly knew ye.
Last Chorus:
Oh ye haven't an arm and ye haven't a leg;
Ye're an eyless, noseless, chickenless egg:
An' ye'll have to be put in a bowl to beg.
Oh, Johnny, I hardly knew ye.
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Other versions, including recordings and videos of performances, as well as what are probably the "official" lyrics:
other versions
video and music
another version
and another
and another
probably closest to an "official" version
Also, from http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=76196, see this:
| Joe Offer wrote: | FIGHTING FOR STRANGERS
chorus: What makes you go away, fighting for strangers,
When you could be save at home, free from all dangers?
A recruiting sergeant came my way,
To an inn nearby at the break of day.
He said: "Young Johnny you're a fine young man,
Do you want to march along behind a military band,
With a scarlet coat, a big cocked hat
And a muscet on your shoulder?"
A shilling he took and he kissed the book,
Oh Johnny, what will happen to ya?
The recruiting sergeant marched away,
From the inn nearby at the break of day.
Johnny went too, with half a ring,
He was off to be a soldier, he'd be fighting for the king,
In a far off war, in a far off land,
To face a foreign soldier.
But how will he fare when there's lead in the air,
Oh poor Johnny, what will happen to ya?
The sun shone high on a barren land,
As a thin red line took the military stand.
Sling shot, chain shot, grape shot too,
Swords and bayonets thrusting through,
Poor Johnny fell but the day was won
And the King is grateful to ya.
With your soldier deeds done, we're sending you home,
Oh poor Johnny, what have they done to ya?
Oh, they said he was a hero and not to grieve
Over two wooden legs and an empty sleeve.
They carried him home and they sat him down
With a military pension and a medal from the crown.
You haven't an arm, you haven't a leg,
The enemy nearly slew ya.
You'll have to be put with a bowl to beg,
Oh poor Johnny what have they done to ya?
chorus: (2x)
recorded by Steeleye Span on "Rocket Cottage" (1976).
Note: This is one of the most intense 19th century anti-war
songs.
It seems to be a combination of pieces of several other songs, the
first two verses are reminiscent of the Irish recruiting songs like
"Twa Recruiting Sergeants" or "Arthur McBride" with a short hint
at the Broken Token theme ("with half a ring")
while the second half of the last verse is snatched as a whole
from "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ya".
To the tune of "He Who Would Valiant Be". |
| smudger wrote: | | In the 18th and 19th centuries, it was the task of recruiting sergeants to go about the country, each accompanied, as a rule by a drummer boy and sometimes a fifer. When a likely recruit was found, the sergeant on enlisting him, would pay him a shilling as his enrolment bounty. Once the shilling was taken, the young man was deemed in the law to be a soldier. There were many occasions when a possible recruit was still expressing doubts and a common way to overcome them was for the recruiting sergeant to drop a shilling into a pot of beer and press it on the hesitant man. Even a sip at the beer was then construed as taken, or drinking, the King’s Shilling. In Victoria’s day it was of course known as the Queen’s Shilling. |
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"We're the healthiest horse in the glue factory" - Erskine Bowles, Co-Chairman of the deficit reduction commission |
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