“The Boys of Kilkenny”
Description
"Oh the boys of Kilkenny are brave roaring blades." They kiss and coax every girl they meet. The singer remembers a "pretty dame" from Kilkenny. Now he's in exile; if he were in back there, he could get "sweethearts but here can get none"
Notes
Source: Re author--the Bodleian Library broadside.
Croker-PopularSongs says Thomas Moore, whom he admits he incorrectly believed wrote the song, "sung 'The Boys of Kilkenny' in England, where he became a permanent resident about 1807."
Broadside LOCSinging as101550: J. Andrews dating per _Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song_ by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
Cross references
- cf. The Boys of Virginia (theme, some lyrics)
- cf. "The Old Head of Denis" (tune, according to Croker-PopularSongs)
Broadsides
- Bodleian, Harding B 11(2403), "The Boys of Kilkenny," J. Pitts (London), 1819-1844; also Firth b.26(318), Firth b.25(595/596) View 2 of 2, 2806 b.11(171), "[The] Boys of Kilkenny"
- LOCSinging, as101550, "The Boys of Killkenny," J. Andrews (New York), 1853-1859
References
- OLochlainn 73, "The Boys of Kilkenny" (1 text, 1 tune)
- O'Conor, p. 44, "The Boys of Kilkenny" (1 text)
- Croker-PopularSongs, pp. 196-199, "The Boys of Kilkenny" (1 text)
- Roud #1451
- BI, Ocon044