“The Twangman”
Description
A twang hawker and rag-picker Mickey Baggs courted a girl who "kep' a Traycle Billy depot." Baggs won her heart taking her to play "Billy-in-the-bowl." So "with his twang kni-ef [twangman] tuk the li-ef Of the poor ould gather'em-up!"
Notes
In response to queries in earlier editions of the Index, Tom O'Leary informs me that "twang" is toffee. He adds that a "'Traycle depot' [was] a sweet shop, which in this case, was near to, or on one side of the Carlisle Bridge, Dublin."
Harty, on the other hand, says that it was Treacle Billy that was the toffee and twang another sort of sweetmeat. It makes little difference; the twangman certainly sold toffee.
The song says that the twangman only sells his wares "when the mileetia wasn't wantin'"; this is no particular constraint on his schedule, as miltitia in this period was a very part-time organization except when there was a rebellion in process. - RBW, (BS)
We might note that Harty questions whether this is actually by Zozimus (for whom see ). But his evidence is negative: The song is not mentioned in the Zozimus memoirs. For background on Zozimus, see the notes to "The Finding of Moses." - RBW
References
- OLochlainn, pp. 231-232, "The Twangman" (1 text, 1 tune)
- DT, TWANGMAN
- ADDITIONAL: Frank Harte _Songs of Dublin_, second edition, Ossian, 1993, pp. 44-45, "The Twangman" (1 text, 1 tune)
- BI, OLoc231B