In all ages, and amongst every variety of people, the most important historical events have been chronicled in song, and handed from generation to generation. The follow song tells the story of the most important battle in Protestant history, which led to the “Bill of Rights” in 1689.
The Bill firmly established the principles of frequent parliaments, free elections and freedom of speech within Parliament – known today as Parliamentary Privilege.
It also includes no right of taxation without Parliament’s agreement, freedom from government interference, the right of petition and just treatment of people by courts.
The main principles of the Bill of Rights are still in force today – particularly being cited in legal cases – and was used as a model for the US Bill of Rights 1789. Its influence can also be seen in other documents establishing the rights of humans, such as the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights.
July the first in Oldbridge town, There was a grievous battle, Where many a man lay on the ground by the cannons that did rattle: King James he pitched his tents between The lines for to retire. But King William threw his bomb balls in, And set them all on fire. Thereat enraged, they vowed revenge upon King William's forces, and often cried vehemently, That they would stop their courses. A bullet from the Irish came, Which grazed King William's arm, They thought his Majesty was slain, Yet it did him little harm. Then Duke Schomberg he in friendly care, His King would often caution, To shun the spot where bullets hot, Retain'd their rapid motion: But William said, " he don't deserve The name of Faith's Defender, That would not venture life and limb To make a foe surrender." When we the Boyne began to cross, The enemy they defended. But few of our brave men were lost, So stoutly we defended: The horse were the first that marched o'er, The foot soon followed after. But brave Duke Schomberg was no more, By venturing over the Water. When valiant Schomberg he was slain, King William then accosted. His warlike men for to march on, And he would be the foremost: "Brave boys," he said, " be not dismayed, For the losing of one Commander, For God will be our King this day, And I'll be the general under." Then stoutly we the Boyne did cross, To give our enemies battle. Our cannon, to our foes' great cost, Like thund'ring claps did rattle. In majestic mein our Prince rode o'er, His men soon follow'd after, With blows and shouts put foes to the rout. The day we cross'd the Water. The Protestants of Drogheda, Have reason to be thankful, That they were not to bondage brought, They being but a handful. First to the Tholsel they were brought, and tried at the Millmount after. But brave King William set them free, By venturing over the Water. The cunning French near to Duleek, Had taken up their quarters. And fenced themselves on every side, A waiting for new orders. But in the dead time of the night, They set the fields on fire, And long before the morning light, To Dublin they did retire. Then said King William to his men. After the French departed, “I'm glad, indeed that none of ye Seemed to be faint-hearted. So sheath your swords, and rest awhile, In time we'll follow after;" Those words he utter'd with a smile, The day he cross'd the Water. Come let us all with heart and voice, Applaud our lives' defender, Who at the Boyne his valour shew'd, And made his foe surrender. To God above the praise we'll give, Both now and ever after. And bless the glorious Memory Of William that cross'd the Water.
Set to Tune: The Boyne Water
BOYNE WATER, THE (Briseadh na Bóinne).
Irish, English; Air or March (4/4 time).
The name Boyne itself is derived from the name of the goddess Boinn, literally ‘cow-white’, “a name well suited to a pastoral people whose wealth was chiefly in cattle” (Matthews, 1972). The name of the tune, however, commemorates the Battle of the Boyne (named for the Boyne River in County Meath, eastern Ireland, though the battle itself was fought three miles west of Drogheda), fought July 1st, 1690, in which the English monarch King William III defeated the Irish forces under King James II.”
It has always been, and still is, very popular among the Orangemen of Ulster. The ballad follows the historical accounts of the battle correctly enough. The air is well known in the south (of Ireland) also, where it is commonly called Sebladh na n-gamhan, ‘Leading the Calves,’ A good setting is given by Bunting in his second collection: the Munster and Connaught versions are given by Petrie in his Ancient Music of Ireland, vol. II, p. 12.
O’Neill (1913) lists “Boyne Water” as one of the “splendid martial airs” of Irish music.
Samuel Bayard (1981) believes “Boyne Water” was composed in the seventeenth century, and thinks it has always been more of a vocal air rather than an instrumental tune. As witnessed by the myriad of titles in the beginning of this entry, it has been a popular air in the British Isles and, as Bayard states, “altogether, the forms suggest that it has undergone a long traditional development.”
He believes the second half may have been the original tune, with the first half being fashioned out of elements from earlier strains. Bronson discerns the origins of the whole tune family in a Scottish melody found in the Skene Manuscript of c. 1615.
Grattan Flood (1913) dates the tune from c. 1645, long before the famous battle, though how he arrived at this date is obscure. Cowdery (1990) believes that Flood’s thinking may have stemmed from a reference to a melody published by Petrie (1855), called “To seek for the lambs I have sent my child,” in which the latter writer declared, “in its superior purity of expression, and in its passionate depth of feeling, affords intrinsic evidence of an original intention, and consequent priority of antiquity, which will not be found in that which I consider to be the derived from of it called ‘The Boyne Water.'”
Be that as it may, Aloys Fleichmann’s index gives that “Boyne Water” was first published in George Bowie’s fiddle manuscript of 1706. O’Neill (1913) concludes the same Gaelic airs printed by Petrie are early antecedents of “Boyne Water,” Nos. 1529 (“A Long mo Gamain” {To look for my calves I sent my child”}) and 1530 (“An Tuainirc na nGainna”. Breathnach (1985), in CRE II (No. 124), gives a polka setting and remarks it was used for the last figure of the Clare polka set, and says that “Rosc Catha na Mumhan” (The Munster War-Cry) is sung to this air.
However old it actually is in oral tradition, we find the earliest printed appearances of the tune in William Graham’s Flute Book of 1694 (as “Playing Amang the Rashes”) and in D’Urfey’s Pills to Purge Melancholy (where it appears as an untitled air).
The melody remained in popular usage throughout the British Isles for well over two hundred years.
Robert Burns set three songs to it in Johnson’s Scots Musical Museum, and it was the vehicle for the Scots songs “Wee Wee German Lairdie (The)” and “Andro/Andrew and His Cuttie Gun” (the latter from Alan Ramsay’s 1740 edition of the Tea-Table Miscellany).
In Ireland, Sir Thomas Moore used the melody for his c. 1825 song “As Vanquished Erin.”
The air was widespread in American usage, often heard as the tune the popular song “Barbara Allan” was sung to, which fact has been noted by several writers.
It is, for example, identified by Cowdery (1990) as one of four tunes which carry the tale of “(Bonny) Barbara Allen” (the second strain of both Joyce’s version and Bunting’s “To seek for the Lambs…” is the portion of the Irish tune which corresponds to the America “Barbara Allen”).
As “The Battle of the Boyne” it was included in a Philadelphia chapbook of 1805, and, under the title “The Buoying Water,” as an instrumental piece in the 1790 Whittier Perkins Book (Cazden, et al, 1982). According to Bronner (1987), it was used for an 1815 hit American blackface minstrel song by Micah Hawkins called “Seige of Plattsburg” or “Back Side of Albany.”
Cazden prints it with the Catskill Mountain (N.Y.)-collected song “A Shantyman’s Life,” which he states can be found in most collections of lumber camp songs.
Musicologist Alan Jabbour traces one of the strains of Virginia fiddler Henry Reed’s “Shady Grove” ultimately to the Boyne water, and says the strain was absorbed into American traditional music, also referencing another Virginia fiddler, J.H. Chisholm, and his tune called “The Foggy Dew,” which also uses the strain. Professor Samuel Bayard thought “Come Kiss with Me” to be a special development of “Boyne Water.”
The political connotations of “The Boyne Water” long remained attached to the melody, even after it was imported to North America. Bayard (1981) relates that the mere playing of the tune in the presence of Catholic Irish in western Pennsylvania “could bring on a mass attack,” and repeats the Fayette County story of an old Irishman digging potatoes in the garden while his wife followed along beside him picking the up in a sack. She absent-mindedly began singing the air, upon which he turned around and, incensed, brained her with one blow of his spade. In fact, Pennsylvania fifers declined to play the tune for Bayard at gatherings, fearing to destroy the harmony of the group with “political pieces.”
As known as
- Back Side of Albany,
- Bayne Water,
- Bottom of the Punch Bowl (The),
- Boyne Water Quickstep,
- Briseadh na Bóinne,
- As Vanquished Erin,
- Battle of the Boyne Water (The),
- Barbara Allan,
- Cameronian Rant,
- Cavalcade of the Boyne,
- Come Kiss with Me
- Come out you black and tans,
- Driving of the Calves (The),
- Findlay,
- Foggy Dew (The)
- Idbury Hill,
- King William’s March,
- Lass If I Come Near You,
- Leading the Calves,
- Leading the Calves in the Pasture,
- Native Swords,
- One Pleasant Morning Beside the Glen,
- Playing Amang the Rashes, Rashes (The),
- Praises of Limerick,
- Rosc Catha na Mumhan (The Munster War-Cry)
- Sheila Ni Gowna,
- Seige of Plattsburg
- Song of the Volunteers,
- Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation,
- To seek for the lambs I have sent my child,
- Wee Wee German Lairdie (The),
- Wha the Deil hae We Gotten for a King?,
- When the King came o’er the water,
Printed sources
- Aird (Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 2), 1785; No. 121, p. 44.
- Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 317A-D, pp. 271–273.
- Breathnach (Ceol Rince na hÉireann vol. 2), 1976; No. 124, p. 66.
- Thomas Calvert (A Collection of Marches & Quick Steps, Strathspeys and Reels), 1799; p. 7.
- Davie (Davies Caledonian Repository), Aberdeen, 1829-30; p. 8.
- Gow (The Beauties of Niel Gow), 1819. P.M.
- Haverty (One Hundred Irish Airs, vol. 1), 1858; No. 76, p. 32 (as “Cavalcade of the Boyne”).
- Howe (Complete Preceptor for the Accordeon), c. 1843; p. 4.
- Jordan (Whistle and Sing!), 1975; 19.
- Joyce (Old Irish Folk Music and Songs), 1909; No. 151 and No. 377, pp. 183–184.
- R.M. Levey (Dance Music of Ireland, 1st Collection), 1858; No. 107, p. 42.
- Manson (Hamilton’s Universal Tune-Book, vol. 1), 1844; p. 55.
- O’Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 204 & No. 260, p. 45.
- O’Neill (O’Neill’s Irish Music), 1915; No. 107, p. 60.
- Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; p. 208.
- Roche (Collection of Traditional Irish Music, vol. 1), 1912; p. 8, No. 4.
- Susan Songer with Clyde Curley (Portland Collection vol. 3), 2015; p. 38.
Article Sources
- Lyrics: The Standard Orange Songbook (personal collection)
- Musicology:The Traditional Tune Archive