Peace and Love The Pogues: The Rest of the Best Misty Morning, Albert Bridge

YOUNG NED OF THE HILL

TAB
Have you ever walked the lonesome hills
And heard the curlews cry
Or seen the raven black as night
Upon a windswept sky
To walk the purple heather
And hear the westwind cry
To know that's where the rapparee must die
Since Cromwell pushed us westward
To live our lowly lives
There's some of us have deemed to fight
From Tipperary mountains high
Noble men with wills of iron
Who are not afraid to die
Who'll fight with gaelic honour held on high
A curse upon you Oliver Cromwell
You who raped our Motherland
I hope you're rotting down in hell
For the horrors that you sent
To our misfortunate forefathers
Whom you robbed of their birthright
"To hell or Connaught" may you burn in hell tonight
Of one such man I'd like to speak
A rapparee by name and deed
His family dispossessed and slaughtered
They put a price upon his head
His name is known in song and story
His deeds are legends still
And murdered for blood money
Was young Ned of the hill
A curse upon you Oliver Cromwell
You who raped our Motherland
I hope you're rotting down in hell
For the horrors that you sent
To our misfortunate forefathers
Whom you robbed of their birthright
"To hell or Connaught" may you burn in hell tonight
You have robbed our homes and fortunes
Even drove us from our land
You tried to break our spirit
But you'll never understand
The love of dear old Ireland
That will forge an iron will
As long as there are gallant men
Like young Ned of the hill

copyright 1989 Terry Woods & Ron Kavana

Note: Starting on Dec. 30, 1996, there was some discussion regarding the meaning of the word "rapparee."


Mike Tackett wrote (in rec.music.celtic and alt.music.pogues):

I was wandering through the Pogues 'Peace and Love' album and tried reading the lyrics to 'Young Ned of the Hill', an anti-Cromwell diatribe if ever there was one. What caught my attention, however, was an unfamiliar word "rapparee", used in the following lines:
"To hear the westwind cry
To know that's where the rapparee must die
...
Of one such man I'd like to speak
A rapparee by name and deed...."
Can anyone shed any light on the meaning and origins of this word? Damnable intriguing!

I threw my hat into the discussion by guessing that, from the context of the song, "rapparee" sounded like it probably meant "rebel," or something quite like it. Arne Gustav Carlsten replied:

Pretty much; though "highwayman" might be a good choice as well. Elements of both "professions" are involved...

"Rapparee" is used in a fair number of older traditional songs; it seems to be an Anglicized spelling of "ropaire," which in turn looks to be the Gaelicized version of "robber."


Sean also responded to my guess, writing:

Most decent dictionaries will refer to rapparee as a specifically Irish thing. It most often explained as a rogue, freebooter or mercenary. It's a fairly historically specific term as well, sort of a pre-Fenian Fenian, with less emphasis on the politic and more on the ruckus.

A Jesse James of sorts.


And Greer Gilman responded to the original post with:

The OED [Oxford English Dictionary] defines "rapparee" (from the Irish *rapaire*, a short pike) as:
2. Hist. An Irish pikeman or irregular soldier, of the kind prominent during the war of 1688-92; hence, an Irish bandit, robber, or freebooter.

There's just no end to the education that goes on around here... 



Your intrepid maintainer is DzM.