What happened in Cork on the 14th May?

Question

Year unknown, but 17th or 18th century, at a guess.

There's a Steeleye Span song stuck in my head. It's a version of a folk song about a dying soldier, called 'When I was on horseback'.

When I was on horseback, wasn't I pretty.
When I was on horseback, wasn't I gay.
Wasn't I pretty when I entered Cork city
And met with my downfall on the 14th of May.

The remainder seems to be the standard folk lament of a dying soldier/sailor/ploughboy i.e.'Get six jolly (insert occupation of choice) to carry my coffin' and so on.

What happened on in Cork on this date to cause the poor soldier's downfall?

Thanks for all the info, guys - more than I really needed! I know it's a folk song with links to loads of others, but what interested me was the specifics of this version - why that particular time and place? Why Cork when there are loads of other placenames with one syllable that would fit? OK, May for the rhyme, but why14th and not 7th or 20th? Any ideas?

Answer 1

big battle

When I was on horseback, wasn't I pretty
When I was on horseback, wasn't I gay
Wasn't I pretty when I entered Cork city
And met with my downfall on the fourteenth of may

Six jolly soldiers to carry my coffin
Six jolly soldiers to march by my side
It's six jolly soldiers take a bunch of red roses
And for to smell them as we go along

Beat the drum slowly and play the pipes only
Playing the deadmarch as we go along
And bring me to Tipperary and lay me down easy
I am a young soldier that've never done wrong

Steeleye Span recorded this track for their third album Ten Man Mop (or Mr Reservoir Butler Rides Again) and a second time for the CD Present to accompany the December 2002 Steeleye Span reunion tour. They also performed it live for the BBC radio programme “Peel's Sunday Concert” on September 15, 1971. This programme was included as bonus CD on the 2006 re-issue of Ten Man Mop.

'Its a traditional song, one of countless songs of the Unfortunate Rake family. While each telling a completely different story, they all share the description of the funeral (here verses 2 and 3). This version is Irish and is the most stripped down I know, consisting of virtually nothing but the funeral. It is worth noting that most versions have it “...I know I've done wrong” while here it's “...that never done wrong”. '

I think the the date is down to the rhyme, not an event. It is one of the few folk songs to have an alternative existence as a blues song, sometimes known as "Six White Horses".

they all derive from a much older tune, THE UNFORTUNATE RAKE

As I was a-walking down by St. James' Hospital,
I was a-walking down by there one day,
What should I spy but one of my comrades
All wrapped up in flannel though warm was the day.

I asked him what ailed him, I asked him what failed him,
I asked him the cause of all his complaint.
"It's all on account of some handsome young woman,
'Tis she that has caused me to weep and lament.

"And had she but told me before she disordered me,
Had she but told me of it in time,
I might have got pills and salts of white mercury,
But now I'm cut down in the height of my prime.

"Get six young soldiers to carry my coffin,
Six young girls to sing me a song,
And each of them carry a bunch of green laurel
So they don't smell me as they bear me along.

"Don't muffle your drums and play your fifes merrily,
Play a quick march as you carry me along,
And fire your bright muskets all over my coffin,
Saying: There goes an unfortunate lad to his home."

Answer 2

The Steeleye Span version is based on a much older folk song called "The Unfortunate Rake" which isn't in Cork or on any specific date, this seems to have been added later. The original refers to St. James' Hospital.

The Penguin Book Of English Folk Songs (1959) has additional details as does:

http://www.mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=7101
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=22885

Answer 3

I'm going to take an educated guess that it refers to the Black Whitsun events...

Still, many military historians have concluded that the IRA fought a largely successful and lethal guerrilla war, which forced the British government to conclude that the IRA could not be defeated militarily. The failure of the British efforts to put down the guerrillas was illustrated by the events of “Black Whitsun” on 13–15 May 1921. A general election for the parliament of Southern Ireland was held on 13 May. Sinn Féin won 124 of the new parliament’s 128 seats unopposed, but its elected members refused to take their seats. Under the terms of the Government of Ireland Act, the Southern Parliament was dissolved, and Southern Ireland was to be ruled as a crown colony. Over the next two days (14–15 May), the IRA killed fifteen policemen. These events marked the complete failure of the British Coalition Government’s Irish policy—both the failure to enforce a settlement without negotiating with Sinn Féin and a failure to defeat the IRA.

Answer 4

The song is one of the Unfortunate Rake ballad. The original theme was of a young person "cut down in their prime" with syphilis. Obviously 14 May was the date on which he caught the disease.

Answer 5

http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~zierke/steeleye.span/songs/wheniwasonhorseback.html Talks some abut the origin of this song. Go to the sight listed above for details about "the unfortunate rake family."

The other two sights listed below just talks about the origin and who sang it


The first talks about this song.
http://www.jdcjr.us/Songs/WhenIwasonHoreeback.html
This is what it states...
One of countless songs of the unfortunate Rake family. While each telling a completely different story, they all share the description of the funeral (here verses 2 and 3). This version is Irish and is the most stripped down I know, consisting of virtually nothing BUT the funeral. It is worth noting that most versions have it "...I know I've done wrong" while here it's "...that never done wrong". American versions include "The Streets Of Laredo" and "St. James Infirmary", British versions are "The Unfortunate Rake" and "Lock Hospital" and many more. There is a Folkways record ("The Unfortunate Rake", FS 3805) dedicated exclusively to this family.


WHEN I WAS ON HORSEBACK




When I was on horseback, wasn't I pretty
When I was on horseback, wasn't I gay
Wasn't I pretty when I entered Cork City
And met with my downfall on the 14th of May.

Six jolly soldiers to carry my coffin
Six jolly soldiers to march by my side
It's six jolly soldiers take a bunch of red roses
Well for to smell them as we go along.

Beat the drum slowly and play the pipes lowly
Play up the dead march as we go along
And bring me to Tipperary and lay me down easy
I am a young soldier that never done wrong

When I was on horseback, wasn't I pretty
When I was on horseback, wasn't I gay
Wasn't I pretty when I entered Cork City
And met with my downfall on the 14th of May.


A second version that came up was found at http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/song-midis/Locke_Hospital.htm
Locke Hospital
Play MIDI

Locke Hospital

As I was a-walking down by the Locke Hospital
Cold was the morning and dark was the day
I spied a young squaddie wrapped up in old linen
Wrapped up in old linen as cold as the day

Ch.: So play the drums slowly and play the fifes lowly
Sound a dead march as you carry him along
And over his coffin throw a bunch of white laurels
For he's a young soldier cut down in his prime.

Oh mother, dear mother, come sit ya down by me
Sit ya down by me and pity my sad plight
For my body is injured and sadly disordered
All by a young girl my own heart's delight

Get six of me comrades to carry my coffin
Get six of me comrades to carry me on high
And let every one hold a bunch of white roses
So no-one will notice as we pass them by

And over his headstone these words they were written
"All ye young fellows take warning from me.
Beware of the flash girls that roam through the city
For the girls of the city were the ruin of me."

---------------------------------------------------------
recorded by Christy Moore on "Prosperous" (1972)
Christy writes: "There have been many British garrisons around the world
through the years and each one has had its own Locke Hospital for soldiers
who caught the dreaded disease. I believe this is a Dublin song, but if
not its musical origins are certainly Irish."

One of countless songs of the Unfortunate Rake family. While each telling
a completely different story, they all share the description of the funeral
(here chorus and verse 3). This version is probably very close to the
original version. American versions include "The Streets Of
Laredo" and "St. James Infirmary", British versions are "The Unfortunate
Rake" and "When I Was On Horseback" and many more. Ther
("The Unfortunate Rake", FS 3805) dedicated exclusively to this family.



.

Answer 6

The Pubs opened