The Jolly Beggar
Notation:
Standard Notation
ABC Notation
Mandolin Tablature
Violin Tablature
traditional
PDF Files:
--- choose file type ---
Standard Notation
Mandolin Tablature
Violin Tablature
Song Sheet
Standard Notation - wide
Mandolin Tablature - wide
Violin Tablature - wide
Scottish
Play
MIDI
No audio
available
Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
View
notes
Lyrics:
It's of a jolly beggarman came tripping o'er the plain
He came unto a farmer's door a lodging for to gain
The farmer's daughter she came down and viewed him cheek and chin
She says, "He is a handsome man. I pray you take him in."
Chorus
We'll go no more a roving, a roving in the night.
We'll go no more a roving, let the moon shine so bright.
We'll go no more a roving.
He would not lie within the barn nor yet within the byre,
But he would in the corner lie down by the kitchen fire.
O then the beggar's bed was made of good clean sheets and hay
And down beside the kitchen fire the jolly beggar lay.
The farmer's daughter, she got up to bolt the kitchen door
And there she saw the beggar standing naked on the floor.
He took the daughter in his arms and to the bed he ran.
"Kind sir", she says, "be easy now, you'll waken our goodman."
"Now you are no beggar, you are some gentleman,
For you have stolen my maidenhead and I am quite undone."
"I am no lord, I am no squire, of beggars I be one
And beggars they be robbers all, so you're quite undone."
"The Jolly Beggar", also known as "The Gaberlunzieman" is a Scottish ballad.<br> The song's chorus inspired lines in Lord Byron's poem "So, we'll go no more a roving". <br> Hamish Henderson has noted:<br> Another native Scots ballad. It is sometimes said to reflect one of the adventures<br> of King James IV of Scotland, who traveled the country disguised as the Guidman of<br> Ballengeich to learn how his subjects fared.<br> This tale of the adventures of the king dressed in disguise as a beggar<br> has remained widely popular in Scottish tradition.<br> This song is not the same as the Irish "The Little Beggarman".<br> It was first published in Herd’s Ancient and Modern Scots Songs (1776).<br> Whether the ballad dates back to James IVth is often disputed by academics and the<br> ribald nature of the story line has no doubt often kept the text out of print.<br> It was included as #279 in Child's The English and Scottish Popular Ballads.<br> It was also printed in Ramsay's Tea Table Miscellany (1724) and<br> Percy's Reliques (1767).<br> In the US, traditional versions of Child 279, "The Jolly Beggar", are scarce.<br> 'Gaberlunzie' in the alternate title is a corruption of 'ghiberlaun', Scots Gaelic for<br> 'beggar'.<br> It appears in the Roud Folk Song Index as #118.<br> It was recorded as "The Jolly Beggar", "Jolly Beggarman", "The Ragged Beggarman",<br> "The Beggar Man", "The Auld Beggarman" or "The Gaberlunzie Man" by Ewan MacColl,<br> Jeannie Robertson, Noel Murphy, Cyril Tawney, The High Level Ranters, The Freemen,<br> Planxty, Cherish the Ladies (with Liam Clancy), June Tabor and others.<br>
Click
here
for a full page view.