BRENNAN ON THE MOOR
(trad.) (as performed by The Clancy Brothers)
LISTEN (Real Audio) at
LIAM CLANCY:
I remember meeting him [BOB DYLAN] one morning on the street -- he lived on Sullivan Street, in Greenwich Village. And I was rushing off to rehearsal, I was getting the subway, we were meeting uptown, and he stopped me in the street and he said, "Hey, man, hey, Liam, wrote a song to 'Brennan On The Moor' last night." He had it... he said, "I wanna sing it for you." Right there in the street, he starts singing this song which went on for about nine or ten verses. I remember saying to him, "You got a fantastic talent, a fantastic imagery, if you could squeeze it all in together and make the songs a bit shorter." And I said, "For God's sake, what is a seventeen-year-old [sic] Jewish kid from the Mid-West trying to sound like a seventy-year-old black man from the South?"Liam Clancy Interview, Oct 16, 1992, "Highway 61 Interactive" CD ROM
transcribed by Manfred Helfert.
The noted eighteenth-century highwayman, Willie Brennan, made the Kilworth mountains near Fermoy in County Cork his preserve. Like Robin Hood, Brennan shared his loot with the poor, and, again like Robin Hood, recruited his confederates from men who had beaten him at his own game. His career ended on the gallows in 1804. Irish broadsides, copied by the London ballad press, were taken up by folk singers in Ireland, England, and America....Albert B. Friedman, The Penguin Book of Folk Ballads, New York, 1977, p. 372.
It's of a fearless highwayman a story now I'll tell:
His name was Willie Brennan, and in Ireland he did dwell;
'Twas on the Limerick mountains he commenced his wild career,
Where many a wealthy gentleman before him shook with fear.Brennan on the moor, Brennan on the moor,
Bold and yet undaunted stood young Brennan on the moor.A brace of loaded pistols he carried night and day,
He never robb'd a poor man upon the King's highway;
But what he'd taken from the rich, like Turpin and Black Bess,
He always did divide it with the widow in distress.One night he robbed a packman, his name was [Pedlar] Bawn;
They travelled on together, till day began to dawn;
The pedlar seing his money gone, likewise his watch and chain,
He at once encountered Brennan and robbed him back again.When Brennan saw the pedlar was as good a man as he,
He took him on the highway, his companion for to be;
The pedlar threw away his pack without any more delay,
And proved a faithful comrade until his dying day.One day upon the highway Willie he sat down,
He met the Mayor of Cashel, a mile outside the town;
The Mayor he knew his features, "I think, young man," said he,
"Your name is Willie Brennan, you must come along with me."As Brennan's wife had gone to town provisions for to buy,
When she saw her Willie, she began to weep and cry;
He says, "Give me that tenpence;" as soon as Willie spoke,
She handed him the blunderbuss from underneath her cloak.Then with his loaded blunderbuss, the truth I will unfold,
He made the Mayor to tremble, and robbed him of his gold;
One hundred pounds was offered for his apprehension there,
And with his horse and saddle to the mountains did repair.Then Brennan being an outlaw upon the mountain high,
Where cavalry and infantry to take him they did try,
He laughed at them with scorn, until at length, it's said,
By a false-hearted young man he was basely betrayed.In the County of Tipperary, in a place they call Clonmore,
Willie Brennan and his comrade that day did suffer sore;
He lay among the fern which was thick upon the field,
And nine wounds he had received before that he did yield.Then Brennan and his companion knowing they were betrayed,
He with the mounted cavalry a noble battle made;
He lost his foremost finger, which was shot off by a ball;
So Brennan and his comrade they were taken after all.So they were taken prisoners, in irons they were bound,
And conveyed to Clonmel jail, strong walls did them surround;
They were tried and found guilty, the judge made this reply,
"For robbing on the King's highway you are both condemned to die."Farewell unto my wife, and to my children three,
Likewise my aged father, he may shed tears for me,
And to my loving mother, who tore her gray locks and cried,
Saying, "I wish, Willie Brennan, in your cradle you had died."
They hanged Brennan at the crossroads, in chains he hung and dried,
But still they say that, in the night, some do see him ride
They see him with his blunderbuss, all in the midnight chill
Along, along the King's highway rides Willie Brennan still!
It's of a brave young highwayman this story we will tell,
His name was Willie Brennan and in Ireland he did dwell.
'Twas on the Kilwood Mountains he commenced his wild career,
And many a wealthy nobleman before him shook with fear.
And it's Brennan on the moor, Brennan on the moor,
Bold, brave and undaunted was young Brennan on the moor.One day upon the highway, as Willie he went down
He met the mayor of Cashel, a mile outside of town.
The mayor, he knew his features and he said, "Young man," said he,
"Your name is Willie Brennan, you must come along with me."
And it's Brennan on the moor, Brennan on the moor,
Bold, brave and undaunted was young Brennan on the moor.Now Brennan's wife had gone to town provisions for to buy,
And when she saw her Willie she commenced to weep and cry.
Said, "Hand to me that ten-penny," as soon as Willie spoke,
She handed him a blunderbuss from underneath her cloak
For young Brennan on the moor, Brennan on the moor,
Bold, brave and undaunted was young Brennan on the moor.Now with his loaded blunderbuss -- the truth I will unfold --
He made the mayor to tremble, and he robbed him of his gold.
One hundred pounds was offered for his apprehension there,
So he, with horse and saddle, to the mountains did repair,
Did young Brennan on the moor, Brennan on the moor,
Bold, brave and undaunted was young Brennan on the moor.Now Brennan being an outlaw upon the mountains high,
With cavalry and infantry to take him they did try.
He laughed at them with scorn until at last 'twas said
By a false-hearted woman he was cruelly betrayed,Was young Brennan on the moor, Brennan on the moor,
Bold, brave and undaunted was young Brennan on the moor.