Brandon on the Moor Brandon on the Moor There was a true borned Irishman whose story I will tell, His name was Willie Brandon and in Ireland he did rewell; ’Twas on the Limerick mountain he commenced his wild career, And many the wealthy gentleman before him shook with fear. As sung by Danny Brazil, Pelican Inn, Gloucester 5 January 1966 (Springthyme 66.2.5) In: Shepheard, Peter. Folk Songs and Ballads of the Brazil Family of Gloucester (1967). There was a true borned Irishman whose story I will tell, His name was Willie Brandon and in Ireland he did rewell; [i.e. did dwell ’Twas on the Limerick mountain he commenced his wild career, And many the wealthy gentleman before him shook with fear. Brandon on the moor Brandon on the moor, Bolèd, undaunted was young Brandon on the moor. With his brace of loaded pistols he carried both night and day, He never robbed a poor man upon the King’s highway; But what he took was from the rich like Turpin and Black Bess, He always did revide it with the widows in distress. [revide = divide? Young Willie met a packman his name was Pill O’Brown, They jogged along together, me boy, till daylight did repair; [repair = return When the pedlar found his money gone likewise his watch and chain, He at once decountered Brandon and robbed him hack again. [i.e. encountered When Willie found the packman as good as man as he, He took him along the highway his comrade for to be; The pedlar threw his pack away ’thout any more delay, Proving Willie’s faithful comerade until his dying day. Young Willie he sat down one day upon the King’s highway, [1] He met the mayor of Cashel about a mile and a half from town; The mayor he knowed his features and he said, “Young man,” to he, “If your name is Willie Brandon you must go along with me.” Willie’s wife had been to town provisions for to buy, When she saw Willie taken she began to weep and cry; “You hand to me a tenpenny,” no sooner Willie spoke, She handed him a blunderbuss from underneath her cloak. With his brasted loaded pistol the truth I shall deny, [2] He made the mayor to tremble and robbed him of his gold; Five hundred pounds was sentence for his apprehension there, But Willie and his horse to the mountains did repair. [repair = go back, return They hid among the furze one day that was thick upon the hill, And Willie ’ceivéd nine wounds before that he would yield; He lost his foremost finger, it was shot off by a ball, And Willie and his comerade was taken after all. “Farewell unto my wife and to my children three, Likewise my aged father he may shed his tears for me; And to my loving mother who tore her lock and cried” Saying, “I wish Willie Brandon, in your cradle you had died.” Brandon on the moor Brandon on the moor Bolèd, undaunted was young Brandon on the moor. Danny had a start of a further verse: God bless my wife and family and may they never want. Suggested amendments to corrupt lines: 1: One day upon the King’s highway young Willie he sat down, 2: With his brace of loaded pistols the truth I will unfold, [ BACK ] [ HOME ][ TOP ]