"Arthur McBride" (also called "The Recruiting Sergeant" or "Arthur McBride and the Sergeant") is a folk song (

Roud The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud (born 1949), a former librarian in the London ...

2355) probably of Irish origin, also found in England, Scotland, Australia, and North America. Describing a violent altercation with a

recruiting sergeant A recruiting sergeant is a British or American soldier of the rank of sergeant who is tasked to enlist recruits. The term originated in the British army of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The playwright George Farquhar served as an inf ...

, it can be narrowly categorized as an "anti-recruiting" song, a specific form of

anti-war song Some anti-war songs lament aspects of wars, while others satirize war. Most promote peace in some form, while others sing out against specific armed conflicts. Still others depict the physical and psychological destruction that warfare causes to ...

, and more broadly as a

protest song A protest song is a song that is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of ''topical'' songs (or songs connected to current events). It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre. Among social mov ...

. A. L. Lloyd described it as "that most good-natured, mettlesome, and un-pacifistic of anti-militarist songs".

Content

The song's narrator recounts how he and his cousin or friend, Arthur McBride, were strolling by the sea when approached by three

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

soldiers: a recruiting sergeant, a

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non- ...

, and a little drummer. The sergeant tries to entice the pair to

volunteer Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

with a recruitment bounty and smart uniform, but they refuse the prospect of being sent to fight and die in France. The sergeant takes offence at the uncivil tone and threatens to use his sword, but before he can draw it the pair beat the soldiers with

shillelagh A shillelagh ( ; ga, sail éille or , "thonged willow") is a wooden walking stick and club or cudgel, typically made from a stout knotty blackthorn stick with a large knob at the top. It is associated with Ireland and Irish folklore. Other ...

s, and throw their swords and drum in the sea. Some singers omit the song's more violent details. Sometimes the name is "Arthur le Bride". The sergeant is usually named "Napper" or "Napier", the corporal "Vamp" or "Cramp". Many versions are set on

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

morning. A Scottish version is on a "summer's morning", and Arthur McBride is the name of the recruiting sergeant rather than the narrator's ally.

History

The reference to France is often taken to set the song during the Napoleonic Wars, but may mean some earlier

Anglo-French war The Anglo-French Wars were a series of conflicts between England (and after 1707, Britain) and France, including: Middle Ages High Middle Ages * Anglo-French War (1109–1113) – first conflict between the Capetian Dynasty and the House of Norma ...

Broadside ballad A broadside (also known as a broadsheet) is a single sheet of inexpensive paper printed on one side, often with a ballad, rhyme, news and sometimes with woodcut illustrations. They were one of the most common forms of printed material between th ...

s with the lyrics include one printed c. 1815–1822 in Glasgow, and another with different

metre The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its prefi ...

headed "Arthur Macbride. A new song". A song in Newcastle-upon-Tyne marking the 1821

coronation of George IV The coronation of George IV as King of the United Kingdom took place at Westminster Abbey, London, on 19 July 1821. Originally scheduled for 1 August of the previous year, the ceremony had been postponed due to the parliamentary proceedings of ...

specifies its tune as "Arthur McBride". "The Bold Tenant Farmer" has a similar tune which is sometimes used.

Thomas Ainge Devyr Thomas Devyr (1844 – January 22, 1896) was an American baseball player who played shortstop for the Brooklyn Eckfords during their team's championship seasons of 1862 and 1863. Later, in 1867, he confessed, along with two other New York Mutuals ...

(1805–1887), an Irish Chartist who emigrated to America in 1840, in his 1882 memoir recalled the song from his youth in

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconn ...

. In 1892 collected "Arthur le Bride" from a mason named Sam Fone, who learned it from his father in

Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite which forms the uplands dates from the Carboniferous P ...

in the 1830s. A melody called "Art Mac Bride" collected in Donegal by George Petrie (1790–1866) was published in 1902 by

Charles Villiers Stanford Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (30 September 1852 – 29 March 1924) was an Anglo-Irish composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Romantic era. Born to a well-off and highly musical family in Dublin, Stanford was educated at the ...

Patrick Weston Joyce Patrick Weston Joyce, commonly known as P. W. Joyce (1827 – 7 January 1914) was an Irish historian, writer and music collector, known particularly for his research in Irish etymology and local place names of Ireland. Biography He was born i ...

(1827–1914) published words and a different air in 1909. He said he had learned it in his

County Limerick "Remember Limerick" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Limerick.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Republic of Ireland, Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Provinces of Ireland, Province , subd ...

boyhood "from hearing the people all round me sing it", but suspected it originated in Donegal. The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection has four versions gathered in northeast Scotland between 1902 and 1914. Ethnomusicological recordings include a

field recording Field recording is the term used for an audio recording produced outside a recording studio, and the term applies to recordings of both natural and human-produced sounds. It also applies to sound recordings like electromagnetic fields or vibra ...

of a farmworker named Alex Campbell from Aberdeenshire singing a snatch of "Erther Mac Bride" (beginning "You Needna Be Bragging About Your Braw Claes") collected by

James Madison Carpenter James Madison Carpenter, born in 1888 in Blacklands, Mississippi, near Booneville, in Prentiss County, was a Methodist minister and scholar of American and British folklore. He received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from the ...

between 1929 and 1935, and one made by for the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Content

History

Commercial recordings

Sources

Citations

External links