The Rattlin' Bog
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"The Rattlin' Bog" is an Irish folk song. It is a version of an internationally distributed folk song type. In the
Roud Folk Song Index 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. Roud's Index is a combination of the Broadsid ...
it has the number 129, and carries such titles as "The Everlasting Circle", "The Tree on the Hill", " The Green Grass Grew All Around", and "Down in the Lowlands", as well as "The Rattlin' Bog", The adjective ''rattlin'' means "splendid" in the context of this song. It is a
cumulative song A cumulative song is a song with a simple verse structure modified by progressive addition so that each verse is longer than the verse before. Cumulative songs are popular for group singing, in part because they require relatively little memoriz ...
, similar to " The Twelve Days of Christmas", as it has a list at the end of each verse which grows throughout the piece. The Roud index lists 180 versions collected from oral tradition in English, and the song has analogues in French, Italian and German as well. Since it is a folk song, it has been transmitted over generations orally and aurally so many versions coexist and it may be impossible and even nonsensical to seek a single authoritative version of the song's lyrics. The earliest version appears to be "March to the Battlefield" in "Riley's Flute Melodies" published by Edward Riley (1769 - 1829). In 1877, water-colour painter and folk-song collector Miss Marianne Harriet Mason (1845 -1932) published a version called "Green Grass Grows all Around" in "Nursery Rhymes and Country Songs".


Performing

During a performance, it is typical for the song to increase in speed with each additional verse, almost as a challenge to determine who can sing the lyrics the fastest without getting mixed up. Some performances have one singer leading the song, singing the "Now on that..." lines solo. The whole group then joins in for the cumulative list and chorus. In some live performances, the audience sings along for as long as they can keep up, with most only singing the chorus by the end of the song. Many variations exist where additional verses are added or exchanged to suit the locale where the song is performed. North American folk group
The Idlers The Idlers of the United States Coast Guard Academy (USCGA) are an all-male collegiate a cappella ensemble specializing in the performance of sea shanties and patriotic music. Overview A relatively exclusive group with a history and traditions si ...
customarily sing about a bird inside an egg inside another bird that is in the nest, while others have a bird in the egg in the nest. Additionally, the group added a rash on the flea as a final verse. County Durham folk singer Ed Pickford added further verses going as far as an amoeba, in the process creating a popular drinking game as players try to keep up. Seamus Kennedy added even further by following an amoeba with a paramecium, followed by a virus, and finally a subatomic particle. Irish Singer Philip Noone took the song in a different direction completely by giving the chick a cigarette and ending with the smoke coming from the cigarette. The song can be sung as an echo, where each line is sung by a lead and then repeated by others. One version of the final line+refrain is: Each phrase is sung to the same two-note melody.


Notable recordings

* Irish Rovers 1966 *
Golden Bough ''The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion'' (retitled ''The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion'' in its second edition) is a wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion, written by the Scottish anthropologist Sir ...
performs this on their album ''Kids at Heart: Celtic Songs for Children''. *
Authority Zero Authority Zero is an American punk rock band from Mesa, Arizona, United States, formed in 1994. The band's style is rooted in reggae and skate punk, with Spanish/Portuguese influences. They have released seven albums to date, two DVDs and n ...
performs this on their album ''Andiamo'' (hidden track). *
Red Grammer Robert Crane "Red" Grammer (born November 28, 1952) is an American singer and songwriter. Life and career The East Orange, New Jersey native started college as a pre-med student at Rutgers, but he transferred to Beloit College in Wisconsin, whe ...
performs this on his ''Down The Do Re Mi'' recording. * A Scottish version of the song is heard in the 1973 film ''
The Wicker Man ''The Wicker Man'' is a 1973 British folk horror film directed by Robin Hardy (film director), Robin Hardy and starring Edward Woodward, Britt Ekland, Diane Cilento, Ingrid Pitt and Christopher Lee. The screenplay is by Anthony Shaffer (writer ...
'' *
Schooner Fare Schooner Fare is a Maine-based folk band, consisting of Steve Romanoff (vocals, six and twelve-string guitar, five-string banjo), Gregory "Chuck" Romanoff (vocals, twelve-string guitar, tenor banjo), and formerly Tom Rowe (vocals, bass guitar, ...
performs this on their 1983 album ''Alive'' * It is sung by a children's choir in the 2019 film '' The Hole in the Ground'', and the song's lyrics tie into a mysterious hole that causes the events of the film. * The Irish Descendants, recorded and performed a version. *
Dan Zanes Daniel Edgerly Zanes (born November 8, 1961) is an American rock, folk, and children's musician. He was a member of the 1980s band the Del Fuegos, the frontman of the group Dan Zanes and Friends, and currently performs with his wife, Claudia El ...
performed this song on his 2002 album ''Night Time''. *
The Wiggles The Wiggles are an Australian children's music group formed in Sydney in 1991. As of 2022, the group members are Anthony Field, Lachlan Gillespie, Simon Pryce, Tsehay Hawkins, Evie Ferris, John Pearce (entertainer), John Pearce, Caterina Mete ...
perform this song on their 2019 album ''Party Time!'' * Patrice O'Connor and Clodagh McCarthy's impromptu performance at a
wedding reception A wedding reception is a party usually held after the completion of a marriage ceremony as hospitality for those who have attended the wedding, hence the name reception: the couple ''receive'' society, in the form of family and friends, for th ...
posted to
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
in 2017 became a
viral phenomenon Viral phenomena or viral sensations are objects or patterns that are able to replicate themselves or convert other objects into copies of themselves when these objects are exposed to them. Analogous to the way in which viruses propagate, the te ...
and one of the most widely shared Irish videos ever posted to the internet. *
Fiddler's_Green_(band) Fiddler's Green is a German band that plays Irish folk rock. Formed in 1990, their first concert under the name of Fiddler's Green was at the Newcomer-Festival in Erlangen in November 1990. Their debut album entitled "Fiddler's Green" was relea ...
perform this song on their 2023 album ''The Green Machine'' named just "The Bog"


References


External links


The “Rattlin’ Bog Sisters”
- Patrice O’Connor and Clodagh McCarthy's performance.
The Irish Rovers version
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rattlin' Bog Irish folk songs Cumulative songs Songs about plants