The gambling man
Jack Mooney
Listen to songs, music & stories. View photos of the people & places. Meet the singers & musicians from Ship Cove, Patrick’s Cove, St Bride’s, and Branch. This interactive map of the Cape Shore is a great way to start navigating your way around the outports of this short stretch of Newfoundland’s coastline.
ExploreThe gambling man, song (I am a roaming gambler, I gamble down in town …) This American folk song is probably of British origin (Rosenbaum 2013:142). It tells the story of a man who likes to gamble and the woman who falls in love with him. It was widely recorded by such popular commercial performers as the Everly Brothers, Bob Dylan, and Simon and Garfunkel, though perhaps the earliest recording was that by Kelly Harrel in 1925 under the title “Rovin’ Gambler” (Victor 20171-A). Jack Mooney’s version of “The gambling man,” though performed unaccompanied, closely resembles the version in the 1925 recording.
| ITMA Reference | 54056 |
| Creator | Mooney, Jack, singing in English |
| Contributor | O'Hara, Aidan |
| Date | November 1975 |
| Publisher | Irish Traditional Music Archive |
| Location | Branch, St Mary's Bay, Newfoundland, Canada |
| Subject | Newfoundland: Song in English |
| Language | English |
| Collection | Aidan O'Hara Collection |
| Type | Sound |
| Extent | 00:01:45 |
| Copyright | Performer and Aidan O'Hara |
| Roud Number | 498 |
| View in ITMA catalogue: | Go to catalogue |
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My boy Willie, song (The sailing trade is a weary life …) This English broadside ballad is also known as “The sailor boy” or “Sweet William.” It is widely anthologised and recorded, with variant versions transforming Willie from a sailor to a lumberjack. It recounts the pain of a woman who is left behind when a loved one goes to sea and dies far from home. This song was among John Joe English’s favourite songs.
| ITMA Reference | 54109 |
| Creator | English, John Joe, singing in English |
| Contributor | O'Hara, Aidan |
| Date | August 1978 |
| Publisher | Irish Traditional Music Archive |
| Location | Branch, St Mary's Bay, Newfoundland, Canada |
| Subject | Newfoundland: Song in English |
| Language | English |
| Collection | Aidan O'Hara Collection |
| Type | Sound |
| Extent | 00:04:47 |
| Copyright | Performer and Aidan O'Hara |
| Roud Number | 273 |
| View in ITMA catalogue: | Go to catalogue |
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Siúl a ghrá, song (Oh I'll go up in yonder hill …) A typed transcript based on Aidan O'Hara's field recording, with annotations and corrections by the collector.
| Creator | O'Hara, Aidan |
| Date | 10 November 1975 |
| Publisher | Irish Traditional Music Archive |
| Location | Branch, St Mary's Bay, Newfoundland, Canada |
| Subject | Newfoundland: Singing in English ; Newfoundland: Singing in Irish |
| Language | English ; Irish |
| Collection | Aidan O'Hara Collection |
| Type | Text |
| Extent | 1 p. |
| Copyright | Aidan O'Hara |
| Roud Number | 911 |
| View in ITMA catalogue: | Go to catalogue |
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The hills of Glenswilly, song (Attention fellow countrymen come here my native news …) Written by Michael McGinley of Donegal, this song laments the necessity of leaving Donegal for a foreign land. Song collector Jim Carroll notes that McGinley may have composed the song while he travelled to New Zealand in 1879 aboard the “Invercardill.” The lyrics seem to indicate a political cause for emigration through the references to exile and raising a green flag over the hills of Glenswilly.
| ITMA Reference | 54057 |
| Creator | Nash, Bernard [Ben Nash], singing in English |
| Contributor | O'Hara, Aidan |
| Date | 17 April 1976 |
| Publisher | Irish Traditional Music Archive |
| Location | St Brides, Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, Canada |
| Subject | Newfoundland: Song in English |
| Language | English |
| Collection | Aidan O'Hara Collection |
| Type | Sound |
| Extent | 00:02:50 |
| Copyright | Performer and Aidan O'Hara |
| Roud Number | 5087 |
| View in ITMA catalogue: | Go to catalogue |
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Aidan O'Hara's three young sons being pushed in a wheel barrow by Vincent Roche (son of Dermot Roche) through the yard at the Roche family house in Branch.
| ITMA Reference | CID255586 |
| Creator | O'Hara, Aidan |
| Date | October 1975 |
| Publisher | Irish Traditional Music Archive |
| Location | Roche house, Branch, St Mary's Bay, Newfoundland, Canada |
| Subject | Newfoundland: Singing in English |
| Collection | Aidan O'Hara Collection |
| Type | Image |
| Extent | 1 digital image |
| Copyright | Aidan O'Hara |
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Irish Traditional Music Archive /
Taisce Cheol Dúchais Éireann
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