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27-402: " The Wild Colonial Boy " ( Roud 677, Laws L20) is a traditional anonymously penned Irish-Australian folk ballad that tells the story of a bushranger in early colonial Australia who dies during a gunfight with local police. Versions of the ballad give different names for the bushranger involved: some based on real individuals and some apparently fictional. A common theme is romanticisation of

54-637: A copy may be located. The Roud number – "Roud num" – field may be used as a cross-reference to the Roud Folk Song Index itself in order to establish the traditional origin of the work. The database is recognised as a "significant index" by the EFDSS and was one of the first items to be published on its web site after the launch of the online version of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library in 2006. The purpose of

81-515: A folksong collection made by Helmut Schaffrath and now incorporating Classical themes, themes from a number of Baroque composers, and Renaissance themes. It is proposed to include Indigenous American songs, as transcribed around the years 1900 to 1920 by Natalie Curtis . The Folk Song Index is a collaborative project between the Oberlin College Library and the folk music journal Sing Out! . It indexes traditional folk songs of

108-422: A form of street literature , were ephemera , i.e., temporary documents created for a specific purpose and intended to be thrown away. They were one of the most common forms of printed material between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. They were often advertisements , but could also be used for news information or proclamations . Broadsides were a very popular medium for printing topical ballads starting in

135-439: A number to each song, including all variants (now known as the "Roud number") to overcome the problem of songs in which even the titles were not consistent across versions. The system initially used 3x5-inch filing cards in shoeboxes. In 1993, Roud implemented his record system on a computer database , which he continues to expand and maintain and which is now hosted on the website of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library . In

162-408: A written account of the crime and of the trial and often the criminal's confession of guilt. A doggerel verse warning against following the criminal's example, to avoid his fate, was another common feature. By the mid-19th century, the advent of newspapers and inexpensive novels resulted in the demise of the street literature broadside. One classic example of a broadside used for proclamations

189-418: Is a similar index of almost 218,000 Latvian folksong texts, created by Latvian scholar Krišjānis Barons at the end 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. The Essen folk song database is another collection that includes songs from non-English-speaking countries, particularly Germany and China. It is a collaboration between groups at Stanford University and Ohio State University , stemming from

216-402: Is possible by searching the database—for example by title, first line(s), or subject matter (or a combination of any of a dozen fields)—to locate many of the variants of a particular song. Comprehensive details of those songs are then available, including details of the original collected source, and a reference to where to find the text (and possibly music) of the song within a published volume in

243-616: Is the Dunlap broadside , which was the first publication of the United States Declaration of Independence , printed on the night of July 4, 1776 by John Dunlap of Philadelphia in an estimated 200 copies. Another was the first published account of George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River , printed on December 30, 1776, by an unknown printer. In nineteenth-century Pennsylvania, broadsides were used by

270-712: The 16th century. Broadside ballads were usually printed on the cheapest type of paper available. Initially, this was cloth paper, but later it became common to use sheets of thinner, cheaper paper (pulp). In Victorian era London they were sold for a penny or half-penny. The sheets on which broadsides were printed could also be folded, twice or more, to make small pamphlets or chapbooks . Collections of songs in chapbooks were known as garlands. Broadside ballads lasted longer in Ireland, and although never produced in such huge numbers in North America, they were significant in

297-625: The 1950s. The index was compiled and is maintained by Steve Roud , formerly the Local Studies Librarian in the London Borough of Croydon . He was also Honorary Librarian of the Folklore Society . He began it in around 1970 as a personal project, listing the source singer (if known), their locality, the date of noting the song, the publisher (book or recorded source), plus other fields, and crucially assigning

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324-547: The EFDSS archive. A related index, the Roud Broadside Index, includes references to songs which appeared on broadsides and other cheap print publications, up to about 1920. In addition, there are many entries for music hall songs, pre- World War II radio performers' song folios, sheet music, etc. The index may be searched by title, first line etc. and the result includes details of the original imprint and where

351-600: The Pennsylvania Dutch to advertise the "vendu", or county sale, for religious instruction, and to publish Trauerlieder or "sorrow songs" for sale. Today, broadside printing is done by many smaller printers and publishers as a fine art variant, with poems often being available as broadsides, intended to be framed and hung on the wall. Broadsides pasted on walls are still used as a form of mass communication in Haredi Jewish communities, where they are known by

378-706: The Roud Folk Song Index shows 22 sources for " Hind Etin " (Roud 33, Child 41), while the Traditional Ballad Index list only one source.) Broadside (printing) A broadside is a large sheet of paper printed on one side only. Historically in Europe, broadsides were used as posters, announcing events or proclamations, giving political views, commentary in the form of ballads , or simply advertisements. In Japan, chromoxylographic broadsheets featuring artistic prints were common. The historical type of broadsides, designed to be plastered onto walls as

405-472: The ballad originally referred to an actual person. One possible origin is Jack Donahue (also spelled Donohoe), an 1820s Irish convict who was sent to Australia, became a bushranger and was killed by police. Another possibility is that the song refers to an 1860s juvenile Australian convict named John Doolan, who was born in Castlemaine, Victoria , and also turned to bushranging. However, the real Doolan

432-682: The bushranger's battle against colonial authority. According to a report in The Argus in November 1880, Ann Jones, the innkeeper of the Glenrowan Hotel, asked her son to sing the ballad when the Kelly gang were at her hotel in June that year. Versions of the ballad depict bushrangers with the first name of "Jack" and surnames such as "Dolan," "Doolan," "Duggan" and "Donahue." It is unclear if

459-537: The eighteenth century and provided an important medium of propaganda, on both sides, in the American War of Independence . Broadsides were commonly sold at public executions in the United Kingdom in the 18th and 19th centuries, often produced by specialised printers. They could be illustrated by a crude picture of the crime, a portrait of the criminal, or a generic woodcut of a hanging. There would be

486-465: The index is to give each song a unique identifier . The numbers were assigned on a more or less arbitrary basis, and are not intended to carry any significance in themselves. However, because of the practicalities of compiling the index (building on previously published sources) it is true as a general rule that older and better-known songs tend to occupy low numbers, while songs which are obscure have higher numbers. Closely related songs are grouped under

513-448: The jaws he lay still firing at FitzRoy, And that's the way they captured him – the wild Colonial Boy. Roud Folk Song Index The primary function of the Roud Folk Song Index is as a research aid correlating versions of traditional English-language folk song lyrics independently documented over past centuries by many different collectors across (especially) the UK and North America. It

540-509: The past few years, the numbers have been widely accepted in academic circles. James Madison Carpenter 's collection has 6,200 transcriptions and 1,000 recorded cylinders made between 1927 and 1955. The index gives the title, first line and the name of the source singer. When appropriate, the Child number is given. It is still a largely unexploited resource, with none of the recordings easily available. The Cabinet of Folksongs ( Dainu skapis )

567-563: The same Roud number. If a trusted authority gives the name of a song but not the words, it is assigned Roud number 000. The Index cross-references to the Child Ballad number, if one is available for the particular song in question. It also includes, where appropriate, the Laws number , a reference to a system of classification of folk songs, using one letter of the alphabet and up to two numeric digits, developed by George Malcolm Laws in

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594-411: The wild Colonial Boy. "Surrender now, Jack Doolan, you see there's three to one. Surrender now, Jack Doolan, you're a daring highwayman." He drew a pistol from his belt, and shook the little toy, "I'll fight, but not surrender," said the wild Colonial Boy.   He fired at Trooper Kelly and brought him to the ground, And in return from Davis received a mortal wound. All shattered through

621-488: The wild Colonial Boy. He bade the judge "Good morning", and told him to beware, That he'd never rob a hearty chap that acted on the square, And never to rob a mother of her son and only joy, Or else you might turn outlaw, like the wild Colonial Boy. One day as he was riding the mountain-side along, A-listening to the little birds, their pleasant laughing song, Three mounted troopers rode along – Kelly, Davis and FitzRoy – They thought that they would capture him,

648-480: The world, with an emphasis on English-language songs, and contains over 62,000 entries and over 2,400 anthologies. Max Hunter's collection lists 1,600 songs, but each minor variant is given a distinct number. The Traditional Ballad Index at the California State University at Fresno includes Roud numbers up to number 5,000 with comments on the songs, but draws on fewer sources. (For example,

675-504: Was his name, Of poor but honest parents he was born in Castlemaine. He was his father's only hope, his mother's pride and joy, And dearly did his parents love the wild Colonial Boy. — Chorus — Come, all my hearties, we'll roam the mountains high, — Together we will plunder, together we will die. — We'll wander over valleys, and gallop over plains, — And we'll scorn to live in slavery, bound down with iron chains. He

702-399: Was not shot by police, instead being captured and sentenced to an additional convict term. It is also possible that the histories of Donohue and Doolan became blended over time to produce the modern ballad's lyrics. There is also a possibility that the name of the real person was Jack Donahue, whose name was changed over time to mask the song's origins. 'Tis of a wild Colonial Boy, Jack Doolan

729-533: Was scarcely sixteen years of age when he left his father's home, And through Australia's sunny clime a bushranger did roam. He robbed those wealthy squatters, their stock he did destroy, And a terror to Australia was the wild Colonial Boy. In sixty-one this daring youth commenced his wild career, With a heart that knew no danger, no foeman did he fear. He stuck up the Beechworth mail-coach, and robbed Judge MacEvoy, Who trembled, and gave up his gold to

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