The Minstrel Boy

A prototype for the globe-trotting superstars of the modern world, Thomas Moore was one of the most famous and controversial songwriters of his era. The great Irish novelist James Joyce was a huge admirer. From Aungier Street in Dublin, Moore had been peripherally involved in radical politics, before heading to London where he would achieve his first success. He would go on to win hearts and conquer minds in America, where many of his songs became standards. The song that resonates most emphatically in the modern era is the anti-imperial lament ‘The Minstrel Boy’, which has been sung and recorded countless times and been used in numerous major movies. The melody is played every year at the National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph in London, on Remembrance Sunday.

The Story Behind The Song

Thomas Moore was born in 1779, into a revolutionary era. While he didn’t become directly involved in the Irish rebellion of 1798, he was sympathetic to the cause of the United Irishmen, an organisation which aimed to unite Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter against the iniquities of British rule in Ireland. Moore's friend, and ex-fellow Trinity College student, Robert Emmett, was found guilty and executed on charges of “high treason” for issuing a proclamation that declared Ireland’s independence during the doomed revolt of 1803.

By then, Thomas Moore was in London, studying law and – as it happens – courting royal approval, dedicating his translations of the Greek poet Anacreon to the Prince of Wales. In that volume, and in his own writings, Poetical Works of the Late Thomas Little Esq (1801) and Epistles, Odes, and Other Poems (1806), Moore was way ahead of his time, never shy of creating controversy with the moral arbiters who deemed his work ‘licentious’.

Small in stature, Thomas Moore was a larger-than-life character and a man-about-town. He fraternised with contemporary English Romantic poets like William Wordsworth and Lord Byron – Moore’s friendship with the latter developing only after there had been threats of a duel. However, it was as a songwriter that he would gain fame and notoriety, penning new lyrics to old Irish melodies. It was a grand scheme that saw him draw liberally from Edward Bunting’s seminal work, A General Collection of the Ancient Irish Music. In all, Moore would 'liberate' 21 airs from the 66 of Bunting’s collection by putting new words to them.

In modern parlance, many of his songs became hits. ‘The Last Rose of Summer’ (written in 1805 and published in 1813), ‘Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms’ and ‘Oft In The Stilly Night’ sold by the proverbial tonne. Indeed, the sheet music of ‘The Last Rose of Summer’ alone is said to have sold a million copies, and was adapted twice by Ludvig van Beethoven, who included it in Vol II of his Irish Songs (published in 1816). ‘The Last Rose…’ is also mentioned by the legendary Irish writer James Joyce in Ulysses – often regarded as the finest English language novel of the 20th Century.

Initially, ‘The Minstrel Boy’ was not as successful as ‘The Last Rose of Summer’. However, in the years since, it has perhaps outstripped even that enduring classic.

The melody of ‘The Minstrel Boy’ – the second half of the verse is particularly memorable – is based on the traditional Irish tune, ‘The Moreen’. The song is said to have been written in tribute to friends of Moore who had fought and died during the rebellion of 1798. Whatever the inspiration, it became hugely popular among Irish soldiers during the American civil war (1861-1865). It would surface again during the First World War, where it began to take on a ceremonial use. It was notable for its association with the military, but also amongst the police and fire departments of US cities where Irish-Americans were strongly represented, including Boston, New York and Chicago.

Most popular songs make an early impact and fade into obscurity. A small proportion take on a life of their own, challenging musicians and arrangers to find new ways of framing, interpreting and expressing them. So it has been with 'The Minstrel Boy'. The vast numbers drawn from the Irish diaspora who found employment in the US military, police and emergency services – many of whom were involved in the associated marching bands and choirs – have secured its place as an important song of solace, to be turned to on occasions of ceremonial importance, and in particular during the funerals of those who died in service.

It could be played in a jaunty style; or slowed down for plaintive, emotional affect. It could be sung high and pure; or doused in whiskey and allowed to burn – whether with pain, bitterness or anger might depend on the time, the place and the singer. And, in the first verse, it contains one of the great descriptions of Ireland as it is: a “Land of song."

The long-term popularity of ‘The Minstrel Boy’ was copper-fastened by the Irish singing star Count John McCormack (1884–1945). One of the most successful tenors in the world, McCormack recorded it and made the song part of his live repertoire throughout an immensely successful career in the US and Europe. McCormack would become so identified with the song that he was often referred to as The Minstrel Boy or the Irish Minstrel.

‘The Minstrel Boy’ has been recorded countless times, by some of the best known singers of the past 100 years. Artists as disparate as Bing Crosby, Paul Robeson, and Joe Strummer of The Clash have all given it new life; and Irish stars like The Clancy Brothers, Shane MacGowan of The Pogues, and The Corrs – whose instrumental version featured on their multi-million selling debut album Forgiven, Not Forgotten – have enshrined its place in the national memory.

With certain musical works there comes a time when it seems like the song, and in particular the melody, could never have not existed. It occupies a part of our collective unconscious. That sequence of notes feels not just right, but essential. Put them in that particular order and we know that we have heard it before. Some of us can even sing the words, or a smattering of them at least. ‘The Minstrel Boy’ arrived at that level. As a result, it has frequently featured in Hollywood movies and globe-spanning TV series. You can hear it on the big screen, in John Ford’s The Informer (1935); Sam Peckinpah’s Major Dundee (1965); John Huston’s The Man Who Would Be King (1975); Terry George’s Some Mother’s Son (1996); Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down (2001); and Martin Scorcese’s The Departed (2006), amongst many more. On the small screen, it has been included in Star Trek (on numerous occasions), The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, John Milius’ Rough Riders, Hawaii Five-O, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and the Korean TV drama series, Pasta. The list goes on, and grows ever longer.

On September 11, 2011, the tenth anniversary of the assault on the Twin Towers, ‘The Minstrel Boy’ was played at the opening of the World Trade Centre Memorial. There is a bust of Thomas Moore, sometimes known as The Bard of Ireland, in Central Park, New York; and a statue in Trinity College, Dublin.