I was listening to Ian Lynch (of Lankum)'s radio show Fire Draw Near the other day, and he mentioned this recording being one of his all time favorites, so I looked it up. I was particularly enchanted by the liner notes which the youtuber here thoughtfully transferred in whole to the vid description, which quite paint a picture of the field recording process- to repost those here:
Liner Notes by Tom Munnelly: This ballad - Child no 93 - was recorded on my first ever field trip for the Department of Education in mid-September 1971. At that time the Reillys were camped on a bog a few miles from Cootehall. They did not own a caravan and we all crowded into the bowtent which was their home. Also inside were a couple of visiting in-laws sitting on the bedding of straw which, with an oil-drum fire, made up the furnishing. Half a dozen young children made a noise not exactly conducive to good recording quality. And the mother-in-law insisted on joining in all the songs, whether she knew the words or not. I returned in late October to try to get some better recordings and on that day there were only eight of us in the tent. We still had problems. Mrs. Reilly was holding a child in her arms in an attempt to keep him quiet, nevertheless the child would still occasionally wallop the microphone with one of the lollipops I had brought along to help pacify the youngsters. Recording had to be stopped twice as John would be overcome with laughter at the antics of his children. It is worth noting that Sam Henry's informant Alexander Crawford learned his version of this ballad from a traveller at a bog near Ballymoney, co. Antrim: J. Moulden Songs of the People I Belfast 1979, pp. 81-83.
(there's a bit more and the lyrics are shared but that's the fun bits)
