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The Brown and the Yellow Ale

[ Roud 41143 ; Ballad Index Hart080 ; DT BRWNYEL2 , BRWNYLLW ; Mudcat 27464 , 94355 ; trad.]

The Voice Squad sang The Brown and the Yellow Ale on their 1992 album Holly Wood (later reissued as Good People All). This track was also included in 1994 on the Living Tradition anthology Celtic Connections. Frank Harte noted:

The first person I heard singing this song was the late Dominic Behan. Dominic claimed that it was a free translation by the poet, James Stephens, from a song in Irish called Chuaca Lán De Buí. This song was a particular favourite of James Joyce.

Frank Harte sang The Brown and Yellow Ale in a 2004 concert on the subject of ‘songs of love and courtship’. This recording was included in 2016 on his posthumous album When Adam Was in Paradise.

Mick Flynn sang The Brown & Yellow Ale in 2011 on Ron Kavana and Friend’s album 40 Favourite Folk Songs.

Notts Alliance sing The Brown and the Yellow Ale at the Gate to Southwell Festival on 10 June 2011:

Lyrics

The Voice Squad sing The Brown and the Yellow Ale

As I walked down the road one fine summers morning,
O the brown and the yellow ale
I met with a young man without any warning
O love of my heart

He asked me if the woman by my side was my daughter
When I said she’s my wife his manner didn’t alter.

He asked me if I’d lend her for an hour and a day,
I said, “If she thinks that’s fine you may take her away.”

“Then you take the high road and I’ll be off with her
And I’ll meet you again by the ford of the river.”

I waited by that ford for an hour and a quarter
And when she came to me, ’twas without shame I saw her.

When she told me her story, sure I lay down and died,
She sent two men for timber, and she never even cried.

A board of elder and a board of holly,
And three great yards of a shroud all about me.

If my own little mother, she had never been a woman,
I would tell you many’s another tale about women.