29. The Ballad of Jack Dolan

© Robbie O’Connell 1985 Slievenamon Music (BMI)

This is my adaptation of the Wild Colonial Boy, undoubtedly the best known of the numerous versions of this song, probably because it featured in the 1952 John Ford film, The Quiet Man. It is a perfect example of the “folk process” at work are there are so many variants of the same story with different names for the heroic outlaw. He is variously know as Jack Duggan, Jack Dolan, Jack Dowling, Jim Doolin etc. Interestingly, the initials are always J D.

All the versions seem to have derived from an earlier Australian ballad about an actual Irishman called Jack Donoghue who was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1804. He was transported to the penal colony in New South Wales in 1823 for “intent to commit felony.” In 1827, he was arrested and sentenced to hang but escaped on his way from the gaol to the courthouse. In the subsequent two and a half years he became the best known bushranger in Australia. On September 1st, 1830, in a shootout between his gang and a group of police and soldiers, he was killed instantaneously by a bullet from the gun of a trooper named John Muckleston.

Isn’t it interesting how times have changed ? In the nineteenth century, simple intent to commit a felony meant transportation for life to a penal colony, thousands of miles away. In the twenty-first century, you could be convicted of 34 counts of felony and still be elected President of the United States of America.

I got the lyrics of this version from The Penguin Book of Folk Ballads of the English Speaking World and added my own tune. This recording is from the first Clancy, O’Connell & Clancy CD released in 1997. There is an earlier recording of it on the 1986 Moloney, O’Connell & Keane LP, There Were Roses on Green Linnet Records.

Lyrics:

THE BALLAD OF JACK DOLAN

Adapted with new music © Robbie O’Connell 1985 Slievenamon Music (BMI)¹

It’s of a wild colonial boy, Jack Dolan was his name
Of poor but honest parents, he was born in Castlemaine
He was his father’s only hope, his mother’s only joy
And dearly did his parents love their wild colonial boy

At scarcely sixteen years of age he left his father’s home
And to Australia’s sunny clime a bushranger he roamed
He robbed those wealthy squatters and their stock he did destroy
A terror to Australia was the wild colonial boy

Chorus
So come on all me hearties, we’ll roam the mountains high
Together we will plunder and together we will die
We’ll wander o’er the valleys, we’ll gallop o’er the plains
We’ll scorn to live in slavery, bound down in iron chains

In ‘61, this daring youth commenced his wild career
With a heart that knew no danger, no foeman did he fear
He held up the Beechworth mail coach and he robbed Judge McEvoy
Who trembled and gave up his gold to the wild colonial boy

One day as he was rambling the mountainside along
Listening to those little birds, their pleasant laughing song
Up rode three mounted troopers, Kelly, Davis and Fitzroy
They swore that they would capture him, the wild colonial boy

Chorus

Surrender now Jack Dolan for you see we’re three to one
Surrender now Jack Dolan or your life will not be long
Jack pulled a pistol from his belt and shook it up on high
“I’ll fight but not surrender,” said the wild colonial boy

He fired at trooper Kelly and he brought him to the ground
Then turning round to Davis, he received a mortal wound
All shattered through the jaw he lay, still firing at Fitzroy
And that’s the way they captured him, the Wild Colonial Boy.

1. Production Information:
Robbie O’Connell—Vocal and guitar
Liam Clancy—Vocal
Dónal Clancy—Vocals, cittern and 5-string banjo
Martin Murray—Mandolin
James Blennerhassett—Bass

Recorded and mixed at Ring Recording Studio, Ring, Co. Waterford, Ireland
Engineers: Bruno Staehelin, Martin Murray and Dónal Clancy
Produced by Liam Clancy, Robbie O’Connell and Dónal Clancy
Mastered by Gerry Putnam at Cedar House Studio, New London, NH