I had the great pleasure of meeting William Duddy from Belfast at the Nonsuch Dulcimer Club's annual Spring Fling in Allendale last year, and again at their October weekend event at Denstone College, near Uttoxeter. Unfortunately, the Spring Fling was not to be in 2020, but we have kept in touch and this is one of the results......
William, relaxing in his garden, plays the Bold Grenadier for us on his bold banjo:
https://youtu.be/clMJy9HkHrY
According to The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs, the history of this song is unclear. A ballad entitled "The Souldier and His Knapsack", registered with the Stationers Company in 1639, might be our song. Half a century later the ancestor of our song was definitely in existence. Surviving broadside editions of "The Nightingale's Song, or The Souldier's Rare Musick and Maid's Recreation" date from the 1680s and 1690s.
But the song does not re-appear in print until about 1840. Did the song persist in oral tradition for over 140 years or was it re-introduced in the 19th century by a broadside author / printer? Perhaps it was keeping out of sight in Northern Ireland?
