Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier / Shule Agra

Written by: [Traditional]
Language: English
Comments: [Roud 911; Ballad Index R107; trad.] "Shule Agra" (Súil a Grá) means ‘walk with me, my joy’. The tune and lyrics are very similar to the 17th century Irish tune "Siúil A Rún" on which the song is based. This song, travelling with Irish emigrants, has been heard all over UK, and in North America, where it has been put to its most varied use. There, John and Alan Lomax tell us, “its truly exquisite Irish melody carried it into every quarter of America”, being refashioned by shantymen, lumberjacks, farmworkers, soldiers, Negro children and many other social groups. In the process its Gaelic refrain became splendidly mangled, as with this version found in Missouri by Belden:

Shale, shale, shale-a mac-a-me,
Shule-a mac-a-rac-stack Sally Bobby cue
Shule-a mac-a-rac-stack, Sally Bobby Lee
Come bibble un-a-boose, said Lora.

It became known as "Johnnie Has Gone" and "Buttermilk Hill" during the American Civil War
Peter, Paul & Mary named their version "Gone the Rainbow"
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Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier / Shule Agra written by [Traditional] English

Title	Performer	Release date	Info
Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier	Burl Ives	1950
Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier	The Robert Shaw Chorale	1956
Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier	Frances Faye	April 1957
Buttermilk Hill	Herta Marshall	1957
Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier	Shirley Abicair accompanied by Ken Jones and His Orchestra	1958
Buttermilk Hill	The Weavers	August 1960	Live
Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier	Pete Seeger	1961
Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier	Salli Terri	1961
Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier	Jo Stafford with Orchestra conducted by Paul Weston	February 1962
Gone the Rainbow	Peter, Paul & Mary	August 1962
Shule Agra	Peg Clancy Power	1963
Gone the Rainbow	The Overlanders	March 1964
Buttermilk Hill	Julie Felix	1964
Buttermilk Hill	Truly Smith	June 10, 1966
Buttermilk Hill	The Black Country Three	1966
Johnny Has Gone For a Soldier	Isla Cameron	1966
Gone The Rainbow	Royal Folk Sounds	1967	Unverified
Gone the Rainbow	The Miles Martin Folk Group	1971
Buttermilk Hill	Wild Oats (The Wild Oats)	1973	Unverified
Gone the Rainbow	Wee Gee [PH]	1974
Siúil a Rún	Clannad	1976
Johnny Is Gone for a Soldier	Bobby Horton	September 25, 1988
Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier	Cordelia's Dad	1990
Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier	Michael McCann	1996
Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier	Mark O'Connor with James Taylor	1997
Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier	Meet on the Ledge	1998
Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier	Kallen Esperian with The Memphis Vocal Arts Ensemble	1999
Siúil a Rún	Kate Crossan	February 27, 2001
Siúil a Rún (Walk My Love)	Celtic Woman	2004
Siúl a Rún	Mary Black	October 11, 2005
Siúíl a Rún	Lisa [IE]	2005
Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier	Merrie Amsterburg	May 2, 2006
Gone the Rainbow	mihomihomakoto	July 5, 2006
Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier	Diane Taraz	August 10, 2010
Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier	Suzy Bogguss	2011
Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier	A.A. Bondy	November 5, 2013
Shule Agra	The Furrow Collective	September 18, 2015
Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier	Kronos Quartet with Natalie Merchant	June 9, 2017

Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier / Shule Agra written by [Traditional] instrumental

		Title	Performer	Release date	Info
	i	Johnny Is Gone for a Soldier	Wayne Erbsen	1992

Siúil a Rúin written by [Unknown] Multiple languages (not verified yet)

		Title	Performer	Release date	Info
		Siúil a Rúin	Connie Dover	1994	Unverified

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