Red Haired Boy

The Irish title, "An Giolla Rua," means the red-haired lad, and he is usually taken to be a real outlaw. The tune also carries the song "The Little Beggarman" in Ireland, Scotland and England, and Edward Bunting printed a related melody in 1840. Fiddlers in Scotland and Ireland both play it, which is rare, and American players took it up with few changes.

A story from Ireland tells of piper Donnchadh Ó Sé, who learned a fairy tune on a cliff and fell ill whenever he played it. When a robber held a pistol on him and demanded that tune, he played "An Giolla Rua" instead, and the robber never noticed.