In the 19th-Century broadsheet ballad "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye" (Roud 3137) the titular Johnny has gone off in the military, leaving his sweetheart behind in Athy, County Kildare, with a newborn child (depending on the version, it may be made clear that they weren't married, and the child may be the result of a "fond farewell" to the young hero).
Johnny was off in "Sulloon" or Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) which was under British rule at the time and he was seriously wounded. By "seriously" I mean "Anakin Skywalker at the end of Episode III" wounded. Young Johnny lost his arms, legs and eyes in fighting there and was destined to live out the rest of his time as a beggar. It seems likely the fighting references was decades earlier during the Kandyan Wars, or possibly the more recent Matale Rebellion.
The song was first published in 1867 and is credited to songwriter Joseph B. Geoghegan, who wrote several music hall songs that have passed into the folk tradition. It appears to be a parody of the 1863 Civil War marching song "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" by Irish-American bandleader Patrick Gilmore.
It's sometimes speculated that the much darker "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye" was the older song, and the American version was a "cleaned up" take on it, but documents don't seem to bear that out. Personally, I think it's a very believable idea that a songwriter would take a popular marching song and make a grim parody of it by replacing the patriotic optimism with a tale about the gruesome consequences of war. The song also nicely captured a theme of the growing Irish Independence movement: young men from Ireland, itself a nation under British rule, were recruited to go fight and suffer abroad in other British colonies, to help the Crown keep its power.
Although it's not confirmed, I also suspect that the song influenced Dalton Trumbo's book "Johnny Got His Gun" in which the protagonist suffers a similar fate during fighting in World War I.
In a lot of later versions, including my own, the last verse of the song has kind of an epilogue: "they're rolling out the guns again... but they'll never take our sons again," making for a powerful anti-war statement.
I've actually got two videos to go with this song, to illustrate something that's been on my mind as I make plans for the final recording. In the older one I accompany myself with the harp, the newer I use the guitar. In both I use the traditional tune "The Road to Lisdoonvarna" as an intro.
In many ways, both versions of the song are pretty similar. Instrument choice does have an effect on the texture of the song, but in both cases the focus should be, for better worse, on my voice. And if I'm recording a multitracked version of it, there's no reason that I can't blend both guitar and harp in the final mix. The choice of instrument has a lot more effect on eventual live performances in support of the recording.
Both instruments have their pros and cons. I really enjoy playing the harp, and find it much easier to play instrumental pieces on it because, one, I'm more proficient at it, and two, because it's nature makes it easier to play accompanying chords with the left hand while playing melody with the right. On the other hand, the guitar is better for rhythmic strumming and driving faster songs. It's also easier to travel with, having fewer strings to deal with and a more compact shape. For traveling out of town (say, flying back East) it also has the advantage of being easily fit into a hardshell case (a flight-worthy case for the harp would have to be custom made and cost upwards of $500) and having replacement parts and strings available in any local music shop.
What may end up happening is that I record this project with a wide variety of instruments, and then take it "on the road" with just a guitar, or guitar and mandolin. It's pretty predictable as far as folk music goes, and I'm honestly not that great a guitar player, but it's a much simpler option. We'll see.
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