☘ THE RATTLIN' BOG ☘
FAN SHRINE

Something I've been thinking about lately: the song changes from county to county. The Galway version I grew up with has "limb" before "branch." My mate in Kerry swears the nest comes before the twig. A lad in Donegal told me they have a verse about a root that doesn't appear anywhere else.

What version did you learn? Where did you learn it? I want to map the regional differences.

The Shannon version goes: tree, limb, branch, bough, twig, nest, egg, bird, feather, flea. We have the "bough" between branch and twig. I learned it from my grandmother and she from hers. Never questioned the bough until I heard versions without it.

Every family carries their own version. That's what makes it a living song.

mine goes straight from tree to branch to twig!! no limb at all!! and my nan always said "a rare wee twig" instead of just "a rare twig" and i thought that was the official version until i came to this site and realized there IS no official version and that broke my brain a little but also made me love it more???

This is BRILLIANT, TradSessionKing. The Clare version I grew up with has the standard order from the lyrics page, but even within Clare I've heard variations. Mick Hennessy insists there should be a "bark" before the branch and gets genuinely upset about it.

Every version is correct. The song adapts to whoever's singing it. That's not a flaw — that's the whole point. The Rattlin' Bog is different everywhere because it BELONGS everywhere.