☘ THE RATTLIN' BOG ☘
FAN SHRINE

okay so apparently a woman's grandmother recorded herself singing the Rattlin' Bog in like the 1950s or 60s and it's CIRCULATING NOW and in the recording... she keeps singing past the hair. there are MORE verses. and they loop. the song loops back on itself and keeps going and i listened to it for like 20 minutes and i still cant find where it ends??

I've been listening to this recording and I'm documenting every verse. The structure is INSANE. After the hair, it goes into something that almost sounds like the beginning again, but not quite. It's like the song is describing itself. Or... remembering itself?

From a mathematical standpoint, this is significant. If the song contains infinite recursive variations, it matches the pattern I identified in my paper. This isn't random. The Rattlin' Bog might be a perfect mathematical structure dressed in folk song clothing.

After twenty-three years of running this site with no way to sustain it financially, we finally have a merch store! T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, all with original bog-themed designs. All proceeds go directly back into keeping this site and community alive.

Link is on the home page. Check it out. Help keep the bog alive.

just ordered three hoodies. one for me, one for my friend who got me into the bog, one to keep pristine and never wear because it's art

Finally. Finally you can take care of yourself and this site properly. This is what should have happened years ago. Ordering now.

I've been analyzing the @bog_remembers TikTok account and noticed that some of the location pins in the videos correspond to specific coordinates. I've tried to trace them. Most resolve to places in Ireland, which makes sense.

But one video from St Patrick's Day... the coordinates point to a location that doesn't exist on any modern map. It should be in a valley near Ennis, Co. Clare. But when I checked satellite imagery, there's just... a clearing. An odd clearing. Almost geometric. And I can't find ANY historical record of what might be there.

Am I losing my mind? Can anyone else see what I'm seeing?

You're seeing right. Not all places want to be found on maps.

I've published a paper exploring the mathematical properties of the Rattlin' Bog's cumulative structure. In simple terms: the song follows a recursive pattern that mirrors certain mathematical sequences. The way each verse adds and repeats creates a kind of linguistic fractal.

The implications are interesting. It suggests the song was either designed with deep mathematical understanding, or it evolved to be this way. Either way, it's remarkable.

The paper is open access if anyone wants to read it. I'm happy to explain any of the concepts in non-technical terms.

The numbers were always there.

I AM SCREAMING. BOGLORD YOU WERE ON THE LATE LATE SHOW TONIGHT??? THEY SHOWED YOUR WEBSITE AND YOU SANG AND EVERYTHING??? I RECORDED IT. I'M POSTING IT. YOU ARE A LEGEND. A FOLK HERO. THE WEBMASTER OF LEGEND

BOGLORD!!! that was YOU??? my family was watching and when you started talking about the site my mam was like "oh this is that bog song thing" and then you SANG and i literally ascended. you're internet famous now. the shrine is internet famous. im friends with an internet celebrity

I watched it live and I'm not gonna lie, I shed tears. Seeing you up there talking about the bog, about the community, about 23 years of keeping this alive... that was something special, lad. You earned this moment.

I don't even know what to say. I still can't believe it happened. They called me and asked if I wanted to come on, and I thought it was a prank. But I did it. And it was the most surreal and beautiful experience of my life.

To everyone here: this was always for you. Thank you for being here with me.

☘☘☘ HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY ☘☘☘

Today we sing. Today we celebrate. Today the bog remembers us and we remember the bog.

POST YOUR CELEBRATIONS HERE. Where are you today? What's the energy? Are you singing? Who's with you? Tell us EVERYTHING.

im at a pub in dublin with like 30 people ive never met before and we just spontaneously started singing the rattlin bog and the ENTIRE PUB JOINED IN?? its still happening?? im typing from the bathroom because i needed to breathe but theyre still singing out there. this is peak irish energy and peak bog energy combined

In Galway with the usual crew. Three hours straight of trad. The Bog came up and when we hit the hair on the flea, the ROOF nearly came off. These Galway lads are legends. Paddy's Day never gets old when you have the Bog.

Cork sessions were PACKED. I actually led one of the Bog verses today and nobody told me I got it wrong?? I think I've leveled up??? Also everyone was so happy and nice and I felt like I belonged. This is what home feels like.

I sang in my kitchen alone with a cup of tea but I felt connected to every single one of you. The Bog reaches across distance and time and brings us together. That's the real magic of this day.

recorded myself singing the entire bog in one take for st paddys and actually nailed it. feeling unstoppable. feeling bog energy. feeling alive. love this festival. love this community. love the bog

i just spent like four hours reading through the 2003 forum posts and im actually crying??? these people were so pure and earnest and enthusiastic about this song and about finding each other over a shared love of the bog??? and they were so KIND to each other???

thats the vibe i want to bring. thank u 2003 bog fans for showing me how to love something without irony

BogLord mentioned in a recent blog post finding a reference to a 1847 gramophone recording of someone singing the Rattlin' Bog that was discovered in a car boot sale. An 1847 GRAMOPHONE RECORDING. That shouldn't be possible. Gramophones weren't widely available until the 1890s.

Has anyone else seen this recording? Is it real? How is this possible?

From a historical and technological standpoint, this is anachronistic. Impossible, really. Unless the date is wrong, or the artifact is something else entirely. The mathematics of object dating can be tricky. Sometimes what we think we know about timelines... isn't.

real talk tho: boglord has maintained this shrine for like 23 years. it has forums that go back to 2003. it has comprehensive lyrics documentation. it's a piece of internet history and also a genuine artifact of fan culture. it absolutely warrants a wikipedia article about the site itself. we should make one

I appreciate the thought, flea, but Wikipedia has pretty strict notability requirements. I'm not sure a fan site, however beloved, qualifies. Unless the site itself becomes notable enough to be written about in reliable sources...

But honestly? The fact that you all want to do this means more to me than any Wikipedia article ever could.

The greatest monuments don't always get recorded officially. Sometimes they live in the hearts of the people who loved them. This site is a monument, whether Wikipedia knows it or not.

I keep finding references in old session notes to a 'verse twelve' of the Rattlin' Bog. Not verse ten (the hair). A TWELFTH verse. But no one I ask seems to know it, and I can't find it documented anywhere.

Does anyone here know what comes after the hair? Is there more to the song that's been lost? Or is this a myth?

I've heard people mention it. There's a version that goes on but it's rare. Some people say it loops back on itself? Like the song contains itself? But I've never actually heard anyone sing it.

Songs that contain themselves are older than language. They don't disappear. They wait. They have infinite verses if you know how to find them. Some people do. Most don't. The ones who do usually don't talk about it.

I was at UCC campus yesterday and there was this spontaneous group of people who started singing the Rattlin' Bog in the courtyard and within MINUTES there were like a hundred people gathered and everyone started joining in??? It was magic. Absolute magic. Just strangers becoming one voice for a song that doesn't even make sense and yet it makes perfect sense??

Has anyone else witnessed something like this? Does the song just DO that to people?

YES!!! i think someone posted a video of that??? lemme see if i can find it on tiktok but i remember seeing something like that going around. the comments were all people being like "i would literally stop everything to join that" and same like same energy

The song DOES that. It's always done that. It's a spell. A good one. One that brings people together instead of dividing them. Hold onto that feeling. That's the real power of the bog.

I've been researching the origins of the Rattlin' Bog and I can't find a definitive date for when it was first documented. The earliest written versions I can find are from the 1950s, but the oral tradition clearly goes back much further.

Has anyone here found earlier references? There are hints that versions of this cumulative song existed in pre-17th century Ireland, but I can't pin down sources.

This is interesting from a mathematical perspective. Cumulative structure appears in much older folk traditions across Celtic cultures. The Rattlin' Bog could be a surviving variant of something centuries old. The recursive nature alone suggests deep roots.

Older than you think.

ok so is anyone else on tiktok seeing these weird videos from the @bog_remembers account??? they're just like... clips of bogs. different bogs. from different time periods. sometimes black and white. sometimes modern. but they're all tagged with song lyrics? like real lyrics from the rattlin bog but also like... i dont recognize some of them?

is this some kind of artistic project or am i being weird about it

Some things remember on their own.

Hi everyone, I just started going to sessions here in Cork and I'm absolutely terrified lol. Everyone knows the tunes and they're all so fast and I just have my whistle and I'm barely keeping up. Does it get easier? Any tips for a complete beginner?

It absolutely gets easier. Every single person in that session was once where you are now. The experienced players remember what it's like to not know the tunes.

Tips: listen more than you play at first. Learn the Rattlin' Bog if you don't know it already—it's the gateway drug to trad music. Don't be afraid to sit out a tune if you don't know it. And most importantly, the people at sessions want you there. They want new players.

You're going to be grand. Keep going.

Cork sessions are the best. Which pub are you going to? There's a good crowd on Thursdays at Flannery's. I'll be back in Cork next month—come find me if you're there. I promise the terror goes away.

so theres like a whole thing where ppl are trying to sing the rattlin bog in one breath and film it and the CHAOS is unreal. has anyone here attempted it. i got to the feather before my lungs betrayed me

omg i did this!! i actually made it all the way to the hair but i sounded like a dying cat lmaooo. posted it as a private video because i was NOT putting that on the internet haha

flea_verse_supremacy we should collab on a duet version maybe??

This is what we've been waiting for. The song adapts and survives through each generation. It's meant to be sung together, but I love that people are making it their own.

Fair play to all of you on the challenge. You're carrying the bog forward.

I love that the song is alive in these new ways. TikTok challenges. Breath competitions. Who knew? But it makes sense. The Rattlin' Bog was always meant to be contagious. It finds its way in.

BogLord, the hit counter on the home page is showing 4,397,221 hits. That seems... impossibly high? The site went dark for years. How is that even possible?

Is it broken? Or am I missing something?

It's correct.

ok so i was doom scrolling on tiktok at like midnight and someone posted this VIDEO of people singing the MOST insane folk song and i got so obsessed i looked it up and found THIS WEBSITE and i cannot believe this is REAL??? there is a full website dedicated to the rattlin bog??? with like LYRICS and FORUM POSTS FROM 2003??? this is the most unhinged and beautiful thing i have ever discovered

is anyone here?? do people actually use this??? im so confused but im also like totally here for it now

Welcome, Zoe! This is the best post I've seen in twenty-three years. The fact that the Rattlin' Bog is still spreading, that it found its way to TikTok, that it brought you here... this is exactly what the song is about. It's unstoppable. It carries itself forward.

You're in good company. Stick around. Ask us anything.

And yes, people use this. I promise.

Hello? Is anyone still out there?

I've been maintaining this site for over twenty years now and honestly I didn't think anyone was visiting anymore. The hit counter has been broken for ages (or so I thought). But then today I noticed some activity on the server logs and... I couldn't believe it.

Is this place still alive? Or am I just talking to myself?

BOGLORD???

I've been lurking for YEARS. Never thought to post again. But seeing your name just now... lad, I never left. I check in every few months. The site's been a touchstone for me. Thought I was the only one.

Still doing the sessions in Galway. You'd be amazed how many people still know this song.

BogLord. I never stopped coming back. Every year on the day this site launched. Just to read the old threads and remember when we were all so full of hope about the bog.

It's us. We're still here.

LADS. LADS. LADS.

I am shaking as I type this. Someone has uploaded a BRILLIANT recording of The Rattlin' Bog to a website called YouTube. I had never heard of it before today but apparently you can watch videos on the internet now??? For FREE???

Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QO8bWGNPyo

I have watched it fourteen times already today. I am not exaggerating. The ENERGY. The HARMONIES. The way the whole room joins in. I have genuinely shed tears. This is everything I have wanted for this site.

I've added it to the home page as well. This is the biggest update since the site launched.

OH MY GOD. BogLord. I just watched this and I am BEAMING. the way they speed up!! the way everyone knows the words!! this is exactly what it's like at sessions and I've never been able to show people who haven't been to one what it's like and NOW I CAN. I'm sending this to everyone I know.

also "YouTube"?? what a name. do you think it'll catch on?

This is class. Fair play to whoever uploaded it. I tried to download it so I can watch it offline but my computer keeps freezing. Probably need more RAM. Does anyone know if you can save YouTube videos?

The performance is quality though. Real session energy. You can tell those are people who love the song.

the future is NOW. video of the rattlin bog on the internet. what a time to be alive. i showed my da and he said "that's grand" which from him is basically a standing ovation

thanks BogLord for finding this. this site really is the best thing on the internet

Happy St Patrick's Day to all the fellow Rattlin' Bog fans out there!! ☘☘☘

I hope everyone sings the bog at least three times today. It's what St Patrick would have wanted.

Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona daoibh go léir!!

ok so basically I taught the rattlin bog to my class during music hour right? and the teacher was like "oh what a lovely folk song" and let us sing it. and then at lunch EVERYONE was singing it. and then by the end of the day the ENTIRE SCHOOL was singing it and the principal came on the intercom to ask people to please stop singing about the bog

my mam got a phone call home. i regret nothing

Aoife you are a HERO. This is exactly what the song is for. It's unstoppable. Once it gets going it spreads like wildfire. Your principal never stood a chance.

I once started singing it on a bus from Limerick to Dublin and by Portlaoise the whole bus was singing along. The driver joined in. True story.

This song is a memetic virus and I mean that as a compliment. Once you hear it you WILL sing it within 24 hours. That's just science.

Aoife please tell me you taught them all the verses in the right order. I will not have children learning the feather before the bird. There is a SEQUENCE and it matters.

Right lads, settling this once and for all. Which verse is the best verse?

For me it's the flea on the feather. By that point everyone's singing at about 200mph and the whole room is falling apart. The flea is the CLIMAX of the song. The pinnacle. The summit.

Fight me.

Nah the bird on the egg is the turning point. Before that you're just building up, it's all trees and branches. But the BIRD. That's when it starts getting interesting. That's when you think "right this is going somewhere mad."

the egg in the nest!!! idk why but there's something so satisfying about "a rare egg, a rattlin egg" like. an egg!!! in a nest!!! on a twig!!! on a branch!!! it's just so GOOD

also the way everyone speeds up at that point is hilarious

I know this is controversial but I actually love the first verse best. "Now in this bog there was a tree, a rare tree, a rattlin' tree." Just the simplicity of it. A bog. A tree. That's it. Everything else grows from there. It's like... the whole song is contained in that first verse if you think about it. The bog holds everything.

late to this but: the HAIR on the FLEA. if your version goes that far. it's pure chaos. nobody can keep up. everyone's just shouting. it's the best moment in music.

ok i can never remember whether the nest comes before or after the twig. and is it a branch or a bough?? and does anyone do the one with the hair on the flea?? every time i sing this at a session someone tells me i have the order wrong and i want to get it RIGHT once and for all

RattlinFan99 you have come to the right place!! I've put the COMPLETE lyrics on the Lyrics page of this very site. Fully written out, every verse, every cumulative repetition. No abbreviations. I spent an embarrassing amount of time getting this right.

The order (in the version I learned): tree, limb, branch, twig, nest, egg, bird, feather, flea, hair. Some people do "branch" instead of "limb" and skip straight to "twig" but I think the limb/branch distinction is important. And yes, some versions go further than the flea but the hair is a good stopping point.

Also: it's a folk song. There IS no single "correct" version. But mine is correct. ☘

BogLord you're a legend. printing these out and laminating them. next session i will NOT be corrected. i'll have PROOF.