Bob Dylan and the Royal Canal

“Royal Canal,” is a prison song, presumably written by Behan during his time in Mountjoy Prison.

I first heard “Royal Canal” when I was a kid on an album I found in one of my uncle’s record collection called Brendan Behan Sings Irish Folksongs and Ballads.  Behan was singing unaccompanied, and if I remember correctly was fairly drunk, and being about nine-years-old, I thought it was pretty funny at the time, but the song and another one called “Don’t Muck About With The Moon” stuck with me.