Vagabond (person)

A vagabond or "drifter" is an itinerant person. Such people may be called drifters, tramps, rogues, or hobos. A vagabond is characterized by almost continuous traveling, lacking a fixed home, temporary abode, or permanent residence. Vagabonds are not bums, as bums are not known for traveling, preferring to stay in one location.^[1]

Historically, "vagabond" was a British legal term similar to vagrant, deriving from the Latin for 'purposeless wandering'.^[2] Following the Peasants' Revolt, British constables were authorized under a 1383 statute to collar vagabonds and force them to show their means of support; if they could not, they were jailed.

By the 19th century the vagabond was associated more closely with Bohemianism.^{[citation needed]} The critic Arthur Compton-Rickett compiled a review of the type, in which he defined it as men "with a vagrant strain in the blood, a natural inquisitiveness about the world beyond their doors." Examples included Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Leo Tolstoy, William Hazlitt, and Thomas de Quincey.^[3]

In television

The female ronin (master-less samurai) Ran from the anime Kazemakase Tsukikage Ran is entirely depicted as a vagabond, going where her adventures lead her.
Simon from the anime Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann becomes a vagabond at the end of the series.
Kenshin Himura from the anime Rurouni Kenshin is a vagabond, though he takes up temporary residence at the Kamiya dojo early on.
Jubei from Ninja Scroll.
In the CW drama One Tree Hill, the character of Lucas Scott, described himself and fellow character Skills Taylor as Vagabonds.

In movies

Charlie Chaplin's 1916 film The Vagabond
The 1929 Rudy Vallee Talkie film is entitled The Vagabond Lover.
Agnes Varda's 1985, documentary style movie Vagabond, originally titled Sans Toit Ni Loi, ("Without Roof or Law"), follows a young woman, Mona, during her last winter roaming through the South of France. Her story is pieced together by the recollections of those who met her in her last weeks.
Ryu is mentioned as a vagabond by T.Hawk in the animated movie for Street Fighter II.
Jack Dawson is a drifting artist in the blockbuster 1997 movie Titanic.
Sean Penn depicts a Drifter in the 1997 Movie U-Turn.
The Man with No Name is an anti hero, gun fighting drifter, and the main character from the Dollars Trilogy, a series of Spaghetti Westerns. In each movie, the character is depicted as overcoming an antagonist, by means of deception, coercion, and usually violence.
In The Count of Monte Cristo the protagonist is called a vagabond.
Sylvester Stallone depicts the drifter soldier John Rambo in his 1982 movie First Blood

In music

In The Almost song Summer Summer, one line reads "Empty streets, empty me, just call me vagabond, wandering in the sun".
In the Bon Jovi song " These Days", from their album These Days, one line exclaimed "Saw a vagabond king wear a styrofoam crown, wondered if I might end up the same".
Rudy Vallee's 1929 Fox Trot Ballad is entitled "I'm Just A Vagabond Lover". The song was also sung by Vallee in the 1929 Talkie entitled Glorifying the American Girl.
Calle 13's song, "Pal Norte" refers to the life of a vagabond, especially the lyrics "Con mis pezuñas de cordero / me propuse recorrer el continente entero / Sin brújula, sin tiempo, sin agenda"
Bob Dylan's song, "Its All Over Now, Baby Blue" includes the lyric, "The vagabond who's rapping at your door/is standing in the cloths that you once wore."
metalcore band UnderOath's 2008 album Lost in the Sound of Separation uses this term in the song "To Bright To See Too Loud To Hear". The lyrics are "If your work leaves our hands, Then we will be wanderers and vagabonds."
The first line of the song "Roll Um Easy" by Little Feat is "Oh, I am just a vagabond, drifter on the run"
Elton John's song, Can You Feel The Love Tonight includes the phrase: "It's enough to make kings and vagabonds believe the very best."
Metallica's song Wherever I May Roam, from their self titled album, includes the phrase "Roamer, Wanderer, Nomad, Vagabond, Call me what you will."
The Decemberists' song "Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect" includes the lyrics "We are vagabonds. We travel without seat belts on; we live this close to death."
In the song "Forever Young" by Rod Stewart it includes the lyric, "Build a stairway to heaven, with a prince or a vagabond"
Jaguar Loves' song "Vegabond Ballroom"
Thin Lizzy's song "Vagabond of the Western World"
Shinedown's song What A Shame uses the word in the lyric "Two packs of cigarettes a day, The strongest whiskey Kentucky can make, That's a recipe to put a vagabond on his hands and knees".
Joan Baez's song Diamonds and Rust refers to "the unwashed phenomenon, the original vagabond."
Wolfmother's song Vagabond is about the life of a vagabond.
Numerous songs by Twiztid use the word, mostly by Monoxide.
In The Killers song "Losing Touch" from their album Day & Age, the lyric, "You sold your soul like a roamin' vagabond," is repeated throughout.
In the Heavenly (French band) song Farewell, off of their album Carpe Diem, "On the vagabond, riding (the?) universe, diving into eternity..."
The Greenskeepers song Vagabond, written for the release of video game Grand Theft Auto IV, concerns the game's primary protagonist Niko Bellic, a typical vagabond who moves home often throughout the course of the game's plot.
The Stratovarius song Soul of the Vagabond
Daddy Yankee's song "Salgo Pa La Calle" contains the lyrics "Hoy salgo pa la calle sin rumbo como un vagabundo"
Foy Vance's song 'Gabriel and the vagabond' discusses an imagined meeting between a destitute vagabond and the angel Gabriel who helps restore his hope for literal and figurative salvation.
Social Distortion's song "Nickels and Dimes" contains the line "I’m a vagabond king with a stolen crown" in its lyrics.
Bethany Dillion's song Vagabond describes the constant moving ""Run like vagabond, carry the flame, Run for children and run the slaves, hold it up high with a message of faith. Don't ever stop moving on. Just run vagabond"
Frank Sinatra's song 'New York New York' contains the line "These vagabond shoes, are longing to stray" in its lyrics.
Jay Nash's song 'Wayfarer' concentrates on this theme, containing the lyrics "You're a wayfarer, you're a vagabond girl. But you hate to get lost in the crowd."
"The Drunkard". Traditional folk song recorded by Steeleye Span, first verse ends with "You are the biggest vagabond that e'er I did see"
Abdel Halim Hafiz's song "Sawah" means Vagabond.
Vancouver band Hey Ocean! teamed up with Toronto artist Shad for the song "Vagabond" about living life on the road.
Japanther's song Vagabond which contain the lyrics "Can't trust the Vagabond. So pack your bags 'cause we are on the midnight train and sleepin' good."
One of The Classic Crime's albums is called 'Vagabonds' including a song titled vagabonds.
Clutch (band)'s song Electric Worry sings the life of a drifter, the only life for me.
Shinedown's Song What a Shame is about the life of a "Vagabond"

References

^ p.94 SUNY Press Crouse, Joan M. The Homeless Transient in the Great Depression: New York State 1929-1941 1986 SUNY Press
^ Marjorie Keniston McIntosh (1998). Controlling Misbehavior in England, 1370-1600. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521894042.
^ Arthur Compton-Rickett (1906). The Vagabond in Literature. E. P. Dutton.

[1] .94 SUNY Press Crouse, Joan M. The Homeless Transient in the Great Depression: New York State 1929-1941 1986 SUNY Press

[McIntosh-2] Marjorie Keniston McIntosh (1998). Controlling Misbehavior in England, 1370-1600. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521894042.

[Compton-Rickett-3] Arthur Compton-Rickett (1906). The Vagabond in Literature. E. P. Dutton.

[1]

[2]

[3]

In television

In movies

In music

See also

References