Archie o Cawfield, also known as "The Bold Archer", "The Bold Prisoner", or "The Escape of Old John Webb"", is an Anglo-Scottish border ballad ,[1] number 188 of the Child ballads.
A proposal of force is met by the more cunning brother with the suggestion that they bring only a handful of men.
Once they sneak into the prison, the captive brother says he is carrying too heavy a load of chain to escape.
Irish rock band, U2, closed several pub concerts with this ballad during early U.S. tours in the early 1980s.
Bono was quoted in Rolling Stone magazine as saying the ballad was deeply moving since he felt a strong connection to the ballad's protagonist.