Origins: My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean

Subject: RE: 'My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean' History?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 08 Oct 03 - 09:35 PM

In Randolph (edit. Legman), "Roll Me In Your Arms," pp. 192-193, a version recorded by Hamish Henderson, from the singing of the Scottish Gypsy ballad singer, Mrs. Jeanie Robertson is somewhat different from "Haben a Boo and a Banner" in the DT. It is quoted in the section "My Father was Hung" rather under the nonsense chorus line, Wi' Ma-hamet Abu an' a Banna, which Henderson suggested was sung by soldiers who had served in the Middle East, as a replacement for part of the ri-too-rally type of refrain.

My father was hung for sheep-stealing,
My mother was burned for a witch,
And my sister's a bawdy-hoos' keeper,
And mysel' (I'm just) a son-of-a-bitch.

My granny began a-fartin' and pissin',
And we'll hae a fud at the (word missing)
An' my sister come doon the stair drettin'(1),
An' the de'il put a cork in her airse.

As I was walkin' doon the streets of London,
I met a young girl in the face (2),
And I asked her if she'd take some company,
And I tickled her right in the place(3).

When I had a shop down in London,
A young lady came into my shop,
She asked for three yards of my linen,
I said I gie her three yards of my cock.

But when I was a cobbler in Dublin,
And up to my knees amang snaw,
For the de'il took a hud(4) of my bollocks
And swore he'd rug them awa'.

For I have a cock like a cuddy(5)
And bollocks a' mounted with brass,
I could ride all the whores of damnation,
And rattle my ba's at their airse.

Wi' Ma-hamet Abu an' a banna
Wi' Ma-hamet Abu and a bey.
Wi' Ma-hamet Abu and a banna,
Rit-too-ral-aye ooral ay-aye.

1) shitting, 2) face-to-face, 3) in the perineum, 4)a hold,
5) jackass.

Subject: RE: 'My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean' History?
From: masato sakurai
Date: 08 Oct 03 - 11:31 PM

Listen to the Beatles with Tony Sheridan version [Real Audio] here.

Subject: RE: 'My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean' History?
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 08 Oct 03 - 11:44 PM

Masato, the site tells me that I need to download Japanese text support (some four minutes)- is it safe?

Subject: RE: 'My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean' History?
From: masato sakurai
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 01:52 AM

GUEST,Q, that seems to be a streaming link. I can't save it on my PC.
~Masato

Subject: RE: 'My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean' History?
From: GUEST,Jenny
Date: 14 Jun 04 - 04:39 AM

French musicians here in SW France play this tune for dances and call it "English Waltz"... Is there any name for the tune other than 'My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean' ?

Subject: RE: Origins: My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean
From:
Date: 17 May 06 - 04:32 PM

Don't forget the 20th century British song to the same tune, listed in Digital Tradition as "Shine Your Buttons with Brasso," from a Roberts & Barrand album.

Subject: RE: Origins: My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 17 May 06 - 05:01 PM

A favorite in the Army was:

My brother lies over the ocean
My sister lies over the sea
My father lies over my mother
And that's how they got little me.

Subject: RE: Origins: My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 18 May 06 - 10:50 AM

Merely using the word "bonnie" doesn't guarantee that a song is Scottish. My grandfather, born in 1880 in Berlin, Wisconsin, had the nickname Bun because his mother pronounced him "a bonnie baby" and his brothers thought she had said "bunny."

Subject: RE: Origins: My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 May 06 - 04:08 PM

Can anyone provide the full lyrics of "My Daddy's a Delver of Dykes" 1733, Orpheus Caledonius? As noted previously, only one verse is given in Cray.

Subject: RE: Origins: My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 19 May 06 - 01:01 PM

Other parody(incomplete):
"My bonny lies over the ocean;
She also lies when she's at home.
Of truth she has never a notion;
(something, dah-dah-dah, duhduh.)"
Talk about memory playing tricks...........Tw

Subject: Lyr. Add: Mein Bonnie ist fern von der Heimat
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 10:02 PM

MEIN BONNIE IST FERN VON DER HEIMAT

1
Mein Bonnie ist fern von der Heimat;
Mein Bonnie ist weit auf dem Meer.
Ihr Winde und wogenden Wasser
Oh, bringt ihn mir heil wieder her!

Refrain
Bonnie! Bonnie!
Oh, fahr' mit dem Glück übers weite Meer!
Bonnie, Bonnie!
Oh, kehr' mir nur heil wieder her!

und/oder
Bonnie, Bonnie!
Du fuhrst mit dem Glück übers weite Meer;
Bonnie, Bonnie!
Drum kamst du auch heil wieder her.

und/oder
Einmal, einmal
Endet bei dir meine Reise.
Einmal, einmal
Sag'ich dir nicht mehr adieu.

2
Ich träumte heut' nacht von mein'm Bonnie;
Die Wellen ergriffen sein Boot.
Sei vorsichtig, Bonnie, sonst bist du
Vor Ende des Liedes schon tot!
3
Noch ehe ein Jahr war vergangen,
Da lachte uns beiden das Glück.
Die Winde und wogenden Wasser,
Die brachten mir Bonnie zurück.
4
Mein Bonnie, der ist ein Matrose.
Wir sah'n uns schon lange nicht mehr.
Er gab mir zum Abschied drei Rosen
Und sprach: "Mädel, wein' nicht so sehr!
5
Mein Bonnie schrieb neulich von Boston;
Ein Foto von ihn war dabei.
"Ob Westen, ob Süden, ob Osten,"
So schrieb er, "Ich bleibe dir treu!"
6
Mein Bonnie kann fest auf mich bauen,
Ist oft das Alleinsein auch schwer.
Ich weiß ja, ich kann ihm vertrauen;
Er liebt mich ja mehr als das Meer.

Mein Bonnie

Subject: RE: Origins: My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean
From: Austin P
Date: 19 Feb 09 - 04:12 PM

From The vocal miscellany 3rd ed. London 1738 pp 214

Have You Heard

I once was a Poet at London,
I kept my Heart still full of Glee;
There's no Man' can say that I'm undone,
For begging's no new Trade to me.
Tol derol, &c.

I once was an Attorney at Law,
And after a Knight of the Post:
Give me a brisk Wench in clean Straw,
And I value not who rules the Roast.
Tol derol, &c.

Make room for a Soldier in Buff,
Who valiantly strutted about,
Till he fancy'd the Peace breaking off,
And then he most wisely-sold out.
Tol derol, &c.

Here comes a Courtier polite, Sir,
Who flatter'd my Lord to his Face;
Now railing is all his Delight, Sir,
Because he miss'd getting a Place,
Tol derol, &c.

I still am a merry Gut-Scraper,
My Heart never yet felt a Qualm;
Tho' poor, I can frolick and vapour,
And sing any Tune, but a Psalm.
Tol derol, &c

I was a fanatical Preacher,
I turn'd up my Eyes when I pray'd;
But my Hearers half starved their Teacher,
For they believ'd not one Word that I said.
Tol derol, &c

Whoe'er would be merry and free,
Let him list, and from us he may learn:
In Palaces who shall you see,
Half so happy as we in a Barn?
Tol derol, &c.

AP

Subject: RE: Origins: My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 19 Feb 09 - 05:22 PM

Sorry to come in so late on this one, Malcolm, but I only found out last year. It is yet another of good old Harry Clifton's from the 1860's, title 'Send back my Barney to me', more or less in the form the Watersons sing. I have a copy of the original sheet music. It came up on Ebay last year and finished up above my final bid but I contacted the winner and he very kindly sent me a photocopy.

Subject: Lyr. Add: I Once Was a Rakish Young Fellow
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 19 Feb 09 - 05:37 PM

Very good! Has that collection been put on line?

Subject: RE: Origins: My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean
From: Jim McLean
Date: 19 Feb 09 - 06:01 PM

I'm sure Q now has the rest of the lyrics of My Daddy's a Delver of Dykes as requested way back but just in case, this is the other verse as printed in the Orpheus Caledonius:

But now the Carlin's dead,
And I'll do what I can,
And I'll do what i can;
Wi' my twenty Pound and my Cow;
But wow it's an uco' thing,
That na body comes to woe.

Subject: RE: Origins: My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 19 Feb 09 - 07:51 PM

Nooo, but I do have a convergence of a Bonnie antecedent and Tarpaulin Jacket, which I am posting in that thread, 16016. Tarpaulin

Subject: RE: Origins: My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 19 Feb 09 - 08:39 PM

He gets everywhere, that Harry Clifton. Thanks, Steve. I take it that the melody as printed is much as the Watersons had it? Back in 2000 when this thread started out, few of us had access to the Roud Index and a lot of leads didn't get followed up; later on it moved onto 'My daddy's a delver of dykes' and the like, and I thought no more about it until it popped up a few hours ago. Seeing that 'Austin P' had followed Q's addition of a translation into German with what seems (unless I have missed something) to be a puzzling non sequitur, your comments came in the nick of time.

Although we still don't know who wrote 'My Bonnie', nailing down 'My Barney' should dispose of much of the wild guessing and modern myths. 'Barney' doesn't seem to be in the BL catalogue or in COPAC. A short summary might be useful at this point.

c.1860: 'Send Back My Barney to Me' written and published by Harry Clifton.

The song is quickly taken up by other performers in Britain and America. In the USA in particular it is 'favoured by Irish comedians' and is printed on broadsides and in songsters, frequently uncredited to Clifton and instead assumed to be, or claimed as, Irish.

By 1881 an adaptation or parody, with the tune a bit changed, begins to appear in print as 'My Bonnie'. It seems to have started out as a student song, most likely in America; a song-sheet issued in 1882 by Harms of New York as 'Bring Back My Bonnie to Me' credits it to H J Fulmer (Charles E Pratt) and J T Woods, but the text is reputedly rather different and no conclusions can be drawn without seeing both words and music. Evidently 'Barney' and 'Bonnie' continue alongside each other for a time, with other songs being written that appear to have been inspired by them; or at any rate by the former.

By the early C20, 'My Bonnie' has eclipsed its parent, which is largely forgotten. The song's enormous popularity leads to further parodies and to the tune being adopted for other songs in the same metre like 'My father was hung for sheep-stealing'. This leads even some scholars to assume that the tune is Scottish.

The general public don't need to 'deduce', of course; to them it is not only patently obvious that any song with the word 'bonnie' in it must be Scottish, but also that, if the sea is mentioned as well, it must be about 'Bonnie Prince Charlie'. The more inventive may go for a less hackneyed option like 'Bonnie George Campbell', but with an equal lack of backup.

To stray again back to 'My Daddy's a Delver of Dykes', I mentioned a few years ago that another text had appeared prior to Orpheus Caledonius. Here it is.


Slighted NANSY.

To the Tune of The Kirk wad let me be.


"Tis I have seven braw new Gowns,
And ither seven better to mak,
And yet for a' my new Gowns,
My Wooer has turn'd his Back.
Besides I have feven Milk Ky,
And Sandy he has but three;
And yet for a' my good Ky,
The Laddie winna ha'e me.

My Dady's a Delver of Dikes,
My Mither can Card and Spin,
And I am a fine sodgel Lass,
And the Siller comes linkin in,
The Siller comes linkin in,
And it is sou fair to see,
And fifty Times wow! O wow!
What ails the Lads at me.

When ever our Bauty does bork,
Then saft to the Door I rin,
To see gin ony young Spark
Will light and venture but in:
But never a ane will come in,
Tho' mony a ane gaes by,
Syne far Ben the House I rin,
And a weary Wight am I.

When I was at my first Pray'rs,
I pray'd but anes i'the Year,
I wish'd for a handsome young Lad,
And a Lad with muckle Gear.
When I was at my neist Prayers,
I pray'd but now and than,
I fash'd na my Head about Gear,
If I gat a handsome young Man.

Now when I'm at my last Prayers,
I pray on baith Night and Day,
And O if a Beggar wad come,
With that same Beggar I'd gae.
And O and what'll come o'me,
And O and what'll I do,
That sic a braw Lassie as I
Shou'd die for a Wooer I trow.


Ambrose Philips [?], A Collection of Old Ballads. Corrected from the best and most Ancient Copies Extant. With Introductions Historical and Critical. London: J Roberts, vol III, 1725. Song 50, pp 249-250. Various facsimile copies can be seen at the Internet Archive:  A Collection of Old Ballads.

The prescribed tune, 'The Kirk wad let me be', bears no resemblance to either 'Barney' or 'Bonnie'.

Subject: RE: Origins: My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean
From: Austin P
Date: 19 Feb 09 - 10:01 PM

Malcolm:

... "to be a puzzling non sequitur"

My explanation text got lost in the cut and paste:

The verse form of some comic songs that used to have seperate tunes sometimes are now sung to 'My Bonnie' (i.e. the verses fit) ... These include a lot of bawdy ones such as 'The Sexual Life of The Camel' and so on.

It's on of those tunes that a lot of songs fit to!
The text I pasted is a song I found recently, as an example.

The tune seems closely related to 'Dick Derby" (you know the one ...)

My Name is Dick Derby I'm a cobbler
My time have served down in Kent
Some say I'm an old fornicator
But now I'm resolved to repent ...

but which tune came first I cannot say.

Hope this is less gnomic.

AP
(working late when the internet actually works quickly).

Subject: RE: Origins: My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 19 Feb 09 - 11:34 PM

Thanks, Austin. With the accompanying comments missing I was entirely baffled by the song's appearance in this discussion. It's a new one on me, though I'm familiar enough with the others you mention. Where did you get those words? Do you mean that you've heard them sung to a 'Dick Derby' tune?

'Have You Heard' can be found online in several places nowadays, but I don't think that The Vocal Miscellany itself is available, is it? The song was in the ballad-opera Jovial Crew (1731) set to the 18th century tune of 'My Name Is Old Hewson the Cobler', but that bears no particular resemblance to 'Barney' or 'Bonnie'.

See the late Bruce Olson's comments in thread  Lyrics Needed: Song about a Tinker for more on early appearances of text and tune. That's 'Hewson', though, not 'Bonnie'.

Subject: RE: Origins: My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean
From: Austin P
Date: 19 Feb 09 - 11:48 PM

Malcolm - I found the words some time ago but didn't have the tune, someone told me to try 'Dick Darby' (probably a half remembered reference to a cobbler in the tune title, and at the same time we had a converstaion about 'my bonnie' and the similarity to Dick darby. I'll look up hewson ...

Seeing this thread prompted the memory. Vocal Miscellany is not available in reprint, be nice if it was ...

AP

Apropos of verse-metre forms crossing over tunes I remember in my callow youth singing 'My old man's a Dustman' to the tune of "The White Cockade". Always good for a laugh.

Subject: RE: Origins: My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 20 Feb 09 - 05:07 PM

Malcolm,
A lot of HC's songs were pirated in America by Tony Pastor. See the Levy website. Pastor altered a few words in most cases and claimed them as his own.

Subject: RE: Origins: My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean
From: EBarnacle
Date: 20 Feb 09 - 11:15 PM

My Bonny lies over the ocean,
My Bonny lies over the sea;
My Bonny lies under a sailor,
Oh, Bring back my Bonny to me.

Subject: RE: Origins: My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 21 Feb 09 - 01:43 PM

My one skin hangs down to my two skin,
my two skin hangs down to my three,
My three skin hangs down to my .....
My .......... hangs down to my knee.
         Peel back, peel back, oh peel back my .........for me for me,
         Peel back, peel back oh peel back my .........for me!
My father's a lavat'ry cleaner,
He works hard from morning till night,
And when he comes home in the evening
He's covered all over in..
       Sweet violets, sweeter than all the roses (own tune)
       Covered all over from head to foot in sweet violets!
(There were lots more verses...one ...)
If I had the balls of a stallion,
If I had the ...
I would stand on the edge of creation
And p''s on the b''''''ds below.
(I might have confused two verses there.)

Subject: RE: Origins: My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean
From: the lemonade lady
Date: 21 Feb 09 - 03:09 PM

Better than her lying on your door step! If she's telling lies let her stay there

Subject: RE: Origins: My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean
From: Terry McDonald
Date: 21 Feb 09 - 03:25 PM

My father's a bawdy-house keeper
My mother brews illicit gin
My sister sells kisses to sailors,
My God how the money rolls in.............

Subject: RE: Origins: My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 21 Feb 09 - 08:03 PM

My bonnet lies over my barnet
My barnet lies over my bonce
My bonce is as smooth as a mirror
This wig makes me look such a ponce!

With apologies to the follically challenged.

Subject: RE: Origins: My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Aug 19 - 02:06 AM

The first suggestion in the Wikipedia article, is that the song refers to Bonnie Prince Charlie, but then the Wikipedia article follows more-or-less along the lines of this thread.
I looked at the Opies' Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, but it said nothing.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Origins: My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean
From: Lighter
Date: 17 Aug 19 - 04:00 PM

William Wellington Norton, ed. The University of Minnesota Song Book (1911), p. 95:

My bonnie has tuberculosis,
My bonnie has only one lung,
My bonnie has tuberculosis,
Oh, bring back my bonnie's one lung.



The Cornell [Univ.] Veterinarian (June, 1911), p. 51:                        

                               THE SICK BONNIE

My bonnie has tuberculosis,
My bonnie has only one lung.
My bonnie has lost her left kidney,
My bonnie is all on the bum.

My bonnie has actinomycosis,
Hepatic sclerosis, Doc says.
He thinks she has chronic nephritis,
She's all shot to pieces I guess.

My bonnie has pseudoleukemia,
Arthritis, cystitis and heaves.
She now gives the glanders reaction,
So here's where my poor bonnie leaves.

                         E. Pluribus Unum.

Julian Gore, Humorous Hospital Sketches (1918), p. 51:

My brother ... was always humming,

My Bonnie has tuberculosis,
My Bonnie has only one lung,
My Bonnie has spinal meningitis,
My Bonnie is sure on the bum.

Subject: RE: Origins: My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Aug 19 - 07:24 PM

So, my considered opinion is that the song is a product of the college songsters that were so popular 1870-1900. It may have obtuse relationships with songs from other periods and about other historical events, but it's basically just a college glee club song. Fun song, though.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Origins: My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 18 Aug 19 - 08:29 AM

Hi Joe. The tune is certainly as you say but all of the lyrics are in the original MH song by Clifton.

Subject: RE: Origins: My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 18 Aug 19 - 08:45 AM

To remove any doubt here is Harry's original text.

He is gone and I'm now sad and lonely
He has left me to cross the wide sea
But I know that he thinks of me only
And will soon be returning to me.
His eyes they were filled with devotion
As my husband he said he'd soon be
Then blow gently ye winds of the ocean
And send back my Barney to me.

If at night as I rest on my pillow
The wind heaves a moan and a sigh
I think of each angry billow
And watch ev'ry cloud o'er the sky.
My bosom it fills with emotion
As I pray for one over the sea
Then blow gently ye winds of the ocean
And send back my Barney to me.

He has left me his fortune to better
I know that he went for my sake
Soon I'll be receiving a letter
(If not then my poor heart will break.)
To say that he'll soon be returning
To his dear native Ireland and me
Then blow gently ye winds of the ocean
And send back my Barney to me.