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'.