Lyr. Add: BONNIE ANNIE (2)
Child 24A

There was a rich lord, and he lived in Forfar,
He had a fair lady, and one only dochter.

O she was fair, O dear, she was bonnie:
A ship's captain courted her to be his honey.

'Ye'll steal your father's gowd, and your mother's money,
And I'll mak' ye a lady in Ireland bonny.'

She's stown her father's gowd, and her mother's money,
But she was never a lady in Ireland bonny.

'There's fey fowk in our ship, she winna sail for me,
There's fey fowk in our ship, she winna sail for me.'

They've casten bullets twice six and forty,
And aye the black bullet fell on Bonnie Annie.

'Ye'll tak' me in your arms twain, lo, lift me cannie.
Throw me out owre board, your ain dear Annie.'

He has tane her in his arms twa, lo, lifted her cannie,
He has laid her on a bed of down, his ain dear Annie.

'What can a woman do, love, I'll do for ye?'
'Muckle can a woman do, ye canna do for me.'

'Lay about, steer about, lay our ship cannie,
Do all ye can to save my dear Annie.'

'I've laid about, steered about, laid about cannie,
But all I can do, she winna steer for me.'

Ye'll tak' her in your arms two, lo, lift her cannie,
Ye'll throw her out owre board, your ain dear Annie.

He has tane her in his arms two, lo, he lifted her cannie,
He has thrown her out owre board, his ain dear Annie.

As the ship sailed, bonnie Annie she swam,
And she was in Ireland as soon as them.

He made his love a coffin of the gowd sae yellow,
And buried his bonnie love down in a sea valley.

This is Child no. 24, A, but taken from C. Fox Smith, 1927, "A Sea Chest, An Anthology of Ships and Sailormen," pp. 91-93, Methuen & Co., London.
She labels it an "Old Scots Ballad," and adds a comment "(Did Stevenson get his 'black spot' from this old ballad? By the way, it is strange to find here the phrase 'My Dear Annie', so popular with the shanty man in much later times; no doubt this was the source whence it was originally derived.- Editor.)"

Child indicates his version A was taken from Kinlock's "Ancient Scottish Ballads," p. 123.
Bronson has versions as "Banks of Green Willow." Other versions are titled "The Undutiful Daughter," etc. The Traditional Ballad Index also ties in Nicky Tams and it is suggested that the tune was the one used for "D'Ye Ken John Peel." Bronson notes, however, that Baring-Gould collected a tune, but failed to print it, thus our tunes are 20th century.
I am sure that there will be additions and corrections to these notes. Malcolm Douglas comments on "Banks of Green Willow," which seems to be the most possible group of variants, in thread 17058: Banks