Here's the version from Norman Cazden's Abelard Folk Song Book (1958)

THE BRIGHT SUNNY SOUTH

1. The bright sunny South was in peace and content
And the days of my boyhood were carelessly spent
From her wide spreading lakes and her clear, purling streams
Ever fresh in my mem'ry and pleasant in my dreams.

2. I have left the enjoyments and comforts of life,
I have left her behind me who would have been my wife,
I have counted up my losses, I've plighted my word,
I've shouldered my rifle and buckled my sword.

3. I've left a fair maiden whose heart is full of stars,
She's more precious than air, and more beautiful by far,
She wept when we parted, and I took her by the hand,
And started in defense of my own native land.

4. Oh mother, dear mother, for me don't you weep,
For 'tis on this lonesome mountain this night I'll have to sleep,
With my knapsack for a pillow and my rifle in my hand:
I'm going in defense of my own native land.

5. Father, dear father, for me do not weep,
For 'tis your kind advice that I shall forever keep;
You have taught me to be brave from a boy up to a man,
And I'm going in defense of my own native land.

6. Sister, dear sister, I cannot stand your woe,
Your worrying and crying, you bother me so;
Let go of my hand, here I can no longer stand:
I'm going in defense of my own native land.

7. All friends and relations, all then did part;
My sweetheart was nearest and dearest to my heart;
My dear loving sister looked pale in her woe,
I gave her a kiss and I hastened to go.

8. Time points the hour, when will it be
That the North and the South will forever agree?
Wars will be over, fighting will be done:
We'll haste onto our loved ones now waiting at home.


Cazden says: This is supposed to be a Confederate song from the Civil War period, but this is doubtful. The tune is stirring, and some of the sentiment is remarkably up-to-date.

Apparently, this version was transcribed by Cazden from the singing of George Edwards, from the Catskills.

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More notes from Cazden:

Despite the perfectly natural attribution of this song of George Edwards to the Civil War era in the United States, there are many indications that it could not have originated in the Confederacy. George Edwards also sang what he termed the “Northern version of the same song,” which he called The Shades of the Palmetto, actually a form of The Dying Ranger but with a melody very similar to this. Though collections of regional song traditions have been more extensive in Southern states than elsewhere in this country, few and very fragmentary versions of THE BRIGHT SUNNY SOUTH have been noted, mostly confused with forms of The Rebel Soldier. Of these, only one (Sharp) has a tune of remotely similar outline and a single stanza of the text, and the one extended but garbled text given by Cox refers to a foreign war.
Thus it would appear that our song was never particularly current in the South of the United States, and certainly received none of the high regard there which one might expect would have clung to a song so eloquently expressive of regional patriotism. Yet outside the South, four fairly complete texts have been previously noted, one of them from Kalkaska, Michigan, with a clearly related tune, and three from Nova Scotia. These texts show a common tendency in war songs to transfer from one locale and period to a later and more current reference. For example, George Edwards’ song The Yankee Man-of-War appeared as a broadside called The British Man-of-War relating to Napoleonic times, and was also used in reference to the Mexican War; several versions of As I Went Down to Port Jervis are known in the Catskills, all of which have lost the original reference to the Crimean War from an Irish scene. Both of these songs were taken by our informants to be Civil War pieces. Further, there is negative evidence against a Confederate origin for THE BRIGHT SUNNY SOUTH, not only in its absence from the very extensive records of topical songs and verses of the Confederacy available in print, but in the total incompatibility of language, sentiment, literary calibre, and idealism of the song with the jumbles of doggerel that appeared.
If the standards of Confederate songs (by which Dixie is an exceptional masterpiece and the Union side’s THE CUMBERLAND CREW a work of inspired literary genius) are to be taken as a criterion of the attitudes of people engaged in an unprecedented conflict, we can only conclude that not many of the secessionists had the courage of their convictions.
But if THE BRIGHT SUNNY SOUTH simply does not fit as an expression of the Confederate side in the Civil War, it certainly does pertain to a patriotic ardor, to an unlooked-for but necessary defense against invasion, and to a deep longing for permanent peace, all of which are fitting if we assume an Irish north-south conflict, and this is indeed implied in one Nova Scotia text (Mackenzie). To this suggestion we may add that the stylized language and conventional sentiment are distinctly of a type common to ballads of Irish origin, and that the tune is definitely recognizable as belonging to Irish traditional melody. Our suggestion in 1948 of an Irish scene for this song (NYFQ - New York Folklore Quarterly IV/38) has not thus far elicited any contrary opinion.

Other sources:

• Cox: Folk-Songs of the South
• Creighton: Traditional Songs from Nova Scotia
• Gardner: Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan
• Mackenzie: Ballads and Sea Songs from Nova Scotia
• Sharp: English Folk-Songs from the Southern Appalachians

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-Joe Offer-