The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #169128 Message #918077
Posted By: Joe Offer
25-Mar-03 - 01:44 PM
Thread Name: Origins: The Nightingale (Bonny, Bonny)
Subject: ADD: The Nightingale (Bonny, Bonny)^^
Here are two songs from Sam Henry's Songs of the People
BONNY, BONNY
Bonny, bonny was my seat in yon red rosy yard,
And bonny was my portion in the town of Ballynagard:
Shade and shelter was for me till I began to fail,
Ye all may guess now my distress lies near the Nightingale.
While I go before these lords to let these nobles know
Our ship is in the ocean just ready for to go,
Surely all will get the call tomorrow or next day,
And my town boys will me convoy the day I go away.
Grief and woe that I must go to fight for England's king,
I neither know his friend nor foe, and war's a cruel thing;
The Nightingale is near at hand, my time at home is brief,
And Carey's streams and mountain land I part with bitter grief.
No more I'll walk the golden hills with Nancy by my side
Or dream along the sun-bright rills, or view my land with pride:
We sail away at dawn of day, the sails are ready set,
When old Benmore I see no more, I'll sigh with deep regret.
Now all must change and I must range across the ocean wide;
Our ship she may in Biscay's Bay lie low beneath the tide;
If I should fall by cannon ball, or sink beneath the sea,
Good people all, a tear let fall and mourn for mine and me.
If God should spare my graying hair and bring me back again,
I'd love far more my Antrim shore, its dark blue hills and rain,
Around its fires, my heart's desires, heaven grant till life shall fail,
And keep me far from cruel war and from the Nightingale.^^
The Sam Henry book identifies this as H75b
Here are the background notes:This beautiful and pathetic air was taken down in 1909 .... The first two verses were obtained from the same source, the remainder are original and written by the Song Editor. The Nightingale was one of his Majesty's ships used for the Press when the Navy's hungry maw was insatiable.
Source: first two stanzas from Peggy McGarry of Newcastle. Other stanzas by Sam Henry.
^^