Lyr Req: Bonny white horseman? / Bonny Light ...

Subject: Lyr Add: THE UNIGATE MILKMAN (Les Barker)
From: Dead Horse
Date: 07 Dec 02 - 04:59 PM

Les Barker parody:-
THE UNIGATE MILKMAN

When Boney he commanded his troops for to stand,
He's planted his cannon all over the land;
Many hundreds of Prussians by his cannon did die
And a poor sod on a milk float who was just passing by;

Broken hearted I will wander;
I'll have no milk again, now
For my Unigate milkman
In the wars he was slain.

I last saw my milkman on a cold winter's day;
He picked up my empties and he rambled away;
He rambled through France, and he's up in heaven now;
Well, I can't understand it; the depot's in Slough.

If I were a blackbird and had wings to fly,
I'd fly to the spot where my milkman do lie;
For my milkman was good and my milkman was true;
And I'd peck at all his bottle tops; it's what blackbirds do.

The dove she laments for her love as she flies
And my memories of him, well they flow past eur ise.
This sadness is greater than this tongue can tell;
He used to sell butter, eggs and yoghurt as well.

Oh Boney, oh Boney, you've raided his float;
I can see a pint of gold top concealed in your coat.
I'll tear out my hair and cry "how can this be?"
He's my Unigate milkman and I've just made the tea.

Broken hearted I will wander;
I'll have no milk again, now
For my Unigate milkman
In the wars he was slain.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonny white horseman
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 09:57 PM

John Faulkner, surely? If I remember right, he got it from Songs of the People. The trouble there was that, prior to the Huntington/Herrmann edition, the song appeared in several differently-edited forms, so that several Revival singers wound up recording what looked or sounded like different versions of the song, but which were actually just different combinations of verses from the same original. I think that most of that is addressed in the earlier discussions that we can't find at the moment.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonny white horseman
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 04:06 PM

The 'Bonny light Horseman' containing the line 'broken-hearted I wonder' was done by Dolores Keane on the LP (now on CD?) of the same name.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonny white horseman
From: Les from Hull
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 01:40 PM

'Light horseman' is a term for a light cavalry trooper (light dragoon, hussar) as distinct from a dragoon, dragoon guard etc.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonny white horseman
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 11:21 AM

The "missing" DT file is BROKEN HEARTED I WANDERED. It contains texts for three children's skipping songs found in Scotland which appear to be based on the song. The midi file included doesn't belong to any of them, though.

I'm quite sure that the song has been discussed here a number of times in the past, but today the search engines are returning nothing. Odd.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonny white horseman
From:
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 09:33 AM

You're quite welcome, Brad. Enjoy yourself.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonny white horseman
From: bradfordian
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 09:20 AM

Doh! Cheers guys. I can see how the "folk process" works now!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonny white horseman
From:
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 09:11 AM

The three of them are:

BonnieLight Horseman(4)
Bonny Light Horseman
Bonny Light Horseman (3)

Makes me wonder what happened to #2

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonny white horseman
From: KingBrilliant
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 08:31 AM

Sorry - just try "light horseman" that gets the "bonny" one and the "bonnie" one!

lovely song.

Kris

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonny white horseman
From: KingBrilliant
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 08:29 AM

No coals Brad.
Try Bonnie Light Horseman. (not white)
There are 3 entries - I sing a composite taken from the bits I like best of each.

Kris

Subject: Lyr Req: Bonny white horseman
From: bradfordian
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 08:25 AM

It's not the title, but its from the chorus. I 'spect I'll get hauled over the coales, but I couldn't find it in the DT.

Chorus:-

Broken hearted I'll wander

All for my true lover

He's my bonny white horseman

In the war he was slain



Cheers Brad. (who has already ordered THE CDs from Bill Sables in UK.....hoping he's received a batch from Dick)