Origin: The Girl I Left Behind Me

Subject: RE: Origin: The Girl I Left Behind Me
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 12:36 AM

r

Subject: Lyr Add: THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND ME
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 09:06 AM

From a broadside in the Bodleian collection, 2806 b.10(65):

This is similar to the previous version, but note that the destination is Australia, not America; the point of departure is Ireland, not Scotland; and the beloved's name is Ellen, not Helen. Also, there are numerous less significant differences in wording.


THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND ME.

1. Now I am bound for a foreign land
Against my inclination.
Yes, I must leave my native home,
Which fills me with vexation.
As I am bound for Sydney's coast,
Nature still does bind me,
To think on her I do adore,
The girl I left behind me.

2. My friends they sent me far away
For fear I'd wed my darling.
The bonny lass I love so well,
She is both mild and charming.
When crossing the Atlantic wave,
I thought my tears would blind me.
And many a heavy sigh I gave
For the girl I left behind me.

3. Unto the land of liberty
Our vessel is fast sailing,
Methinks I never can be free
When parting from my Ellen.
Although I'm going far away,
Nature still does bind me
To think on her I do adore,
The girl I left behind me.

4. O cruel friends, you banished me
And left her broken-hearted.
Sweet Ellen dear, though far from me,
Our hearts shall not be parted.
Although I'm in Van Diemen's land,
Constant still you'll find me.
Oh, no, I never will forget,
The girl I left behind me.

5. Were I possessed of all the gold
That lies on the African shore,
I'd give it all for to behold
My own dear native home.
Near Bantry town, at the sea side,
Once more my friends will find me.
It's there my Ellen does reside,
The girl I left behind me.

6. Had I the wealth of all that store,
To me 'twould yield no pleasure.
The bonny lass I do adore
I prize beyond all treasure.
Farewell, you bonny lasses all,
For her you shall not bind me,
I'll go once more to my native home
To the girl I left behind me.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND ME / THE LASS I...
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 09:38 AM

From a broadside in the Bodleian collection, Firth b.25(83)
Printed by J. Catnach, Printer, 2 Monmouth-court, 7 Dials [London] "between 1813 and 1838."


THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND ME*

1. The wars are o'er and gentle peace
Sheds forth unsullied blossoms,
And seamen now return to embrace
The partners of their bosoms.
Adieu, ye sons of France, adieu!
That ten long years confin'd me,
That brought distraction wild to view
For the girl I left behind me.

2. No more shall trembling oceans roar,
Destroying love so friendly,
And exiled me from my native shore,
And the girl I left behind me.
No more in plaintive sighs I mourn,
And no one to befriend me,
Since golden hours have wing'd me home
To the girl I left behind me.

3. With pleasure now the joy I'll prove
Which Providence has design'd me,
And spend my life to live and love
The girl I left behind me.
What tho' I am led the seas to trace,
Yet nature's ties shall bind me
In lov'd reflection to embrace
The girl I left behind me.

4. And when the storms of life are o'er
That nature's law design'd me,
I'll welcome to that blissful shore
The girl I left behind me.
Where golden harps exalt their days,
Eternity shall find me
Absorb'd in wonder, love and praise,
With the girl I left behind me.


[* Some versions of this song, otherwise nearly identical in wording, are called THE LASS I LEFT BEHIND ME.]

Subject: RE: Origin: The Girl I Left Behind Me
From: Jack Campin
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 10:19 AM

The tune has the same rhythm and overall melodic contour as "The Boyne Water" - if you were trying to do a major-key version of TBW you'd come up with something very much like TGILBM. (TBW dates from near the time of the battle itself).

Are there early texts known to have been sung to both?

Subject: RE: Origin: The Girl I Left Behind Me
From: Lighter
Date: 17 Oct 19 - 07:37 PM

B. L. Ridley, “Journal,” in Confederate Veteran (July, 1895), p. 205 [referring to May, 1865]:

“If ever I get through this war,
And Lincoln's chains don't bind me,
I'll make my way to Tennessee —
To the girl I left behind me.”

Subject: RE: Origin: The Girl I Left Behind Me
From: Lighter
Date: 17 Oct 19 - 07:46 PM

Publication of the Texas Folklore Society, 1916, p. 29:

If ever I travel this road again,
And tears don't fall and blind me,
I'm going back to Tennessee
To the girl I left behind me.

Chorus—

Oh, that girl, that pretty little girl,
That girl I left behind me,
With rosy cheeks and curly hair,
That girl I left behind me.

If ever I travel this road again,
And the angels they don't find me,
I'll reconcile and stay a little while
With the girl I left behind me.—Chorus.

I'll cross the Red River one more time,
If the tears don't fall and drown me,
A-weeping for that pretty litle gal,
The gal I left behind me.—Chorus.

I'll build my nest in a hollow tree,
Where the cuckoos they won't find me,
I'll weep and sigh till the day I die,
For the gal I left behind me.—Chorus.

If ever I git off this warpath,
And the Indians they don't find me,
I'll go right back to see that gal,
The gal I left behind me.—Chorus.

I could buy such girls as you
For fifteen cents a dozen,
But I'm going back tomorrow,
And marry my country cousin.

Subject: RE: Origin: The Girl I Left Behind Me
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 18 Oct 19 - 12:56 PM

As it's not mentioned in the thread here, I'll add that in all parts of Yorkshire and probably Lincolnshire the well-known song 'An Acre of Land' utilises this tune in almost all versions. The song is of course a secondary variant of 'The Elfin Knight'. I don't think there are any versions earlier than about 1850 that use the tune so it probably picked it up some time about then and became very popular and widespread.

Subject: RE: Origin: The Girl I Left Behind Me
From: Lighter
Date: 18 Oct 19 - 01:05 PM

Interesting, Steve.

Subject: RE: Origin: The Girl I Left Behind Me
From: Lighter
Date: 18 Oct 19 - 04:11 PM

Try this, recorded on Bristol, Tennessee, in 1927.

Oddly, the title given is "Johnny Goodwin":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xcq32rmDFlM

Subject: RE: Origin: The Girl I Left Behind Me
From: Joe_F
Date: 18 Oct 19 - 06:36 PM

There's also this one about buckshot.

Subject: RE: Origin: The Girl I Left Behind Me
From: Mark Ross
Date: 19 Oct 19 - 08:19 AM

The tune was also used by IWW songster T-Bone Slim (Valentine Matthew Huhta) for the Wobbly song THE MYSTERIES OF A HOBO'S LIFE (aka THE JOB I LEFT BEHIND ME).

I took a job on an extra gang, away up on the mountain,
I paid my fee and the boss shipped me and the ties I soon was countin.
The boss he set me driving spikes and the sweat was enough to blind me
He didn't seem to like my pace so I left that job behind me.

I grabbed a hold of a an old freight train,around the country traveled
and the mysteries of a hobo's life were soon to me unraveled.
I traveled east and traveled west, and the "shacks" could never find me
Next morning I was miles away from the job I left behind me.

And I ran across a bunch of stiffs who were known as Industrial Workers,
They taught me how to be a man and how to vite the shirkers.
I kicked right in and the joined the bunch and now in the ranks you'll find me,
Hurrah for the cause, to Hell with the boss, and the job I left behind me!

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: Origin: The Girl I Left Behind Me
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 11 Jan 26 - 05:19 PM

c.1812 as U.S. Navy work song. No clues as to which tune:

““Here, Johnny Bow,” he cried, “up with you!” A little sailor with a fiddle tucked under his chin mounted the capstan. The men with half a cheer set the bars into place, and Johnny Bow, with one foot stamping out the time, struck up “The girl I left behind me,” and the lively rattle of capstan joined in an accompaniment.”
[Midshipman Farragut, Barnes, 1896]
David Glasgow Farragut (1801–1870) - Went to sea at age 11 years. Flag officer in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.

David Porter (1780–1843) - Farragut's foster father, mentor and Capt. of the USS Essex (1799) c.1812-1814.

Subject: RE: Origin: The Girl I Left Behind Me
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 11 Jan 26 - 05:24 PM

Another from the Great Eastern and the laying of the transatlantic cable. This time departing Sheerness, 30 June 1866 with a work detail roughly half the size of previous mentions*:

“At 11 o'clock, a rush was made to the forepart of the ship to see the anchor weighed, a very pretty and spirit-stirring sight it was. The capstan was manned by some seventy or eighty men, and in midst of this human star, sitting on the top of the capstan itself, was the ship's fiddler, who, with fiddle in hand, was ready for action. The signal is given, the fiddler strikes up The Girl I left behind Me, round goes the capstan, and in the process of time the anchors are brought to the surface, fished, and catted. The order is given: 'Slow ahead with the paddles,' and in another minute we are fairly under-way.”
[The Atlantic Telegraphs, Chamber's Journal of Popular Literature, Science and Arts, no.150, 10 November 1866]

*Lyr Req/Add: Slap Bang, Here We Are Again

Subject: RE: Origin: The Girl I Left Behind Me
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 11 Jan 26 - 05:47 PM

Four from W. Sadler young adult fiction:

“Half-an-hour for breakfast, and then came the pipe – “Hands up anchor.”

The capstan was rigged, the fiddlers struck up –
                “The girl I left behind me,”
and the men stepped out merrily, keeping time to the tune, as if the were homeward instead of outward bound.”
[Perilous Seas, and How Oriana Sailed Them, Sadler, 1876]
Sadler's publisher: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge



“All these discomforts were forgotten the following afternoon when there sounded through the ship the joyous pipe, “Hands up anchor!”

Cheerily the men ran round with the capstan, as the ship's fiddler played “The girl I left behind me;” and up came the anchor to the bows with a load of Medway mud clinging to the flukes….”
[Slavers and Cruisers, A Tale of the West Coast, Sadler, 1881]



“Poor fellows! Their farewells, if not said before, would never be spoken now. All strangers had been ordered out of the ship; the men were heaving round at the capstan to the tune of 'The girl I left behind me;' but not a parting glance could they take at their sweethearts alongside: the anchor came slowly up to the bows, loaded with mud; the tramp of the men ceased, the capstan bars were thrown aside, and the band stopped playing….”
[The Flag-lieutenant: A Story of the Slave Squadron, Sadler, 1883]



“Now at the pipe “Hands up anchor” – which, oddly enough, is always an inspiriting one, no matter whether the ship is about to sail for foreign service or is homeward-bound after a three years' commission – it had always been the custom on board the Chloe for the band to play all sorts of lively airs while the men “heaved round” at the capstan.

In the little brig the ship's fiddler was the sole apology for the band, but the men stepped out just as well as if the strains of “The girl I left behind me” were sounding from a dozen flutes, violins, and bassoons; and never had I seen the anchor run up to the bows so smartly.”
[Sadler, Adventures on the Spanish Main, The Boy's Own Paper, No.238, Vol.V, 1883]

Note: Another half dozen or so early-to-mid 19th century nautical references were posted earlier to Maritime work song in general instead. (Didn't notice the thread title had evolved from "Army." Oops)