Origins: Blue-Eyed Boy

Subject: Origins: Blue-Eyed Boy
From: Joe Offer
Date: 16 May 25 - 07:23 PM

We haven't done much research on this song. Julie Henigan sings a wonderful version.

Here are the Digital Tradition lyrics.

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BLUE-EYED BOY

cho: Bring me back my blue-eyed boy
Bring, O bring him back to me
Bring me back my blue-eyed boy
What a happy, happy girl I'd be.*


There is a tree I love to pass
And it has leaves as green as grass
But not to green as love is true
I love but one and that is you.

Must I go bound and he go free?
Must I love one that don't love me?
Or must I act a childish part
And love the one that broke my heart?

Go bear, go bear, go bear in mind
That a good true friend is hard to find.
And when you find one good and true
Never change the old one for a new.

Adieu, adieu, kind friends, adieu
I can no longer stay with you.
I'll hang my heart in a willow tree
And give it to the one that first loved me.

from American Ballads and Songs, Pound
@love
filename[ BLUEYEBY

And the Traditional Ballad Index entry:

My Blue-Eyed Boy

DESCRIPTION: Floating verses on the subject of lost love, usually borrowed from "The Butcher Boy" and/or a "Pretty Little Foot" variant. The wide and deep grave carved with a turtle dove may also be present. Identified by the line "Bring me back my blue-eyed boy"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety); possibly 1879 (Journal of the Andrew Hicks)
KEYWORDS: love beauty separation death suicide
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber),England(Lond)) US(Ap,MW,So) Ireland
REFERENCES (17 citations):
Bronson 76, "The Lass of Roch Royal" (23 versions, of which #11 appears to belong here)
Greig/Duncan6 1085, "My Love He Is a Sailor Bold" (1 text plus a single verse on p. 538, 1 tune)
Howson-SongsSunginSuffolk, #57, "Change the Old Love for the New" (1 text)
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, pp. 478-480, "The Blue-Eyed Boy" (4 texts, though "D" is a fragment, probably of "Tavern in the Town" or "The Butcher Boy" or some such)
Randolph 759, "My Blue-Eyed Boy" (3 short texts, 1 tune)
High-OldOldFolkSongs, p. 46, "Remember... Well" (1 text)
McNeil-SouthernMountainFolksong, pp. 18-19, "(Bring Back My Blue-eued Boy)" (1 text)
Arnold-FolkSongsofAlabama, p. 33, "Blue-Eyed Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 257, "The Blue-Eyed Boy" (2 text, though the second is rather distantly related)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-1ed, pp. 151-152, "My Blue-Eyed Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-2ed, pp. 93-94, "My Blue-Eyed Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brewster-BalladsAndSongsOfIndiana 85, "The Blue-Eyed Boy" (1 text)
Pound-AmericanBalladsAndSongs, 102, pp. 212-213, "My Blue-Eyed Boy" (1 text)
Boette-SingaHipsyDoodle, p. 120, "Bring Me Back the One I Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H482, pp. 391-392, "Bring Me Back the Boy I Love"; H692, p. 392, "Never Change the Old Love for the New" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Huntington-TheGam-MoreSongsWhalemenSang, p. 224, "Never Change the Old Love for the New" (1 fragment, 1 tune, possibly this although it's too short to be certain)
DT, BLUEYEBY
Roud #4308 and 18831
RECORDINGS:
Brier Hopper Brothers, "Bring Back My Blue-Eyed Boy" (Champion 16692, 1933)
Carter Family, "Bring Back My Blue-Eyed Boy to Me" (Victor V-40190, 1930; Montgomery Ward M-4741, c. 1935; Bluebird B-6271, 1936)
Gid Tanner & Riley Puckett, "Bring Back My Blue-Eyed Boy" (Columbia 15577-D, 1930; rec. 1929)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Butcher Boy" [Laws P24] and references there
cf. "The Willow Tree" (form and lyrics)
cf. "Must I Go Bound" (lyrics, theme)
cf. "Died for Love (I)"
cf. "Love Has Brought Me to Despair" [Laws P25] (lyrics)
cf. "Remember Well and Bear In Mind" (lyrics)
NOTES [82 words]: This is so close to "The Butcher Boy" that I almost listed them as one song. But where "The Butcher Boy" is relatively coherent, this is little more than a lament composed of floating verses and the complaint "Bring me back my blue-eyed boy." So I've listed them separately -- but there *are* intermediate versions. Sandburg, for instance, has one (p. 324, "Go Bring Me Back My Blue-Eyed Boy," with the suicide theme intact, so I list it with "The Butcher Boy" -- but it has this chorus). - RBW
Last updated in version 7.0
File: R759

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Subject: RE: Origins: Blue-Eyed Boy
From: GUEST
Date: 19 May 25 - 04:22 PM

I'm pretty certain it's an American ecotype most closely related to The Butcher's Boy, though it has been found latterly over here, just like the ecotype it shares its tune with,'Died for Love' again an offshoot of The Butcher's Boy. the version above is all floaters from a variety of sources, but all being traced back to either 'Brisk Young Sailor', or 'Waly waly'. Bob has it pretty much covered.

(from Steve Gardham)