{"id":4040,"date":"2020-07-03T08:21:32","date_gmt":"2020-07-03T08:21:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=4040"},"modified":"2020-10-24T16:46:53","modified_gmt":"2020-10-24T16:46:53","slug":"my-barney-lies","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/my-barney-lies\/","title":{"rendered":"My Barney (Bonnie) lies over the Ocean"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>My Barney lies over the ocean
My Bonnie lies over the ocean
Bring back my Barney to me
Bring back my Bonnie to me
Last night as I lay on my pillow<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>ca 1860 (Barney)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Lyrics<\/strong><\/td> Harry Clifton<\/td>Music<\/strong><\/td>Harry Clifton?<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN1422<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Fanny Edwards<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Source Singers: <\/strong>
Charles Dempsey, 1923, County Londonderry Northern Ireland (Barney)
Rosetta Spainhard, 1940, California USA (Pillow)
Cecilia Costello, 1951, Birmingham, England (Johnny)
Cecilia Costello, 1951, Birmingham England (Barney)
East Grinstead Old People’s Club, 1960, Sussex England (Bonnie)
Fred Atwood, 1964\/67, Vermont USA (Bonnie)
Mary White, 1968, Newfoundland Canada (Bonnie)
George Bennett, 1975-80, Suffolk England (Bonnie)

Modern performances<\/strong>
The Watersons sing Barney on the lp ‘For Pence and Spicy Ale’ <\/em><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Harry Clifton's version:<\/strong>\n\nHe is gone and I'm now sad and lonely\nHe has left me to cross the wide sea\nBut I know that he thinks of me only\nAnd will soon be returning to me.\nHis eyes they were filled with devotion\nAs my husband he said he'd soon be\nThen blow gently ye winds of the ocean\nAnd send back my Barney to me.\n\nIf at night as I rest on my pillow\nThe wind heaves a moan and a sigh\nI think of each angry billow\nAnd watch ev'ry cloud o'er the sky.\nMy bosom it fills with emotion\nAs I pray for one over the sea\nThen blow gently ye winds of the ocean\nAnd send back my Barney to me.\n\nHe has left me his fortune to better\nI know that he went for my sake\nSoon I'll be receiving a letter\n(If not then my poor heart will break.)\nTo say that he'll soon be returning\nTo his dear native Ireland and me\nThen blow gently ye winds of the ocean\nAnd send back my Barney to me.<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
I have to be cautious here, as the story may not be over yet. However it seems that this song, written by Harry Clifton <\/a>to be sung by his long-term partner and later wife Fanny Alexander, is the original form of the well-known song: My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean<\/em>.. and also therefore the source of all the parodies that followed. Given what we know, this one has to be classified as a Clifton song that has entered the traditional repertoire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The story unfolds on this Mudcat thread<\/a> , thanks to contributions from Steve Gardham and Malcolm Douglas in particular. Malcolm provides a summary of what we tentatively know:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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[In around] <\/em>1860: ‘Send Back My Barney to Me’  [was] <\/em>written and published by Harry Clifton.<\/p>
The song is quickly taken up by other performers in Britain and America. In the USA in particular it is ‘favoured by Irish comedians’ and is printed on broadsides and in songsters, frequently uncredited to Clifton and instead assumed to be, or claimed as, Irish.<\/p>
By 1881 an adaptation or parody, with the tune a bit changed, begins to appear in print as ‘My Bonnie’. It seems to have started out as a student song, most likely in America; a song-sheet issued in 1882 by Harms of New York as ‘Bring Back My Bonnie to Me’ credits it to H J Fulmer (Charles E Pratt) and J T Woods, but the text is reputedly rather different and no conclusions can be drawn without seeing both words and music. Evidently ‘Barney’ and ‘Bonnie’ continue alongside each other for a time, with other songs being written that appear to have been inspired by them; or at any rate by the former.<\/p>
By the early C20, ‘My Bonnie’ has eclipsed its parent, which is largely forgotten. The song’s enormous popularity leads to further parodies and to the tune being adopted for other songs in the same metre like ‘My father was hung for sheep-stealing’. This leads even some scholars to assume that the tune is Scottish.<\/p>Malcolm Douglas, Mudcat, Feb 2009<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
There are still those who argue that My Bonnie<\/em> is something to do with Bonnie Prince Charlie and is therefore Scottish, but the evidence isn’t there to back this up, as far as I’m aware!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have not been able to see the original sheet music, but as you will see from his Ad in The Era<\/em> on the Harry Clifton<\/a> page, Clifton definitely claims authorship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n