7F. My Blue-Eyed Boy-- Roud 4308, Roud 60, Roud 18831 (Bring Me Back My Blue-Eyed Boy; Sailor Boy; My Love He Is A Sailor Bold; My Love He is But a Sailor Boy; Bring Back the One I Love; Willow Tree; Never Change the Old Love for the New)
A. "The Sailor Boy." ("My love is but a sailor boy") Frank Kidson Broadside Collection Vol.4: FK/12/18/11; no date given, c.1890 (ref. Gardham).
B. "My Blue-Eyed Boy." Sung by Mrs. Elizabeth Brayman, Springfield, Mo., July 5, 1933. Mrs. Brayman learned the song from her sister at Eureka Springs, Ark., about 1900. From Randolph, vol. IV, "Ozark Folksongs – Religious Songs and Other Items, University of Missouri, 1948.
C. "Blue-Eyed Boy," as sung by McDowells c.1897 with slight additions and corrections by Mrs. Ella Turner; from Memory Melodies- A Collection of Folk-Songs from Middle Tennessee- Flora and Lucien McDowell; 1947.
D. "My Blue-eyed Boy." From a manuscript book of songs from oral transcription in the possession of Sadie Thurman Hewitt of Brokenbow, Nebraska. Transcribed under the date of February, 1905. American Ballads and Songs, 1922; edited by Louise Pound
E. "My Love He Is A Sailor Bold," sung by Miss Ross about 1907, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. (Grieg-Duncan 1085) The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection - Volume 8, page 424, by Patrick N. Shuldham-Shaw, Emily B. Lyle - 2002.
F. "Blue-eyed Boy." Secured in 1909 by Miss Hamilton from Julia Rickman of the West Plains High School. Belden A from Ballads and Songs, 1940.
G. "Willow Tree" (As I passed by a willow tree,) sung by Shandres Petulengro, a gypsy singer of Kendal Westmorland. In Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, July, 1909 from Christmas Eve and After by Thomas William Thompson. See also other family versions: Thompson B, D, dated 1909.
H. "My Love He Was A Sailor Boy- sung by A Giorgio of Kendal, Westmoreland on January 14, 1909. Collected by Thomas William Thompson. From: Lucy Broadwood Manuscript Collection (LEB/5/380/4)--an MS of 4 pages (two sheets folded) in Lucy Broadwood's collection is dated 1909 (written on sheet in red "L.E.B. from Mr. T.W. Thompson Jan. 1909").
I. "The Blue-Eyed Boy." Secured by Miss Hamilton in 1910 from Grace Clemmons of the West Plains High School, who had it from a Mrs. Autherson, formerly of Wisconsin. Belden D from "Ballads and Songs," 1940.
J. "Adieu." Communicated to Miss Hamilton in 1911 by Shirley Hunt of the Kirksville Teachers College. Belden C, "Ballads and Songs," 1940.
K. "My Blue Eyed Boy." Sung by Frances Ries Batavia, Ohio, before 1927. Published in Sndburg's American Songbag 1927.
L. "My Blue-Eyed Boy." Sung by Mrs. W. E. Jones, Pineville, Mo., Feb 14, 1928. From Randolph, vol. IV, "Ozark Folksongs – Religious Songs and Other Items, University of Missouri, c.1948, pp 260-262.
M. "Bring Back My Blue Eyed Boy to Me." Victor V40190 recorded 2-15-29 in Camden NJ by The Carter Family.
N. Bring Back My Blue Eyed Boy- sung by Arthur Tanner, banjo and Riley Puckett, guitar, April 12, 1929 recording Columbia 15577-D.
O. "Bring Me Back the One I Love." No source named, published in North Ulster newspaper Northern Constitution by Sam Henry, Feb. 25, 1933. From Sam Henry's Songs of the People by Gale Huntington, Lani Herrmann - 2010.
P. "The Blue-Eyed Boy" sung by Nathan Hicks 1933 from Beech Mountain Ballads by Maurice Matteson and Mellinger Henry, G. Shirmer NY, 1936.
Q. "Blue-Eyed Boy." Contributed by Miss Sylvia Vaughan, of Oakland City, Indiana. Gibson County. Obtained from her mother, Mrs. Hiram Vaughan. March 28, 1935.
R. "Bring Me back the Boy I Love" published Feb. 7, 1937 in Sam Henry's regular column of 'Songs of the People' in the North Ulster local newspaper Northern Constitution.
S. "My Blue-Eyed Boy." Sung by Miss Willie Haigood of Purcell, OK, 1939; from Texas Folk Songs by William Owens 1950.
From Paul Brewster: Ballads and Songs of Indiana, 1940.
T. "Blue-Eyed Boy." Communicated by W. Amos Abrams of Boone, Watauga county. Not dated but about 1940. From Brown Collection Volume III, 1953, version A.
U. "Blue-Eyed Boy." Communicated by W. Amos Abrams of Boone, Watauga county. Not dated but about 1940. From Brown Collection Volume III, 1953, version B.
V. "Blue-Eyed Boy," as sung by Myrtle Hester of Florence, Alabama, before 1950. From Folk Songs of Alabama by Byron Arnold, 1950.
W. "Remember Well," written down by Fred High as it appears in his little book of "Old Folk Songs" p. 46, c. 1951.
X. "Blue-Eyed Boy." Sung by Lizzie Maguire of Fayetteville, Arkansas on August 8, 1958. From Ozark Folksong online; Reel 243, Item 8. Collected by James Ward Lee and Ralph E. Roberts for Mary Celestia Parler.
Y. "Go and Bring Me Back the Boy I Love," as sung by LaRena Clark of Ontario, circa 1960. From: A Family Heritage: The Story and Songs of LaRena Clark by Edith Fowke, Jay Rahn, LaRena LeBarr Clark, 1994.
Z. "Sailor Bold." Sung by Tom and Chris Willett, Recorded by Ken Stubbs, c.1960. My title. From the Topic album, The Willett family “Adieu to Old England," 1963.
AA. If I Only Had the One I Love- Sung by Caroline Hughes of Dorset about 1963. From the recording Sheep-Crook and Black Dog. (MTCD365-6).
BB. "Willow Tree," recorded by Fred Hamer from May Bradley of Ludlow, Shropshire, on 28 July 1965.
CC. Blue Eyed Boy - As sung by O.B. Campbell, Vinita, Oklahoma on August 9, 1971. From Max Hunter Song Collection online Cat. #1171 (MFH #814).
DD. "The Willow Tree," fragment sung by Bill Smith of Shropshire. Recorded Spring 1981. From the album, Bill Smith, A country life: Songs and stories of a Shropshire man (MTCD351).
The Frank Kidson Broadside Collection [c.1890]
My love is but a sailor boy
That sails across the deep blue sea,
He wears a mark up on his arm
To bring his memory back to me.
CHORUS: Give me back the one I love,
Give oh, give him back to me,
Give me back the one I love,
Then happy happy I will be.
My love is like a little bird
That flies across from tree to tree,
And when he gets so far away,
You'll find he thinks no more of me.
Think of me and bear in mind,
A constant love is hard to find;
And when you get one good and true,
Never change the old one for the new.
* * * *
[The Willow Tree]
[Willow Tree] sung by Shandres Petulengro, (b. Worcestershire in 1862- d. Westmorland in 1914), a gypsy singer of Kendal, Westmorland. From the article, Christmas Eve and After, by Thomas William Thompson (Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society- July, 1909).
As I passed by a willow tree,
A leaf fell down and followed me;
I picked it up, it would not break;
My love passed by, he would not speak.
'Speak, young man, and don't be shy,
You are the only one for me:
If you can't love one, you can't love two;
Never change the old one for the new.
'I wish my heart was made of glass,
That you might view it through and through,
Might view the secret of my heart —
How dearly, dearly I love you.'
Then give me back that one I love,
O! give, O! give him back to me;
If I only had that one I love,
How happy, happy should I be.
* * * *
[This song, known by a variety of titles, is characterized by its Chorus which begins, "Oh, bring me back my blue-eyed boy" or in the UK "Bring me back the one I love." It is related to the "Died for Love" songs through floating stanzas which will be covered in detail later. Its theme is-- the abandoned maid hoping for the return of her false lover who has left her-- is similar to the theme of the Died for Love songs. The "Bring me back" songs are characterized by a variety of floating stanzas including "I wish" stanzas and the "Must I Go Bound" stanza also found similarly in The Unfortunate Swain, c. 1750. The "I wish" stanzas are different that the "I wish, I wish" stanzas in Died for Love. In the US the "Adieu, adieu," stanza[1], which is found as part of the chorus of "There is a Tavern," is sometimes present as well as "Who will shoe" stanzas found at the the end of Child 76, Lass of Roch Royal. The "Never change the old one for the new" stanza and the suicide stanza are found similarly in "Maiden's Prayer," a version of Died for Love popularized during World War I and II which is still popular today in the UK. The suicide stanza found in US versions of "Blue Eyed Boy" was probably derived from the popular Butcher Boy. Since in one main UK variant her love is but a "sailor boy," there is a connection with 7A. "The Sailor Boy/Sweet William" and possibly also with 7Aa. "Sailor on the Deep Blue Sea (Deep Blue Sea)." Arthur Tanner and Riley Puckett's 1929 recording "Bring Back My Blue Eyed Boy" has two stanzas of 7A. "The Sailor Boy/Sweet William." The obvious conclusion is that in most Blue Eyed Boy versions here and abroad; her false lover is a sailor boy who has left her and she waits his return.
The eleven Died for Love ballads and the twenty-six related appendices of this study are characterized by floating stanzas built around a common theme-- a maid has been rejected and/or abandoned by her false lover. In "Blue-eyed boy" her lover has left her, she suspects he's been false and she hopes he will come back or be brought back and then she will happy be! Unfortunately for the maid, she's more likely to die for love, than have her lover brought back.
In Belden's headnotes to The Blue-Eyed Boy in "Ballads and Songs," 1940, he astutely writes, "Here divers images or motifs seem to have been gathered around a refrain stanza which gives the name to the song." What he doesn't do is describe how the divers images are related. Since the "Must I go bound" stanza originated in the 1600s, Belden dates "Must I Go Bound" but doesn't date the "Blue-Eyed Boy" song. Seventy years later Robert B. Waltz of The Traditional Ballad Index writes as the opening to the notes of Blue-Eyed Boy, "This is so close to 'The Butcher Boy' that I almost listed them as one song." Fortunately Waltz (and all) did separate them because obviously the two songs are quite different. Yes, a few versions here and abroad segue into Butcher Boy, but those are exceptions-- not the rule. What was not pointed out by either Belden or Waltz is the relatedness of the "Bring me back" songs and that these songs composed of different floating stanzas have originated from a common ancestor. Several different, yet related, branches have emerged which are grouped together here under my arbitrary "Blue-Eyed Boy" heading:
1) British: "The Sailor Boy." ("My love is but a sailor boy")
2) American: "My Blue-eyed Boy" ("Oh, bring me back my blue-eyed boy")
3) British: "Willow Tree" ("As I passed by a willow tree")
Whether found in North America along the Appalachians, in Ontario, the Mid-west or England and Scotland, its chorus is nearly the same-- suggesting a UK origin from a yet unknown broadside antecedent source that was brought to America and has been adapted. The American versions have "blue-eyed boy" in the chorus, while those found in UK do not. The chorus, although not always present, appears in the US as:
Oh, bring me back my blue-eyed boy,
Oh, bring my darling back to me,
Oh, bring me back the one I love
And happy will I ever be[2].
The standard chorus in the UK appears:
Then give me back that one I love,
O! give, O! give him back to me;
If I only had that one I love,
How happy, happy should I be[3].
Obviously the Chorus does not suggest great antiquity and the unknown UK antecedent is probably no older than the early 1800s. In her 1915 article, Songs and Ballads of the Southern Mountains[4], Olive Dame Campbell said:
When I first began my collecting, seven years ago, this variety of material greatly puzzled me, but gradually I came to differentiate sections, singers, and songs. I found that the more accessible mountain sections rarely furnish good ballad material. Such semi-modern songs as My Blue-eyed Boy, and I Once Did Love with Fond Affection, are more or less commonly sung; but where books are easily obtained and life begins to become complex, the older ballads rapidly disappear.
Campbell did not suggest that the semi-modern song, My Blue-Eyed Boy, was of British origin and dated back one hundred years. Still, she is right that it's not one of the older ballads. Instead, Blue-Eyed Boy is a love song constructed by floating stanzas of mostly British origin with the British "Bring me back" chorus. The Romany gypsies, however, knew the song many, many years before Campbell's 1915 assessment of Blue-Eyed Boy in the Appalachians.
In his article Christmas Eve and After (Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society- July, 1909) Thomas William Thompson commented: "There are a large number of variants of this song, which was a favourite with the old Gypsies. It is still remembered by the Gypsies of the Eastern Counties as well as by those of the North Country."
These older British Romany gypsies include Thompson's informant Shandres Petulengro (b. 1862) and his contemporary Xavier Petulengro (b. 1859) a horse trader, violinist, fortune teller and writer. Jasper Petulengro who was two generations older is closer to the old gypsies that Thompson mentioned. Also known as Ambrose Smith[5], Jasper was a gypsy who George Borrow (b. 1803) befriended when they were young and became the leading subject of Borrow's books' "Lavengro" and "The Romany Rye." It's easy to imagine the "Willow Tree," a gypsy title of Blue Eyed Boy, being sung around the Romany campfires late at night during the early 1800s-- a date much older that the extant versions would seem to have existed. Members of the Petulengro clan came to America often changing their last name to Smith and brought their songs with them[6]. In their online article; "Gypsies" in the United States - Smithsonian Education.org states:
The Ludar, or "Romanian Gypsies," also came to the United States during the great immigration from southern and eastern Europe between 1880 and 1914.
New York would be one popular destination for these gypsy immigrants and it may be no coincidence that a version of the song was published as a broadside by the Wehman Brothers of New York about 1880[7]. The song has been collected by leading collectors here and abroad including Thompson, Kidson, Pound, Greig-Duncan[8], Carl Sandburg, A.P. Carter, Belden (who wrote notes), Matteson/Henry, Randolph, Amos Abrams, Woody Guthrie and others. It has been extensively recorded in the United States, first as an old-time country song by The Carter Family in 1929 and later by country, old-time and bluegrass groups. In America it is superficially related to "Sweet William/Sailor Boy," another ballad that borrows stanzas from the Died for Love songs. An Alabama fragment goes from Sweet William directly into the chorus[9]:
"Oh, Captain, Captain, tell me true [Sweet William]
Does my true-lover sail with you"
"Oh no he does not sail with me
He's with the mermaids in the sea."
Bring me back the one I love, [Blue-Eyed Boy]
Oh bring, oh bring him back to me
They say he loves another one now, [original text not usually found]
He's not keeping all his vows.
Since the chorus does not mention Blue-Eyed Boy it may be closer to UK versions. This exact textual progression was used by Arthur Tanner (banjo) and Riley Puckett (guitar) in their duo version for Columbia in 1929. The "Captain, Captain" stanza is also found the Carter's distantly related song, "I Have No One to Love Me," which is known in bluegrass circles as "Deep Blue Sea."
This next variant from Scotland shows one of the two fundamental opening stanzas in the UK: "The Sailor Boy" or "Sailor Bold" which is usually followed by the "Bring me back the one I love" chorus:
My Love He Is A Sailor Bold- (Grieg-Duncan 1085) sung by Miss Ross about 1907, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
1. My love he is a a sailor bold
He ploughs the waves on the raging sea,
He wears a blue band on his arm
To tell how true he is to me.
CHORUS: Bring me back the one I love,
Bring oh, bring him back to me,
Oh, if I only had back my sailor boy
Oh happy happy would I be.
2. My true love he's like a little bird
That flits about from tree to tree,
And when he meets some other girl,
He never, never thinks on me.
This is not the complete text. The second stanza, however is nearly identical to one collected by my grandfather Maurice Matteson in the Beech Mountain area of North Carolina from a dulcimer maker named Nathan Hicks:
My true love is like a little bird
That flies from tree to tree,
And while he's with some other girl,
He very seldom thinks of me[10].
The other UK opening stanza comes from versions usually titled "Willow Tree":
As I passed by a willow tree,
A leaf fell down and followed me;
I picked it up, it would not break;
My love passed by, he would not speak[11].
This version of "Willow Tree," sung by Shandres Petulengro a gypsy singer of Kendal Westmorland, was published in Thomas William Thompson's article, "Christmas Eve and After," in the Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, July, 1909 (see at top of this page). The original version is found in a MS of 4 pages (two sheets folded) in Lucy Broadwood's Manuscript Collection (LEB/5/380/2). Written on the first MS sheet in red is "L.E.B. from Mr. T.W. Thompson Jan. 1909"). Roud too lists Thompson as the collector. There are 4 versions, one on each page:
1) Mr. P (Shandres Petulengro, b. Worcestershire in 1862- d. Westmorland in 1914) also incorrectly spelled Shadres. Roud has the last name Petulanengro, which is wrong.
2) Mrs. P (Mrs. Lavinia Petulengro, b. 1861)
3) a giorgio (My love He was a Sailor Boy)
4) Vensalena Petulengro, age 18 (their child?)
Shandres Petulengro's name is also Andrew Smith (ref. Roud, Chandler[12]). According to Chandler, Petulengro is a Romany surname commonly written as Smith. After looking at the MS, the 1909 published version attributed to Shandres is a composite from the three family versions, see also my versions B, D. The changes from the MS for Mr. P (Shandres Petulengro) made by Thompson appear in my footnotes (see version A). Chandler's review (Sheep-Crook and Black Dog) has a different date of 1912 and the author alludes that Broadwood collected the versions then[13].
The versions from England rarely have a standard Died for Love ending stanza or the "Must I go Bound" stanza. Instead, they have the "Never change the old for the new" stanza held in common with "Maiden's Prayer," a more modern member of the Died for Love" family with the suicide similar to Butcher's Boy. This shows a blending to the two songs, the UK "Blue-Eyed Boy" and "Maiden's Prayer" in the early 1900s when "Maiden's Prayer" was formed.
* * * *
In America one of the fundamental stanzas was independently printed as a complete minature poem in a number of publications in the early 1900s:
Remember well and bear in mind
That a true friend is hard to find,
But when you find one good and true
Don't change the old one for the new.
[Primitive Monitor and Church Advocate, Volume 22 by Robert Walder Thompson; 1907 Iowa]
This same stanza is found in the UK versions and also Maiden's Prayer. The following version from Memory Melodies- A Collection of Folk-Songs from Middle Tennessee (1947) was collected by the McDowell's and probably dates back to the late 1890s. It is therefore one of the older US versions collected.
Blue-Eyed Boy- McDowells c. 1890s
Oh, bring me back my blue-eyed boy,
Oh, bring him back to me;
If I could have the same one I love
How happy I should be!
'Tis hard to love and not be loved
'Tis hard to love in vain;
'Tis hard to love another's love,
And not be loved again.
My love is like a little bird
That flies from tree to tree,
And when he finds another girl
He cares no more for me.
This short veresion of three stanzas has a different added stanza-- number two is a variation of the Woody Guthrie stanza "Hard, ain't it hard" a different related song which opens with a stanza of Butcher Boy. The versions by Pound (1 total version) Randolph (3 total versions) and Belden (4 total versions) from the mid-west all date in the early 1900s from 1900-1912.
"Go bring Me My Blue-Eyed Boy" is also the title of a Died for Love version collected by Carl Sandburg and published in his American Songsbag in 1927. The full text follows (only the first two stanzas are closely associated with Blue Eyed Boy[14]):
Go Bring Back my Blue-Eyed Boy- sung by Frances Ries Batavia, Ohio, before 1927.
1. Go bring me back my blue-eyed boy,
Go bring my darling back to me,
Go bring me back the one I love,
And happy will I ever be.
2 Must I go bound while he goes free?
Must I love a man that don't love me?
Or must I act some childish part,
And die for the one that broke my heart?
3 Late one night when her father came home,
Inquiring where his daughter had gone,
He went upstairs and the lock he broke,
And found her hanging by a rope.
4 He drew his knife and he cut her down,
He drew his knife and he cut her down,
He drew his knife and he cut her down,
Upon her breast these words he found.
5. Go dig my grave, go dig it deep,
Go dig my grave, go dig it deep,
Go dig my grave, go dig it deep,
And plant a rose at my head and feet.
6 Upon my breast a turtle dove,
Upon my breast a turtle dove,
Upon my breast a turtle dove,
To show this world I died for love.
7 Around my grave go build a fence,
Around my grave go build a fence,
Around my grave go build a fence,
To show this world I had no sense.
The second stanza is from The Unfortunate Swain c. 1750 where it appears:
Must I be bound that can go free?
Must I love one that loves not me?
Why should I act such a childish part
To love a girl that will break my heart.
"Must I Go/Be Bound" is another song related to both the "Died for Love" songs and "Blue Eyed Boy." The Sandburg version is a composite version with Butcher Boy which also borrows the "Must I go Bound?" stanza. This composite with the suicide is the
exception, not the rule-- yet it shows the interrelation of Died for Love and Blue-Eyed Boy.
The most influential version of Blue Eyed Boy in the US was the recording made in 1929[15] made by the Carter Family. The version was collected by A.P. Carter probably in Southwest Virginia and arranged by the Carters for their Victor recording. Here's the text:
"Bring Back My Blue-Eyed Boy To Me." Sung by The Carter Family dated 2-12-1929
[Instrumental break, Maybelle]
'Tis true the ring that has no end
It's hard to find a faithful friend
And when you find one just and true
Change not the old one for the new.
CHORUS: Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me
Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me
Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me
That I may ever happy be.
Must I go bound and him go free
Must I love a boy that don't love me
Or must I act the childish part
And love that boy that broke my heart.
CHORUS [Instrumental break]
Last night my lover promised me
To take me across the deep blue sea
And now he's gone and left me alone
An orphan girl without a home.
CHORUS
Oh, dig my grave both wide and deep
Place marble at my head and feet
And on my breast a snow white dove
To show to the world I died for love.
CHORUS [Instrumental break]
The above photo is how the Carters appeared when they recorded Blue Eyed Boy. The Carters' influential recording was covered by a number of different County/Bluegrass artists including Karl Davis (1936), Aunt Idy Harper, Lilly Brothers, Bill Clifton, Lily Mae Ledford, Red Anderson (1933- Brier Hopper Brothers) and Blue Sky Boys. The song entered tradition by the 1930s as it was passed around on various radio stations including Covington, Kentucky's WCKY and Cincinnati's radio station WLW. Several generations later it is now played by new country, bluegrass and old-time singing groups including the Foghorn Stringband, Truffle Valley Boys and others. As in the transmission of a traditional song, minor changes have been made in some versions: "ring" (It's true the ring) has become "rainbow" or "rain" and "childish" has become "girlie's." Any version collected after the 1930s should be compared to the Carter's version to see if it's a cover.
A good example of a cover of the Carters' version is "Bring Back My Blue-Eyed Boy To Me" as sung by A'nt Idy Harper on the Renfro Valley Barn Dance originating from Renfro Valley, Kentucky over Cincinnati radio station WLW on April 26, 1941. An't Idy, Karl Davis and Lily Mae Ledford were all Renfro Valley singers on John Lair's radio shows who sang Blue-Eyed Boy. Here's A'nt Idy's version:
"Bring Back My Blue-Eyed Boy To Me." as sung by A'nt Idy (Lilly Margaret) on a Renfro Valley Barn Dance radio broadcast.
[Instrumental intro]
'Tis true like a ring that has no end
It's hard to find a faithful friend
And when you find one good and true
Change not the old one fer the new.
CHORUS: Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me,
Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me,
Bring back my blue-eyed boy to me,
That I may ever happy be.
Last night my lover promised me,
He'd take me 'cross the deep blue sea,
And now he's gone and left me alone
An orphan girl without a home.
CHORUS
Must I go bound and him go free
Must I love a boy that don't love me
Or must I play the girlie's part
And love the boy that broke my heart.
CHORUS
* * * *
The version collected in Ontario by Edith Fowke from LaRena LeBarr Clark that was passed down from her grandparents who were of English, Irish, French, and Pennsylvania Dutch stock, shows a closer affinity to the British versions.
Go and Bring Me Back the Boy I Love- as sung by LaRena Clark[16], circa 1960, learned probably in the early 1930s.
1. Go and bring me back the boy I love,
Go and bring me back to me,
Sure if I had the one I love,
What a happy pair we'd be.
2. Oh, my love is like a little bird
He flies from tree to tree,
And when he's with some other girl
He thinks no more of me
3. Oh, my love is like a lozenger:
He is small but oh how sweet!
And if I had a crown of gold,
I would plant it at his feet.
4. Oh, how hard it is to sigh and weep
Oh, how hard it is to see
Some other girl sit on his knee
In the place where I ought to be.
5. Go and bring me back the boy I love,
Go and bring me back to me,
Sure if I had the one I love,
What a happy pair we'd be.
Fowke remarked that she had not heard some of Clark's stanzas. The Chorus and stanzas 2 and 3 are obviously British and stanza two is found in America. Stanza three is important as a new stanza associated with the Blue-Eyed Boy-- there are at least two recordings in the US with that title. Stanza 4 is obviously derived from Died for Love and is common in UK and in the US/Canadian versions of Butcher Boy.
* * * *
Some Conclusions
Three separate branches of this love song have emerged. Two are British: 1) "The Sailor Boy." ("My love is but a sailor boy" and 2) "Willow Tree" ("As I passed by a willow tree") and one from North America 3) "My Blue-eyed Boy" ("Oh, bring me back my blue-eyed boy"). This song, under the arbitrary title of Blue-Eyed Boy, was printed in the UK (see Kidson's print at the op of this page) and in New York (by Wehman Brothers) both around 1880. These c.1880 prints were probably based in part on an earlier unknown British print of the early 1800s. The song dates back to that early 1800s time period through the Romany gypsies and also versions in the US which had circulated to the mid-west sometime after the Civil War. Some stanzas and the chorus are cognate in both the UK and America indicating a British origin. The words, "blue eyed boy" and the "Must I Go Bound?" stanza are not found in the UK versions.
A variety of stanzas are added from Died for Love and other similar songs to the chorus and these core stanzas:
CHORUS: Give me back the one I love,
Give oh, give him back to me,
Give me back the one I love,
Then happy happy I will be.
My love is like a little bird
That flies across from tree to tree,
And when he gets so far away,
You'll find he thinks no more of me.
Think of me and bear in mind,
A constant love is hard to find;
And when you get one good and true,
Never change the old one for the new.
I wish my heart was made of glass,
That you might view it through and through,
Might view the secret of my heart —
How dearly, dearly I love you.
The last stanza is a UK stanza. There are other "I wish" stanzas in North America. The "Don't change the old for the new" stanza is similarly found in Maiden's Prayer, the most modern and closely aligned member of Died for Love. Maiden's Prayer shares the same standard melody as Blue Eyed Boy, a melody similar to that found in some versions of Butcher Boy.
R. Matteson, 2017]
______________________________________
Footnotes:
1. The "Adieu" stanza as it appears in Hills, There is a Tavern in the Town":
Adieu, adieu kind friends, adieu,
I can no longer stay with you, stay with you,
I'll hang my harp on the weeping willow tree,
And may the world go well with thee.
Traditional versions vary. The stanza is believed to have originated from an African-American text "Radoo, Radoo, Radoo," which predates it.
2. Taken from Memory Melodies- A Collection of Folk-Songs from Middle Tennessee- Flora and Lucien McDowell; 1947.
3. From: "Willow Tree" (As I passed by a willow tree,) sung by Shandres Petulengro, a gypsy singer of Kendal Westmorland. In Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, July, 1909 from Christmas Eve and After by Thomas William Thompson.
4. The article Songs and Ballads of the Southern Mountains, by Olive Dame Campbell was published in The Survey, Volume 33, 1915.
5. Members of the Petulengro clan often changing their last name to Smith. See Chandler's review of Sheep-Crook and Black Dog online.
6. Family genealogy of Petulengro and Smith families will provided more details of the dates the family moved to America. The Willow tree has not been collected here so their immigration did not bear any known transmission of the song.
7. I have not seen the Wehman Brothers of New York broadside about 1880 which is in the Goldstein Broadside Collection and can't be viewed yet online.
8. The version was collected by Grieg about 1907 and was published in the Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection - Volume 8, page 424, edited by Patrick N. Shuldham-Shaw, Emily B. Lyle - 2002.
9. "Go Bring Me Back the One I Love" sung by Mrs R. A. Dunham, Fairhope, Baldwin County, 1953. From; "The Alabama Folk Lyric: A Study in Origins and Media of Dissemination" by Ray Broadus Browne - 1979. This is a variant but a poor, fragmented one.
10. From "The Blue-Eyed Boy" sung by Nathan Hicks 1933 from Beech Mountain Ballads by Maurice Matteson and Mellinger Henry, G. Shirmer NY, 1936.
11. From "Willow Tree" as sung by Shandres Petulengro, (b. Worcestershire in 1862- d. Westmorland in 1914), a gypsy singer of Kendal, Westmorland in 1909.
12. From Chandler's review of "Sheep-Crook and Black Dog."
13. Chandler's assertion is corrected by Roud who gives Thompson as the collector and the date of Jan. 1909.
14. The "Must I Go Bound" stanza is found in many of the US versions.
15. The Carters "Bring Back My Blue Eyed Boy to Me" was recorded 2-15-29 in Camden, New Jersey and in 1938 in Charlotte, NC for Decca.
16. From: A Family Heritage: The Story and Songs of LaRena Clark (page 96) by Edith Fowke, Jay Rahn, LaRena LeBarr Clark, 1994.