Bonnie Annie- Kinloch (Scotland) 1827 Child A
[Below Child's text I've included Kinloch's from his Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 123. There are two notes form Kinloch on the text. At the bottom is a brief commentary by Motherwell on Bonnie Annie.]
Bonnie Annie- Version A; Child 24 Bonnie Annie
Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 123.
1 There was a rich lord, and he lived in Forfar,
He had a fair lady, and one only dochter.
2 O she was fair, O dear, she was bonnie!
A ship's captain courted her to be his honey.
3 There cam a ship's captain out owre the sea sailing,
He courted this young thing till he got her wi bairn.
4 'Ye'll steal your father's gowd, and your mother's money,
And I'll mak ye a lady in Ireland bonnie.'
5 She's stown her father's gowd, and her mother's money,
But she was never a lady in Ireland bonnie.
* * * * *
6 'There's fey fowk in our ship, she winna sail for me,
There's fey fowk in our ship, she winna sail for me.'
7 They've casten black bullets twice six and forty,
And ae the black bullet fell on bonnie Annie.
8 'Ye'll tak me in your arms twa, lo, lift me cannie,
Throw me out owre board, your ain dear Annie.'
9 He has tane her in his arms twa, lo, lifted her cannie,
He has laid her on a bed of down, his ain dear Annie.
10 'What can a woman do, love, I'll do for ye;'
'Muckle can a woman do, ye canna do for me.'
11 'Lay about, steer about, lay our ship cannie,
Do all ye can to save my dear Annie.'
12 'I've laid about, steerd about, laid about cannie,
But all I can do, she winna sail for me.
13 'Ye'll tak her in your arms twa, lo, lift her cannie,
And throw her out owre board, your ain dear Annie.'
14 He has tane her in his arms twa, lo, lifted her cannie,
He has thrown her out owre board, his ain dear Annie.
15 As the ship sailed, bonnie Annie she swam,
And she was at Ireland as soon as them.
16 He made his love a coffin of the gowd sae yellow,
And buried his bonnie love doun in a sea valley.
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BONNIE ANNIE fom Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 123. (Kinloch 1827)
There was a rich lord, and he lived in Forfar,
He had a fair lady, and one only dochter.
O, she was fair, O dear! she was bonnie,
A ship's captain courted her to be his honey.
There cam a ship's captain out owre the sea sailing,
He courted this young thing till he got her wi' bairn.—
"Ye'll steal your father's gowd, and your mother's money,
And I'll malt ye a lady in Ireland bonnie."
She's stown her father's gowd and her mother's money,
But she was never a lady in Ireland bonnie.
"There's fey fowk[1] in our ship, she winna sail for me,
There's fey fowk in our ship, she winna sail for me."
They've casten black bullets twice six and forty,
And ae the black bullet fell on bonnie Annie.
"Ye'll tak me in your arms twa, lo, lift me cannie,
Throw me out owre board, your ain dear Annie."
He has tane her in his arms twa, lo, lifted her cannie,
He has laid her on a bed of down, his ain dear Annie.
"What can a woman do, love, I'll do for ye;"
Muckle can a woman do, ye canna do for me."—
"Lay about, steer about, lay our ship cannie,
Do all ye can to save my dear Annie."
"I've laid about, steer'd about, laid about cannie,
But all I can do, she winna sail for me.
Ye'll tak her in your arms twa, lo, lift her cannie,
And throw her out owre board, your ain dear Annie."
He has tane her in his arms twa, lo, lifted her cannie,
He has thrown her out owre board, his ain dear Annie.
As the ship sailed, bonnie Annie she swam,
And she was at Ireland as soon as them.
He made his love a coffin off the Goats of Yerrow,
And buried his bonnie love doun in a sea valley.
NOTES ON BONNIE ANNIE.
There's fey fowk in our ship, she winna sail for me— p. 124, v. 3.
There is a prevalent belief among sea-faring people, that, if a person who has committed any heinous crime be on ship-board, the vessel, as if conscious of its guilty Durden, becomes unmanageable, and will not sail till the offender be removed: to discover whom, they usually resort to the trial of those on board, by casting lots; and the individual upon whom the lot falls is declared the criminal, it being believed that Divine Providence interposes in this manner to point out the guilty person.
He made his love a coffin off the Goats of Yerrow—p. 126, v. 8.
It would be difficult to ascertain where Yerrow is situated; it would seem, however, to be on the seacoast, as " Goats" signifies inlets where the sea enters.
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Motherwell's Minstrelsy 1827: 146. Bonnie Annie
I am inclined to think this is an Irish ballad, though popular in Scotland. Its Editor [Kinloch] has hazarded a note to explain what happens to a corruption in the text. It is on the line
He made his love a coffin off the Goats of Yarrow. "Goats," he says, "signifies inlets where the sea enters;" but in what part of Scotland he found this signification for a term usually applied to a ditch or drain, is more than I can fathom. We know that by reference toother languages, such a meaning may be made out; but as the word has been substituted by the mistake of the reciter, it is not worth while to make it matter of controversy. A copy of the ballad, in my hands, corrects the error in Mr. K. 's version.
"Make my love a coffin of the gowd sae yellow,
"Whare the wood it is dear and the planks they are narrow,
"And bury my love on the high banks of yarrow."
Sing fal lal.
They made his love a coffin of the gowd sae yellow,
They made his love a coffin of the gowd sae yellow,'
And they burled her deep on the high banks of Yarrow.
Sing fal lal, de deedle, fal lal, de deedle lair, Oh a Day!