English and other Versions 24. Bonnie Annie
[Unfortunately one of the main story lines has become lost in recent versions. This is a "Jonah Ballad" as found in the Biblical book of Jonah. When a ship would set sail on a voyage and encounter a storm or other calamity, the sailors would determine who is at fault and throw the guilty party overboard. Since she is a recent passenger and the only girl aboard (with a new baby) she is determined to be at fault.
R. Matteson 2012]
CONTENTS:
1. Bonnie Annie- Kinloch (Scotland) 1827 Child A
2. High Banks o Yarrow- French (Ayr) 1820s Child B
3. Undutiful Daughter, The- Masters (Devon) 1888 Child C a
4. Undutiful Daughter, The- Hannaford Devon 1890 Child C b
5. Undutiful Daughter, The- (Devon) c. 1890 Child C c
6. Banks of Green Willow- (Devon) c. 1903 Sharp A-E (Five versions)
7. Banks of Green Willow, The- Cranstone (Sussex) 1907 Collected Butterworth
8. There Was a Rich Merchant- Greig-Duncan c.1907 (Covered by Ewan MacColl)
The Banks of Green Willow- Clements (Hants) 1909
Bonnie Annie- MacColl (Scotland) pre-1965
Banks of Green Willow- Armstrong 1992
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Banks of Green Willow
There are Scottish versions of this, known as "Bonnie Annie", "The High Banks of Yarrow" and "The Merchant's Daughter". (See Child, under "Bonnie Annie") Kinlock's version of "Bonnie Annie" gives a clue to the throwing overboard of mother and child. The ship will not sail ("There's fey* fowk in the ship, She winna sail for me") and lots are cast to decide who is the guilty or doomed person causing the trouble. The lot falls on "Bonnie Annie", who at her own wish is cast overboard, like Jonah. The Jonah tradition story is perhaps the ultimate source of the ballad, though "Bonnie Annie" is not alone in her guilt.
Mr Butterworth's first version and the Hammond's Dorset variant bear considerable resemblance to the Welsh air "Jenny Jones", if the order of the first and second part of the tune be reversed.
The Rev J. K. Maconachie sent me a few years ago the following tune and a fragment of the ballad as sung in Aberdeenshire in his childhood. I think his version ended with the elopement.
Music: The Merchants Daughter
She's gane to her father,
Got gold and white money,
An' she's got a ship
And awa' wi' her Johnnie
Awa' wi' her Johnnie etc
Print as footnote
* destined to die. "Fey" is a term sometimes applied in Scotland to an unnatural wildness of spirits or strangeness of manner supposed to be an omen of approaching death.
A.G.G.