Recordings & Info No. 23 Bonnie Annie
CONTENTS
1) Alternative Titles
2) Traditional Ballad Index
3) Folk Index
4) Child Collection Index
5) Coffin- A Critical Biographical Study of the Traditional Ballads of North America
6) Wiki
7) Mainly Norfolk
ATTACHED PAGES: (see left hand column)
1) Roud Number 172: Bonnie Annie (106 Listings)
Alternative Titles
The High Banks o Yarrow
The Banks of Green Willow
There Was a Rich Merchant that Lived in Strathdinah
The Undutiful Daughter
Traditional Ballad Index: Bonnie Annie [Child 24]
DESCRIPTION: A ship's captain seduces (Annie) and takes her to sea with him. The ship they are sailing is caught in a storm which will not die down. (The crew) decides that Annie is the guilty party and throws her overboard. (The captain may order her rescue)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1827 (Lyle-Crawfurd2)
KEYWORDS: seduction sea death storm childbirth pregnancy bastard
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South),Scotland) US(NE)
REFERENCES (11 citations):
Child 24, "Bonnie Annie" (3 texts)
Bronson 24, "Bonnie Annie" (18 versions)
Lyle-Crawfurd2 85, "The High Banks o Yarrow" (1 text)
OBB 20, "Bonnie Annie" (1 text)
Reeves-Sharp 9, "The Banks of Green Willow" (1 text)
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, p. 15, "The Banks of Green Willow" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #2}
Butterworth/Dawney, p. 12, "The Banks of Green Willow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wiltshire-WSRO Gl 85, "Banks of Green Willow" (1 text)
DBuchan 45, "Bonnie Annie" (1 text)
GreigDuncan6 1225, "Bonnie Annie" (2 texts, 1 tune)
DT 24, GREWILLO* BONNYANN*
Roud #172
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Captain Glen/The New York Trader (The Guilty Sea Captain A/B) [Laws K22]" (Jonah theme) and references there
ALTERNATE TITLES:
There Was a Rich Merchant that Lived in Strathdinah
NOTES: In the Vaughan Williams/Lloyd version, the sailor Johnny has persuaded the girl to steal her mother's money and run away to sea with him. When she has his baby, he (not the crew) throws her overboard, along with her baby. - PJS
Many versions seem to blame the disaster on the simple fact that there is a woman aboard the ship. This Female Jonah idea was well-known among sailors. Even such a relatively enlightened character as Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, Nelson's second in command at Trafalgar, could write, "I never knew a woman brought to sea in a ship that some mischief did not befall the vessel" (see David Cordingly, Women Sailors and Sailors' Women, Random House, 2001 (I use the undated, but later, paperback edition), p. 154).
Folk Index: Bonnie Annie [Ch 24]
Rt - Banks of Green Willow
Uf - William Glen/Glenn
MacColl, Ewan. MacColl, Ewan / Folk Songs and Ballads of Scotland, Oak, Sof (1965), p16
Maguire, Mrs.. Folk Songs of Britain. Vol 6. Sailormen and Servingmaids, Caedmon TC 1162, LP (1962), trk# 3 [1950s] (Green Banks of Yarrow)
------Banks of Green Willow [Ch 24]
Rt - Bonnie Annie
Armstrong, Frankie. And the Music Plays So Grand, Sierra/Briar SBR 4211, LP (1980/1978), trk# B.02
Gooding, Cynthia. Queen of Hearts, Elektra EKL 131, LP (1953), trk# B.06
Mogg, Elizabeth. Reeves, James (ed.) / Idiom of the People, Norton, Sof (1958), p 72/# 9 [1904]
Overd, Mrs.. Williams, R. Vaughan; & A. L. Lloyd (eds.) / Penguin Book of English Fol, Penguin, Sof (1959), p 15 [1904]
Rose, Tony. On Banks of Green Willow, Leader/Trailer LER-2 101, LP (1976), trk# 7
Smith, Janet. Unicorn, Vol. 1, Takoma A 1027, LP (196?), trk# B.05
-------William Glen/Glenn [Laws K22]
Rt - Brown Robin's/Robyn's Confession ; New York Trader
At - Captain Glen ; Bonnie Annie
Laws, G. Malcolm / American Balladry from British Broadsides, Amer. Folklore Soc., Bk (1957), p151
Leach, MacEdward / The Ballad Book, Harper & Row, Bk (1955), p697 [1876]
Doyle, John. Wayward Son, Compass 7 4408 2, CD (2005), trk# 4 (Captain Glen)
Harding, John Wesley. Trad Arr Jones, Zero Hour Zer CD 2210, CD (1998), trk# 7
Henneberry, Ben. Creighton, Helen / Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia, Dover, sof (1996/1933), p111/# 55 [1927-32] (Captain Glen)
Jones, Nic. From the Devil to a Stranger, Highway LTRA 507, LP (1978), trk# A.04
McCurdy, Ed. Ballad Record, Riverside RLP 12-601, LP (1955), trk# B.02
Rose, Tony. On Banks of Green Willow, Leader/Trailer LER-2 101, LP (1976), trk# 10 (Sir William Gower)
Tutty, Paddy. In the Greenwood, Prairie Druid PA 04, CD (1998), trk# 10
Child Collection Index: Bonnie Annie
A.L. Lloyd The Banks of Green Willow (Bonnie Annie) The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (The Child Ballads) - Vol. 4 1956 No
A.L. Lloyd The Banks of Green Willow (Bonnie Annie) The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (The Child Ballads) - Vol. 8 [Reissue] 196? 2:41 Yes
A.L. Lloyd The Banks of Green Willow Bramble Briars & Beams of the Sun 2011 No
024 Aileen Carr The Banks of Green Yarrow Green Yarrow 2000 7:03 Yes
024 Alison McMorland & Peta Webb The Green Banks of Yarrow Alison McMorland & Peta Webb 1980 2:26 Yes
024 Alison McMorland & Peta Webb The Green Banks of Yarrow Three Score and Ten - A Voice to the People 2009 2:30 Yes
024 Andrew King & Brown Sierra Banks of Green Willow Thalassocracy 2008 No
024 Bonded Boots The Banks of Green Willow Stagfolk Live Folk 1972 No
024 Bram Taylor Banks of Green Willow The Night is Young 2004 3:31 Yes
024 Brian Peters The Banks of Green Willow Songs of Trial and Triumph 2008 4:51 Yes
024 Coope, Boyes & Simpson Banks of Green Willow Triple Echo 2005 3:04 Yes
024 Cynthia Gooding The Banks of Green Willow Queen of Hearts - Early English Folk Songs 1953 2:21 Yes
024 David Clements The Banks of Green Willow A Century of Song - A Celebration of Traditional Singers Since 1898 1998 1:41 Yes
024 Debra Cowan The Banks of Green Willow Banks of Green Willow 2000 No
024 Dick Gaughan Banks of Green Willow Kist O'Gold 1976 6:11 Yes
024 Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger Bonnie Annie Popular Scottish Songs 1960 3:47 Yes
024 Frankie Armstrong Banks of Green Willow Voices - English Traditional Songs 1992 4:11 Yes
024 Frankie Armstrong The Banks of Green Willow And the Music Plays So Grand 1980 4:01 Yes
024 Galliard The Green Banks of Yarrow Strange News 1994 3:21 Yes
024 Jackie Oates The Banks of Green Willow Jackie Oates 2006 2:57 Yes
024 Jackie Oates Banks of Green Willow fRoots 28 2007 2:55 Yes
024 Jane Lobban Bonnie Annie The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955
No
024 Janet Smith Banks of Green Willow The Unicorn and Other Songs Both Old and New 1968
No
024 Jean Campbell (Barclay) Bonnie Annie The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955
No
024 John Kirkpatrick, Gina Le Faux et al The Banks of Green Willow Fanfare for the South West 2004
No
024 John Spiers & Jon Boden Banks of Green Willow BBC Radio 3: A Place Called England 2003 6:32 Yes
024 John Spiers & Jon Boden Banks of Green Willow Through & Through 2001 7:10 Yes
024 Jon Boden Banks of Green Willow A Folk Song a Day - July 2010 4:30 Yes
024 Martin Carthy Banks of Green Willow Shearwater 1972 4:33 Yes
024 Martin Carthy Banks of Green Willow Heart of England: The Legends of English Folk - A Celebration 1999 4:29 Yes
024 Martin Carthy Banks of Green Willow Men Folk 2005 No
024 Martin Carthy & Jez Lowe Banks of Green Willow A Selection from the Penguin Book of English Folk Songs 1994 2:52 Yes
024 Moira Craig The Banks of Green Willow Celtic Airs and Ballads - Traditional Love Songs and Laments 1996 3:23 Yes
024 Moira Craig The Banks of Green Willow On Ae Bonny Day 2001 3:25 Yes
024 Mrs. Maguire The Green Banks of Yarrow BBC Recordings No
024 Mrs. Maguire The Green Banks of Yarrow The Folk Songs of Britain, Vol 6: Sailormen and Servingmaids 1961 1:38 Yes
024 Nic Jones The Banks of Green Willow Nic Jones 1971 2:44 Yes
024 Opus Anglicanum Banks of Green Willow The Seeds of Love 1997 No
024 Patti Reid Bonnie Annie Rolling Down to Old Maui 1999 4:53 Yes
024 Patti Reid Bonnie Annie Patti Reid 1987 5:01 Yes
024 Paul & Liz Davenport All on a Falling Tide Spring Tide Rising 2011 No
024 Pete Castle Banks of Green Willow Xtracted 1997 No
024 Rod Harrington Banks of Green Willow Bob & Jacqueline Patten Collection 1970-1999 No
024 Rod Stradling The Banks of Green Willow Old Songs & Bothy Ballads - Grand to Be a Working Man 2008 No
024 Ron Coe The Banks of Green Willow Folk Songs from Hampshire and Dorset 2005 No
024 Roots Quartet The Banks of Green Willow Somerset Sisters 2000 2:07 Yes
024 Simply English Banks of Green Willow Birds of Paradise 2003 1:47 Yes
024 Steve Turner Bonnie Annie Jigging One Now 1982 6:56 Yes
024 Teresa Maguire The Green Banks of Yarrow The Elfin Knight - The Classic Ballads 1 1976 No
024 The Famous 5+1 The Banks of Green Willow Flash Company - A Celebration of 25 Years of Fellside Records 2001 3:06 Yes
024 The London Philharmonic Orchestra The Banks of Green Willow O, to Be in England - Music for a Green and Pleasant Land 2010 No
024 The Morrigan Banks of Green Willow Wreckers 1996 6:50 Yes
024 Tinkerscuss Banks of Green Willow Nine Trees 2010 No
024 Tony Rose Banks of Green Willow On Banks of Green Willow 1971 3:15 Yes
024 Tony Rose Banks of Green Willow Bare Bones 1999 3:19 Yes
024 Tony Rose Banks of Green Willow Fylde Folk Festival '83 1983 3:15 Yes
Coffin- A Critical Biographical Study of the Traditional Ballads of North America
24. BONNIE ANNIE
Barry, (BFSSNE, X, II and XI, 9) printed two Maine fragments which he believed belong to Child 24, Bonnie Annie. The very lines,
Captain take gold, and captain take money
Captain take gold, but leave me my honey. -X, ii.
cannot be found in the Child texts, but may well be from an American version of the Jonah-like story about the girl who elopes with her lover, only to be cast off the floundering ship in a storm. However, the second set of lines,
He kissed her cold lips a thousand times o'er
And called her his darling, though she was no more. -XI, 9.
belong to the Robson-Colwell comic ballad, Fillikins and his Dinah. The informant did place them in the same song with the first two lines, and Barry (XI, 9 10) attempts to rationalize this as corruption. My opinion is that such fragments are too brief to prove much.
Bonnie Annie: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Child's Ballads/24
"Bonnie Annie" is Child ballad 24, existing in several variants.[1]
Synopsis
Annie, a merchant's daughter, falls in love with a sea captain and goes to sea with him, in some variants while pregnant. Something goes wrong, and they determine that Annie is the cause of it. She makes the captain throw her overboard. They escape, recover her body, and bury her.
Motifs
The motif of the lots and throwing a person from the ship may be derived from the tale of Jonah. Another ballad featuring these motifs is "Brown Robyn's Confession", Child ballad 57.[2]
References
1.^ Francis James Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads, "Bonnie Annie"
2.^ Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 1, p 245, Dover Publications, New York 1965
Mainly Norfolk: The Banks of Green Willow
[ Roud 172 ; Child 24 ; Ballad Index C024 ; trad.]
This song from Ralph Vaughan Williams' and A.L. Lloyd's The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs is related to Child 24: Bonnie Annie. Nic Jones recorded it in 1971 for his eponymous album Nic Jones. He commented in his sleeve notes:
I have known this song for some years but have never sung it as none of the many tunes had particularly appealed. Whilst looking at it again in The Folk Song Journals, I began singing it to the present tune, which appears to be a mixture of various phrases that were already in my head.
Martin Carthy sang Banks of Green Willow on his 1972 album, Shearwater. He recorded it again with Jez Lowe for the Fellside anthology A Selection from The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs. An alternate take of this with some more musicians, but with Paul Adams singing instead of Martin Carthy, is on Flash Company. Martin Carthy commented in his original album's sleeve notes:
It's probably due to Vaughan Williams' decision to follow Percy Grainger in using recording techniques to gather songs, that this particular version of The Banks of Green Willow was rescued. He recorded it from an old man in Hampshire and subsequently had great difficulty in transcribing it, so what he wrote is probably only the merest sketch of the tune.
In the early sailing days, a ship which was becalmed was a ship which was bewitched, and the only way out was a sacrifice. A wrongdoer or a woman on board could jeopardise the safety of everyone on board, so if trouble came, the Jonah could expect no mercy and lots were cast to find him out. Once the demon had been exorcised, the ship could continue.
And the A Selection from The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs sleeve notes said:
From Emma Overd, Langport, Somerset; noted in 1904 by Cecil Sharp. Sharp reported the song “very generally sung throughout Somerset.” Ralph Vaughan Williams noted a Hampshire version.
There is a common superstition, older than Jonah, that the presence of a wrong doer aboard ship may make the vessel unmanageable. Disaster may result unless the wrong doer is thrown overboard. In many versions the story seems to have become disordered and the meaning rather obscured. The text gives the brief outline of the plot; the woman robs her parents at her lover's request and then sails away with him. Whilst at sea her baby is born. The sailors fear that someone is flying from retribution. In this version the woman is thrown overboard.
Tony Rose recorded this song in 1976 as title track of his LP On Banks of Green Willow. As this album is no longer available, he re-recorded it in 1999 for his CD Bare Bones. He commented in the original album's sleeve notes:
It was a common superstition, possibly originating with the story of Jonah, that the presence of an evil-doer on board a ship might imperil both vessel and crew, unless the guilty party were sought out and thrown overboard. Such is the theme running through The Banks of Green Willow and Sir William Gower, both of which were collected by Cecil Sharp in Somerset.
Jackie Oates learned The Banks of Green Willow from Tony Rose's album and recorded it in 2006 for her eponymous first album, Jackie Oates.
John Spiers & Jon Boden played Banks of Green Willow on their 2001 CD, Through & Through, and Jon Boden sang in as the July 10, 2010 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day. He commented in the CD sleeve notes:
A version of this nightmarish ballad put together by Martin Carthy using a tune sung by Mr David Clements in 1909 (see A Century of Song, EFDSS) and various texts from Child. This was the first ballad I ever learnt and I didn't get the melody quite right at the time—a mistake which stuck.
Banks of Green Willow was also recorded by Coope Boyes & Simpson in 2005 for their album Triple Echo: Songs collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams, George Butterworth and Percy Grainger.
Lyrics [not edited]
Nic Jones sings The Banks of Green Willow
O it's of a sea-captain
Down by the sea-side o,
And he's courted a young lady
And he's got her by child.
“Go and fetch your father's gold
And some of your mother's money,
And go all across the ocean,
All along with young Johnny.”
“Now I've got me father's gold
And some of me mother's money,
And I'll go all across the ocean,
All along with young Johnny.”
Now they hadn't been a-sailing,
No miles not a great many
Before she was delivered
Of a beautiful baby.
“Sea captain, sea captain,
Here's fifty pounds for thee
To see me safe home again,
Me and my baby.”
“Go and fetch a white napkin
For to tie me head easy,
And throw me quite overboard,
Both me and my baby.”
So they tied the napkin round her head,
They've tied it soft and easy.
They've thrown her right overboard,
She and her baby.
Now see how she totters,
See how she tumbles,
And see how she's rolling
All upon the salt water.
Go fetch me a longboat
For to row me lover back again,
For to row me lover back again,
Both for her and her baby.
For she shall have a coffin,
And the coffin it shall shine yellow,
And she shall be buried
On the banks of green willow.
_________________
Martin Carthy sings on Shearwater
It's of a sea captain
Who lived down by the seaside, oh,
And he's courted with a fair maid,
And he's got her with child.
Go and get your father's goodwill,
And get some of your mother's money,
And we'll sail right o'er the ocean
Along with young Johnny.
Oh she's got her father's goodwill,
And she's ta'en some of her mother's money,
And she's sailed right o'er the ocean
Along with young Johnny.
Now they had not been a-sailing
But six weeks or better,
Before she needed women
And she could not get any.
Oh hold your tongue you silly girl
Oh hold your tongue my honey
For we cannot get women
For love nor for money.
Now they had not been a sailing
But seven weeks or better,
With our sails high and the sea smooth,
But miles we made not any.
Oh there's fay folk in our gallant ship,
The captain he cried so boldly,
Oh there's fay folk in our gallant ship,
She will not sail for me.
So they've cast the black bullets,
And they've cursed twice six and forty,
And it's oh the black bullet
Fell on his dearest honey.
Oh he's tied a napkin all round her head
And he's tied it round so softly,
And he's thrown her right over,
Both she and her baby.
And it's seeing how she doth swim my boys,
And it's seeing how she doth swagger,
She will never leave off swimming
Till she come to some cover
Oh she shall have a coffin
And the nails shall shine yellow
And me love she shall be buried
On the banks of green willow
________________
Tony Rose sings The Banks of Green Willow
O it's of a sea-captain
Down by the banks of willow,
He's courted a pretty girl
Till she proved with child o.
She cried, “What shall I do my love?
What will become of me?
My mother and father,
They both will disown me.”
“Go fetch me some of your father's gold
And some of your mother's money,
And you shall sail the ocean
along with young Johnny.”
So she's fetched him some of her father's gold
And some of her mother's money,
And she has gone aboard a ship
Along with young Johnny.
Well they had not been sailing
Scarce six weeks nor so many
Before she was delivered
Of a beautiful baby.
“Sea captain, sea captain,
Here's fifty pounds for thee
To see me safe home again,
Me and my baby.”
“Oh no,” said the captain,
“Such things they never can be.
'Tis better to lose two lives
Than 'tis to lose many.”
“Then tie the napkin round my head,
Come tie it soft and easy,
And throw me right overboard,
Me and my baby.”
So they tied the napkin round her head,
They've tied it soft and easy.
They've thrown her right overboard,
She and her baby.
Don't you see how she swims, my lad,
Don't you see how her body quivers?
She'll swim till she comes to
The banks of green willow.
And my love shall have a coffin made
Of a gold that shines yellow,
And she shall be buried
On the banks of green willow.
_________________
Penguin Book of English Folk Songs
Go and get your father's goodwill,
And get your mother's money,
Sail right o'er the ocean
All along with young Johnny.
She had not been a-sailing
It wasn't many days, oh,
Before she needed women's help
And she could not get any.
Oh, fetch me a silk napkin
And tie her head up easy,
And I'll throw her overboard,
Both she and her baby.
Oh they fetched him a silk napkin
And he tied her head up easy,
And overboard he threw his love,
Both she and her baby.
Oh, see how my love tumble,
See how my love do waver,
See how she try to swim,
That makes my heart quaver
Oh, make my love a coffin
Of the gold that shines yellow,
And she shall be buried
On the banks of green willow
Acknowledgements
Martin Carthy's Shearwater version transcribed by Garry Gillard. The other words are from The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs, eds Ralph Vaughan Williams & A.L. Lloyd, Penguin, 1959. Martin Carthy's variations transcribed by Reinhard Zierke.