Recordings & Info 7F. My Blue-Eyed Boy (Bring Me Back My Blue-Eyed Boy) Roud 4308; Roud 18831
CONTENTS:
Titles:
[Ballad index's My Blue-Eyed Boy does not even mention versions from the UK which are closely related, RM]
My Blue-Eyed Boy
DESCRIPTION: Floating verses on the subject of lost love, usually borrowed from "The Butcher Boy" and/or a "Pretty Little Foot" variant. The wide and deep grave carved with a turtle dove may also be present. Identified by the line "Bring me back my blue-eyed boy"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: love beauty separation death suicide
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber)) US(MW,So) Ireland
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Bronson 76, "The Lass of Roch Royal" (23 versions, of which #11 appears to belong here)
GreigDuncan6 1085, "My Love He Is a Sailor Bold" (1 text plus a single verse on p. 538, 1 tune)
Belden, pp. 478-480, "The Blue-Eyed Boy" (4 texts, though "D" is a fragment, probably of "Tavern in the Town" or "The Butcher Boy" or some such)
Randolph 759, "My Blue-Eyed Boy" (3 short texts, 1 tune)
High, p. 46, "Remember... Well" (1 text)
BrownIII 257, "The Blue-Eyed Boy" (2 text, though the second is rather distantly related)
Owens-1ed, pp. 151-152, "My Blue-Eyed Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Owens-2ed, pp. 93-94, "My Blue-Eyed Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brewster 85, "The Blue-Eyed Boy" (1 text)
LPound-ABS, 102, pp. 212-213, "My Blue-Eyed Boy" (1 text)
SHenry H482, pp. 391-392, "Bring Me Back the Boy I Love"; H692, p. 392, "Never Change the Old Love for the New" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
DT, BLUEYEBY
Roud #4398
RECORDINGS:
Brier Hopper Brothers, "Bring Back My Blue-Eyed Boy" (Champion 16692, 1933)
Carter Family, "Bring Back My Blue-Eyed Boy to Me" (Victor V-40190, 1930; Montgomery Ward M-4741, c. 1935; Bluebird B-6271, 1936)
Gid Tanner & Riley Puckett, "Bring Back My Blue-Eyed Boy" (Columbia 15577-D, 1930; rec. 1929)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Butcher Boy" [Laws P24] and references there
cf. "Must I Go Bound" (lyrics, theme)
cf. "Died for Love (I)"
cf. "Love Has Brought Me to Despair" [Laws P25] (lyrics)
NOTES: This is so close to "The Butcher Boy" that I almost listed them as one song. But where "The Butcher Boy" is relatively coherent, this is little more than a lament composed of floating verses and the complaint "Bring me back my blue-eyed boy." So I've listed them separately -- but there *are* intermediate versions. Sandburg, for instance, has once (p. 324, "Go Bring Me Back My Blue-Eyed Boy," with the suicide theme intact, so I list it with "The Butcher Boy" -- but it has this chorus). -- RBW
* * * *
Bring Back My Blue/Brown Eyed Boy [Me II-E38] Keefer's Folk Index
Rt - Butcher/Butcher's Boy
Pound, Louise (ed.) / American Ballads and Songs, Scribner, Sof (1972/1922), p212/#102 [1905] (My Blue Eyed Boy)
Bluegrass Intentions. Old As Dirt, Native & Fine 906-4, CD (2002), trk# 7
Brayman, Elizabeth. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume IV, Religous Songs and Others, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p261/#759A [1933/07/05] (My Blue Eyed Boy)
Carter Family. Carter Family, Vol. 1, Country Music CMH 107, LP (197?), trk# 5 [1929/02/15]
Clifton, Bill. Carter Family Album, London SLH 101, Cas (1990/1961), trk# 9
Davis, Karl. Lair, John (ed.) / 100 WLS Barn Dance Favorites, Cole, fol (1935), p15 (Go Bring Me Back My Blue-Eyed Boy)
Haigood, Mrs. Willie. Owens, William A. (ed.) / Texas Folk Songs. 2nd edition, SMU Press, Bk (1976/1950), p 93 [1939] (My Blue Eyed Boy)
Hotmud Family. Years in the Making, Vetco LP 513, LP (1978), trk# 12
Jones, Mrs. W. E.. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume IV, Religous Songs and Others, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p261/#759B [1928/02/14]
Lilly Brothers. Lilly Brothers: Early Recordings, County 729, LP (1971), trk# 1 [1957]
McDonald, Reba. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume IV, Religous Songs and Others, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p262/#759C [1942/01/10]
Ries, Frances. Sandburg, Carl (ed.) / American Songbag, Harcourt, Sof (1955/1928), p324 (Go Bring Me Back My Blue-Eyed Boy)
________________________
Willow Tree, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer is a woman. Her love won't speak to her. She wishes his bosom were glass so she could "view those secrets of your heart." Her love is a sailor: "when he gets so far away, He hardly thinks no more of me" She would be happy to have him back.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (recording, May Bradley)
KEYWORDS: love separation nonballad sailor floatingverses
FOUND IN: Britain(England(West))
Roud #60
RECORDINGS:
May Bradley, "The Willow Tree" (on Voice12)
NOTES: The Willow reference is not exactly the expected one.
As I pass by a willow tree, willow tree,
That willow leaf blew down on me.
I picked it up, it would not break.
I've passed my love; he would not speak.
The break is usually for an oak tree ("I leaned my back against an oak ... First it bent and then it broke") rather than a willow leaf. Maybe the travelled lines have been so corrupted here that it is a new song.
Yates, Musical Traditions site Voice of the People suite "Notes - Volume 10" - 4.9.02 considers this a version of "Tavern in the Town." I don't find enough of "Tavern"'s identifying lines to make that connection. - BS
There is some floating material here, though, e.g. the "heart made of glass" shows up in some versions of "My Dearest Dear." - RBW
____________________________
My Love He Is a Sailor Lad
DESCRIPTION: "My love he is a sailor lad He's on the ocean blue." The singer says her sailor's heart is "the compass true" that points to her. She turns her head aside when landsmen smile at her and wishes for a safe breeze to bring him home.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan5)
KEYWORDS: love nonballad sailor separation
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan5 939, "My Love He Is a Sailor Lad" (1 text)
________________________________________
"Bring back the boy I love"
Bring Back My Blue Eyed Boy to Me
The Carter Family
THE CARTER FAMILY
"Bring Back My Blue-Eyed Boy To Me"
Play "Bring Back My …"
on YourRadioNow
[Instrumental break]
'Tis true the rainbow 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
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
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
[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
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
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
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
[Instrumental break]
First recording by The Carter Family (February 25, 1929)
Bring Back My Blue-Eyed Boy Boyden Carpenter, 174; Riley Puckett, 719; Red Headed Brier Hopper, 731; Arthur Tanner, 886 Bring Back My Blue-Eyed Boy To Me Carter Family, 188 Bring Back My Boy Carter Family, 194; Ted Chestnut, 204
BILL CLIFTON **** Bring Back My Blue-Eyed Boy to Me— STARDAY 561— c. 1960 Bring back my blue eyed boy to me / Cannonball blues - Ibiblio
https://www.ibiblio.org/hillwilliam/BGdiscography/?v=fullrecord&albumid=14869
Bring back my blue eyed boy to me / Cannonball blues. Bill Clifton & the Dixie Mountain Boys. Label:Starday 561. Release Date:1961-10. Format:45
'Bring Back My Blue Eyed Boy' by Lilly Brothers & Don Stover.
Bring back to me my blue-eyed boy | Library of Congress
https://www.loc.gov/item/afc9999005.10322/
Title: Bring back to me my blue-eyed boy; Contributor Names: Lomax, Alan -- 1915-2002 (recordist): Lyttleton, Elizabeth (recordist): Guthrie, Woody -- 1912-1967
The Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore: Folk songs ...
https://books.google.com/books?id=p_gLAAAAYAAJ
Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore, Newman Ivey White, Frank Clyde Brown - 1952 - Snippet view - More editions
Communicated by W. Amos Abrams of Boone, Watauga county. Not dated. The second quatrain is in his copy marked "chorus," but one suspects that it is really the first quatrain that serves that function. 1 Oh, bring me back my blue eyed boy, ..
Bill Pops Hingston People's Stage tapes
Woody guthrie
American Ballads and Songs
edited by Louise Pound
102. 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.
102 MY BLUE-EYED BOY
There is a tree I love to pass,
And it has leaves as green as grass,
But not as green as love is true;
I love but one and that is you.
Bring to me my blue-eyed boy!
Bring, O bring him back to me!
Bring to me my blue-eyed boy,
What a happy, happy girl I'd be.
Must I go bound and he go free?
Must I love one that don't love me?
Or must I act a childish part
And love the one that broke my heart?
Go bear, go bear, go bear in mind
That a good true friend is hard to find,
And when you find one good and true
Never change the old one for the new.
Adieu, adieu kind friends, adieu,
I can no longer stay with you.
I'll hang my heart in a willow tree,
And give it to the one that first loved me.
--
June Tabor's 'Quiet Eye' and her version is very close to the one I posted. From the sleeve notes:^^
Must I be bound while you go free?
Must I love one who never loved me?
Must I enact such a childish part
And follow one who will break my heart?
The first thing that my love gave me,
It was a cap well lined with lead.
The longer that I wore that cap,
It grew the heavier on my head.
You gave me a mantle for to wear,
Lined with grief and stitched with care.
And the drink you gave me was bitter gall
And the blows you gave to me were worse than all.
And the last thing that my love gave me gave me,
It was a belt with colours three.
And the first was pain and the next was sorrow
And the last it was sad misery.
But I will climb up that high, high tree,
And I will rob that wild bird's nest
And I will fall without a fear
And find me one that loves me the best.
Repeat V 1
I'll try an ABC version. June sings it a f
-----
Eph Woodie's version of the "The Butcher Boy" Bristol Session
George Beneau's recording "Railroad Lover" ("In Johnson City where I did dwell, that railroad boy I loved so well . . . "),3 which is actually a variant of the familiar "Butcher's Boy"?
Morriss family Blue Eyed Boy
"Never Change the Old Love for the New"
Lore and Language - Volume 3, Issues 6-10 - Page 62
https://books.google.com/books?id=QwHaAAAAMAAJ
1982 - Snippet view - More editions
... So dig my grave and dig it deep And then my soul will rest in peace." Now all you maidens bear in mind That a soldier's love is hard to find, But if you find one good and true Never change the old love for the new. The bulk of John's repertoire
Prairie Roots - Volumes 18-20 - Page 23
https://books.google.com/books?id=JwhgAAAAMAAJ
1990 - Snippet view - More editions
... I have wondered near But sill I think of you my dear Your friend Feb. 26th 1880 Sarah SHEA ******
Remember well and bear in mind
A trusty friend is hard to find
And when you'll find them just and true
never change the old love for the new.
-----
Never Change the Old Love for the New [H692: 27