My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean

For the Tony Sheridan recording, see My Bonnie.

"My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean" is a traditional Scottish folk song which remains popular in Western culture.

History

Although the song's origin is uncertain, its subject may be Charles Edward Stuart ('Bonnie Prince Charlie'):[1] after the defeat of the Prince at the Battle of Culloden in 1746 and his subsequent exile, his Jacobite supporters could have sung the tune in his honour; and thanks to the ambiguity of the term "bonnie", which can refer to a woman as well as to a man, they could pretend it was a love song.

In 1881, under the duo of pseudonyms H.J. Fuller and J.T. Wood, Charles E. Pratt published sheet music for "Bring Back My Bonnie to Me".[2][3][4] Theodore Raph in his 1964 book American song treasury: 100 favorites, writes that people were requesting the song at sheet music stores in the 1870s, and Pratt was convinced to publish a version of it under the pseudonyms, and the song became a big hit, especially popular with college singing groups but also popular for all group singing situations.[3]

Lyrics

My Bonnie lies over the ocean
My Bonnie lies over the sea
My Bonnie lies over the ocean
Oh, bring back my Bonnie to me...
 
Bring back, bring back
Oh, bring back my Bonnie to me, to me
Bring back, bring back
Oh, bring back my Bonnie to me
 
Last night as I lay on my pillow
Last night as I lay on my bed
Last night as I lay on my pillow
I dreamt that my Bonnie was dead
 
Oh, blow the winds o'er the ocean
And blow the winds o'er the sea
Oh, blow the winds o'er the ocean
And bring back my Bonnie to me
 
REFRAIN

Parodies

There are numerous variations and parodies of the song. Many of these are a result of the song being sung often to children and being a common campfire song for organizations such as the Boy Scouts.[5] These campfire versions are occasionally accompanied by interactive movements, such as sitting down or standing up every time a word that begins with the letter "b" is sung .

My Bonnie leaned over the gas tank,
The height of its contents to see,
I lit a small match to assist her,
O Bring back my Bonnie to me.

Repeat chorus

Last night as I lay on my pillow,
Last night as I lay on my bed,
I stuck my feet out of the window,
In the morning the neighbors were dead.

Repeat chorus

My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean,
My Bonnie Lies over the Sea,
My Daddy laid over my Mommy,
And that's how I came to be.

Repeat chorus

My mother, she drowned in the bathtub,
My father, he died from his gin,
My sister choked on her chocolate,
My stars, what a fix I am in.

Repeat chorus

I tried making beer in the bathtub,
I tried making synthetic gin,
I tried making fudge for a living,
Now look at the shape that I'm in.


Repeat chorus

In popular culture

References

  1. ↑ Herman Finer (1956). Governments of greater European powers: a comparative study of the governments and political culture of Great Britain, France, Germany, and the Soviet Union, Volume 1. Holt. p. 178.
  2. ↑ Burton, Jack. The blue book of Tin Pan Alley: a human interest encyclopedia of American popular music, Volume 1, p. 9, 47 (1965)
  3. 1 2 Raph, Theodore. The American song treasury: 100 favorites, pp. 201–03 (1964)
  4. ↑ Herder, Ronald. 500 best-loved song lyrics, p. 231 (1998)
  5. ↑ Campfire Song Book - Audience participation songs
  6. ↑ John Grant (2001). Masters of Animation. Watson–Guptill. ISBN 0-8230-3041-5.
  7. ↑ IMDb entry
  8. ↑ Warner Brothers (1948) My Bunny Lies Over The Sea at the Internet Movie Database; Animation, Short, Comedy
  9. ↑ Everett, Walter (2001). The Beatles As Musicians: The Quarry Men through Rubber Soul. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-514105-4.
  10. ↑ http://sendables.jibjab.com/originals/2011_buh_bye
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