Barney

[ Roud 1422 ; Ballad Index HHH007 ; trad.]

Lal and Norma Waterson sang Barney in 1975 on the Watersons' album For Pence and Spicy Ale. It was also included in 2004 on the Watersons' 4CD anthology Mighty River of Song.

A.L. Lloyd commented in the original album's sleeve notes:

A stage song favoured by Irish comedians from the 1860s on. During the 1880s, apparently on American University campuses, close harmony groups remade it in to the better-known—and even more preposterous—My Bonny Lies over the Ocean. The Watersons had this from Bob Davenport who learnt it from a Frank Quinn (78).

Lyrics

The Watersons sing Barney

Oh he's gone and I'm now sad and lonely
He has left me to cross the blue sea
But I know that he thinks of me only
And he'll soon be returning to me

His eyes they were filled with devotion
As my husband he said he would be
Blow gently ye winds of the ocean
And bring back my Barney to me

If at night as I lay on my pillow
The wild winds they mourn and they sigh
And I think of each angery billow
And I watch every cloud o'er the sky

My bosom is filled with emotion
As I see my love over the sea
Blow gently ye winds of the ocean
And bring back my Barney to me

He has left me his fortune to better
And I know that he left for my sake
Soon I'll be receiving a letter
If not, sure my poor heart will break

For to think that he'll soon be returning
To his beauteous dear island and me
Blow gently ye winds of the ocean
And bring back my Barney 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 dreamed my poor Barney was dead

My bosom is filled with emotion
As I see my love over the sea
Blow gently ye winds of the ocean
And bring back my Barney to me

Acknowledgements

Transcribed by Garry Gillard.