> Anne Briggs > Songs > Maa Bonny Lad

Maa Bonny Lad

[ Roud 204 ; Ballad Index RcMBL ; Folkinfo 74 ; Mudcat 165968 ; trad.]

Isla Cameron sang My Bonny Lad on Alan Lomax’s 1955 anthology The Columbia World Library of Folk and Primitive Music - Volume III: England. She and Bob Davenport sang My Bonny Lad in 1964 on their album Northumbrian Minstrelsy, on which Reg Hall noted:

My Bonny Lad is one of the most moving Northumbrian slow airs with the sheer simplicity of its two verses; the question: “Have you seen my sailor boy?” and the answer: “Green was his grave”.

Bob Davenport also sang My Bonnie Lad in 1971 on the BBC Folk on 2 album Northumbrian Folk, and he sang an unaccompanied set of Bonny at Morn and My Bonny Lad in 1997 on his Fellside CD with The Rakes, The Red Haired Lad.

Jane Hair played My Bonnie Lad on her Northumbrian small pipes on the 1959 Folkways album of songs collected by Jean Ritchie and George Pickow, Field Trip—England. Jean Ritchie noted:

During the several hours that my husband and I saw Jane Hair at the Dance Festival in Stratford-upon-Avon, she was never without her pipes. She was learning to pipe with Jack Armstrong, who is considered the best Northumbrian piper in England, and although she kept insisting she couldn’t play well, it sounded fine to us. Jane plays with love.

Northumbrian small pipes are not blown by mouth, but by means of a bellows-inflated bag. The bellows are strapped to the waist and pumped by the right arm, while the bag is held under the left arm.

About the pipes, Jane writes, “The making and playing of these pipes is traditional in this part of the country, and in it alone, and the tradition has never died … each set is craftsmen-made; you cannot buy any spare parts for them, and most people know, if not the whole history of their set, at least who made it and how old it is.”

My Bonny Lad is a Tyneside lament for the young lad who is drowned while mooring his keel. Here are the words that go with the tune:

Hae ye seen ought o’ my bonny lad,
And are ye sure that he’s weel-o?
He’s gyan ower land wi’ his stick in his hand,
Gyan to moor the keel-o.

Yes, I hae seen your bonny lad,
Upon the seas I spied him;
His grave is green, but ne’er wi’ grass,
And tha’ll never lie aside him.

In 1971, Anne Briggs sang Maa Bonny Lad unaccompanied on her first solo album Anne Briggs. This recording was reissued on her Fellside and Topic compilation CDs, Classic Anne Briggs and A Collection. A.L. Lloyd commented in the original album’s sleeve notes:

Sir Richard Runciman Terry, member of a Northumbrian shipping family and a good collector of sailing-ship shanties dredged up this song from childhood memory and gave it to W.G. Whittaker who published it in North Countrie Ballads, Songs and Pipe-Tunes in 1922. In the song, “keel” means a sea-going boat, not the flat-bottomed coal-barges usually associated with the Tyne.

Carolyn Robson sang Ma Bonny Lad in 1981 on her Dingle’s album Banks of Tyne. She noted:

Ma Bonny Lad first appeared in print in W.G. Whittaker’s North Country Ballads of 1921. Keel boats were used to ferry coal and men to and from coal boats which were too big to wharf. This keelman obviously never made it home. This was the first Northumbrian folk song I can remember learning in school.

Folly Bridge sang My Bonny Lad in 1991 on their WildGoose cassette All in the Same Tune. Claire Lloyd learned it from Anne Briggs’ album.

Martin Simpson played a set of The Waters of Tyne, My Bonny Lad and Radcliffe’s Fancy in 1997 on his Red House album Cool & Unusual.

Marie Robson sang My Bonny Lad on the 2002 Free Reed 25^th anniversary anthology This Label Is Not Removable.

The Sage Gateshead’s youth folk ensemble, FolkESTRA North! sang Maa Bonny Lad in 2003 on their Fellside album FolkESTRA North!. They noted:

[Josefin’s Waltz] was written by Swedish guitarist Roger Tallroth. We put it together with Ma Bonny Lad, which is a traditional Northumbrian song, sung by Laura [Hewison], who wrote the Weel-o Jig to go after it.

Rachel Unthank & The Winterset sang Ma Bonny Lad in 2007 on their second CD, The Bairns.

Henry Olsen played Maa Bonny Lad on his custom Leonardo model on Fellside’s 2019 double CD celebrating Fylde guitars and their players, Strings That Nimble Leap.

Matt Lazenby sang Ma Bonny Lad on his 2020 digital EP Sweet Dreams of Life.

Devin Hoff sang Ma Bonny Lad on his 2021 album of songs of Anne Briggs, Voices From the Empty Moor.

Lyrics

Anne Briggs sings Maa Bonny Lad

Have you seen ought of my bonny lad?
Are you sure he’s well-o?
He’s gone o’er lang wi’ a stick in his hand,
He’s gone to row the keel-o.

Yes I hae seen your bonny lad,
’Twas on the sea I spied him.
His grave is green but not wi’ grass
And you’ll never lie beside him.

Hae you seen ought of my bonny lad?
And are you sure he’s well-o?
He’s gone o’er lang wi’ a stick in his hand,
He’s gone to row the keel-o.