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> June Tabor > Songs > The Bonny Boy
> Ashley Hutchings All Stars > Songs > My Bonny Boy

My Bonny Bonny Boy / My Bonny Boy / Many’s the Night’s Rest

[ Roud 293 ; Master title: My Bonny Bonny Boy ; G/D 6:1141 ; Henry H215 ; Ballad Index FSC037 ; VWML LEB/2/66/4 , LEB/5/298 ; Bodleian Roud 293 ; GlosTrad Roud 293 ; Wiltshire 635 , 891 ; trad.]

W. Percy Merrick collected My Bonny Boy or Many a Night’s Rest on 17 June 1901 from Henry Hills of Sussex, who learned the song from his mother. It was included in Lucy Broadwood’s manuscript collection.

Anne Briggs sang the passionate song of a betrayed lover , My Bonny Boy in 1964 on her Topic Records EP The Hazards of Love. This recording was also included in the same year on the Topic Sampler No 1, Folk Songs, and reissued in the 1990s on her Fellside and Topic compilation CDs, Classic Anne Briggs and A Collection. A recording for the BBC programme Folk-Song Cellar, broadcast on 13 August 1966, was released in 2016 on her Fledg’ling EP Four Songs. A.L. Lloyd wrote in the original album’s sleeve notes:

This passionate old song spread as far north as Stromness (Balfour’s Orkney Melodies, 1885) and as far west as Glenosheen, Co. Limerick (Petrie’s Ancient Music of Ireland, 1855). Fifty years ago, it was to be heard in many parts of England from Sussex to Westmorland, including the King’s Cross district of London where a good version was obtained. It first appeared in print on a mid-17^th century broadside as Cupid’s Trepan or the Scorne Scorn’d or the Willow Turn’d into Carnation; but it wasn’t a new song then. In 1730 a rather popped-up version was used in the stage play The Female Parson, or The Beau in the Suds, reminding us that the impoverishment of folk songs by commercialisation is nothing new. The grand tune also turns up in simpler (but, this time, not impoverished) form adapted to the words of the ballad Henry Martin. A later use of it is in the well known Folk-Song Suite by Vaughan Williams.

Shirley Collins sang My Bonny, Bonny Boy on in the album A Pinch of Salt. She recorded it again as Bonnie Boy in 1967 for her own album The Power of the True Love Knot. This was also included in her anthologies The Classic Collection and Within Sound and on Topic Records’ The Acoustic Folk Box. She commented in her original album’s sleeve notes:

A broadside of this song was around at the time of the restoration, with a “reply” which gave it a happier ending.

Dolly has based her setting around my existing 5-string dulcimer pick. On this track and Greenwood Laddie we are joined by Bram Martin on his 1740 Tosturi cello. Having played for the Beatles on Eleanor Rigby and She’s Leaving Home, Mr Martin was able to grasp very quickly the idiom we were after: even, discreet and wonderful warm.

Daisy Chapman of Buchan sang I Once Had a Boy at the Blairgowrie Festival in August 1969. This recording made by Rod Stradling was included in 2000 on her Musical Traditions anthiology Ythanside. Stradling noted:

This lovely old folk song seems always to have been quite rare—and Daisy did not often sing it. The texts of different versions are quite variable but usually follow this same stanza pattern, and the tunes are usually rather beautiful. Greig has divided his seven texts into two different songs: Sweethearts I’ve Got Plenty and I Once Loved a Boy but Daisy’s version is a combination of the two. The song is also in the Henry Collection under the title The Bonny Bonny Boy and it has also mutated into The Grey Hawk in England (in Frank Purslow’s Marrow Bones: songs from the Hammond and Gardner collections of English folk songs. EFDSS Publications, 1965).

There are actually 63 examples of this song in Roud, but mostly from England—only five are from Scotland. Three other sound recordings are known; one from Canada, and Bob Blake (Sussex) and Bob Roberts (Suffolk)—Daisy’s will be, we think, the only available recording.

June Tabor learned The Bonny Boy from Anne Briggs and sang it in 1983 on her Topic album Abyssinians. This recording was also included on the Fellside anthology of English traditional songs, Voices. Paul Adams commented in the album notes:

June Tabor has been at the forefront of performing unaccompanied traditional songs for several years now. She possesses a highly individual, polished style using subtle ornamentation. One of her early influences was Anne Briggs and here she sings a song she learnt from Anne. Anne, in turn, had the song from A.L. Lloyd.

The Ashley Hutchings All Stars recorded My Bonny Boy live in June 1988 for their album As You Like It.

Sue Brown and Lorraine Irwing sang My Bonny Boy in 1997 on their WildGoose CD Call & Cry. They noted:

Collected by Lucy Broadwood from Mrs Vaisey, a Hampshire gardener’s wife [VWML LEB/2/66/4] . A similar ballad, My Bonny Bird, dates from the reign of Charles II.

Ellen Mitchell sang Bonny Boy in 2002 on her Tradition Bearers album On Yonder Lea. She noted:

I sang at Sidmouth Festival four years ago and when I got home a CD was behind the door. This had been compiled and sent by Rod Stradling. I had met up with him and his wife Danny at Sidmouth, and he thought I might want to hear some of the songs he had recorded from Lizzie Higgins and Daisy Chapman. I had heard a lot of Lizzie singing but Daisy Chapman was not as well known to me. It was a lovely surprise and I was struck by the quality and expression of her singing. I don’t know why I did not learn this song then (however, sheer laziness could be a possibility). I learned it when Rod produced his recent CD (Ythanside). of Daisy’s singing. This represents to me the clarity and quality of her singing and the fact that it also mentions Glasgow is an added bonus.

Lynne Heraud and Pat Turner sang My Bonnie, Bonnie Boy in 2004 on their WildGoose CD The Moon Shines Bright. They noted:

Another winsome lad, this time with two buxom lasses on the go. This beautiful song was collected by Lucy Broadwood in Hampshire and appears in English County Songs published by J.B. Cramer & Co. Ltd.

Marc Block sang My Bonny Boy in 2014 on his CD The Hawthorn Spring. He commented in his liner notes:

I got this from June Tabor’s Abyssinians. As soon as I heard “I built him a bower in my breast”, I thought I’m having that.

The Furrow Collective sang Many’s the Night’s Rest, with Emily Portman singing lead, in 2016 on their digital single and album Wild Hog. They noted:

Emily stumbled across Many’s the Night’s Rest in amongst Lucy Broadwood’s manuscript collection included in the Journal of the Folk-Song Society from 1905. It is a version of Bonny Boy collected by W. Percy Merrick in 1901 from a Henry Hills in Sussex. Emily was struck by the resolute tone of the chorus:

Many’s the night’s rest you’ve robbed me of,
But you never shall do it again.

The Furrow Collective released this video in March 2016:

Fay Hield sang Bonny Boy on Stick in the Wheel’s 2017 anthology of English folk field recordings, From Here. She noted:

Alan and Lynda who used to sing at Bacca Pipes Folk Club in Keighley, they used to give me blank cassettes with recordings of things they thought I should listen to, Anne Briggs was on there and I’d never heard her before. It was the first song I picked out of about a hundred songs, to learn and sing. I knew, if I sang at a singaround, this was my go-to song. So for a long time this felt like my song. I like it because it’s a girl looking for her boyfriend, she can’t find him, then she sees him with somebody else, and then instead of being a bit depressed and grumpy about it or dying from a broken heart, she says, “well, I’ll just see him now and then, then”. I’m not sure if I admire her for that but it’s interesting. I would never record this, because it’s so Anne Briggs’ song, it’s missed all my albums but it’s still a strong part of me. It’s quite nice that this is a pure unaccompanied song, one that’s nice kept that way.

Anna Baldwin sang My Bonny, Bonny Boy on Amsher’s 2018 album of Hampshire songs collected by Lucy Broadwood in Oxfordshire, Patience Vaisey at Adwell 1892. Bob Askew noted:

A beautiful love song dealing with loss to a rival. It became one of Lucy Broadwood’s favourites to sing herself. A longer version in the 17^th century was known as Cupid’s Trepan.

George Sansome and Matt Quinn sang I Once Loved a Boy in 2023 on their duo album Sheffield Park. George Sansome noted:

This one’s mostly from a broadside in the Bodleian Library, but with a few tweaks here and there. The tune comes from The Grey Hawk, sung by Robert Barratt, Piddletown, Dorset, to Henry Hammond in 1905 [VWML HAM/3/11/19] .

Compare to this song its variant The Grey Hawk as sung e.g. by Bob Roberts or by Eliza Carthy and Norma Waterson.

Lyrics

Henry Hills sings Many a Night’s Rest

Many a night’s rest you’ve robbed me of,
That you shall never do it again,
But you shall never do it again.

I looked up high and I looked down low,
But no bonny boy could I spy,
But no bonny boy could I spy.

She hipped and the holloa’d, and played on her flute,
And the sun did shine beautiful warm,
And the sun did shine beautiful warm.

Till at length then I spied my own bonny boy,
He was closed in some other girl’s arms,
He was closed in some other girl’s arms.

Anne Briggs sings My Bonny Boy

I once loved a boy and a bonny, bonny boy
Who would come and would go at request.
And this handsome young boy was my pride and my joy,
𝄆 And I built him a bower in my breast. 𝄇

Well, up the long alley and down the green valley,
Like one that was troubled in mind
I hollered and I whooped and I played upon my flute,
𝄆 But no bonny boy could I find. 𝄇

I sat myself down on a green mossy bank
Where the sun it shone wonderful warm;
And who did I spy but my own bonny boy
𝄆 Fast locked in some other girl’s arms. 𝄇

Well, the girl who’s the joy of my own bonny boy
Let her make of him all that she can.
And whether he loves me or whether he don’t,
𝄆 I’ll walk with that boy now and then. 𝄇

Shirley Collins sings Bonnie Boy

I once loved a boy, a bonny, bonny boy
And I loved him, I will vow and protest.
I loved him so well, so very, very well,
𝄆 That I built him a bower on my breast. 𝄇

It was through the green valley and up a green hill,
Like one that was troubled in mind,
I called and I shouted and played on my pipe,
𝄆 But no bonny boy could I find. 𝄇

I looked up high and I looked down low,
And the sun it shone wonderful warm;
When who should I see but my own bonny boy
That’s so close in another girl’s arms,
Oh, so close in another girl’s arms.

Now, my bonny boy has gone far away,
And I fear I shan’t see him again.
But were I to have him or were I to not,
I will think of him once and then,
Yes, I’ll think of him once now and then.

Daisy Chapman sings I Once Had a Boy

I once had a boy and a bonny, bonny boy,
And a boy that I once callèd mine;
But noo he’s gane an left me tae coort some ither een,
And he’s left me to sing fare thee well, fare thee well,
And he’s left me to sing fare thee well.

As I was a-walking down by yon crystal river,
And down by the bonnie banks o’ Clyde;
So whom did I spy but my ain bonny boy,
Lockit fast in another girlie’s arms, arms, arms,
Lockit fast in another girlie’s arms.

He gave me a wink o’ his bonnie black ee,
And a wave o’ his lily white hand;
But I proudly passed him by and I made him no reply,
For I hated to be slighted by a man, a man, a man,
For I hated to be slighted by a man.

For I’ve got sweethearts plenty, I could count to one and twenty,
I’ve a mind that would change like the wind;
For mony is the lang nicht he’s rowed me in his airms,
But I’m gey weel sure he’ll never dee’t again, again, again,
But I’m gey weel sure he’ll never dee’t again.

Here’s a health and a wealth tae ma ain bonny boy,
And I wish him safe o’er the lea;
For mony is the lang nicht he’s rowed me in his airms,
But I’m gey weel sure he’ll never dee’t again, again, again,
But I’m gey weel sure he’ll never dee’t again.

The Furrow Collective sing Many’s the Night’s Rest

Many’s the night’s rest you’ve robbed me of,
That you never shall never do it again,
No you never shall do it again.

She’s looked up high and she’s looked down low,
But no bonny boy could she find,
No bonny boy could she find.

So she hollered and she whooped and she played on her flute,
And the sun did shine wondrous warm,
The sun did shine wondrous warm.

At last there I spied my own bonny boy,
Wrapped up in some other girl’s arms,
Wrapped up in some other girl’s arms.

Many’s the night’s rest you’ve robbed me of,
That you never shall never do it again,
You never shall do it again.