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Blow the Wind Southerly

[ Roud 2619 ; Ballad Index StoR018 ; DT BLWSOUTH ; Mudcat 49498 ; trad.]

The tune and one verse of Blow the Wind Southerly is printed in Bruce and Stokoe’s 1882 book Northumbrian Minstrelsy. The editors commented:

This is evidently a fragment of an older ballad, and is taken from [Cuthbert] Sharp’s Bishoprick Garland [1834]. A variation of the last two lines has been sometimes heard from old songs:

Blaw the lad ti’ the bar, ti’ the bar, ti’ the bar,
Blaw the lad ti’ the bar that I love best.

Craig Morgan Robson sang Blow the Wind Southerly in 2005 on their CD Peppers & Tomatoes. They noted:

The familiar version of this well-known Northumbrian song was written in the mid-19^th century by John Stobbs, but the original ballad (of which only a fragment survives) and tune are much older. Carolyn [Robson] learned this in school…all those years ago!

Graham Pirt sang Blow the Wind Southerly in 2008 on his and his son Sam Pirt’s Fellside CD Dance ti’ Thee Daddy.

Alden Patterson and Dashwood sang Blow the Wind on their 2018 CD By the Night. They noted:

A traditional Tyneside air originating from Northern England which we first discovered in a book by William Cole. We wrote the music to it and gave it a new second verse.

Lewis Barfoot sang Blow the Wind Southerly on an October 2024 download single, taken from her forthcoming EP The Old Bog Road. She noted:

Blow The Wind Southerly is a traditional folk song from Wearside in Sunderland, North East England. It speaks of a woman looking out to see, longing for the wind to blow her lover back home. The chorus was first published in the Bishoprick Garland in 1834. And in 1882 an arrangement by Bruce and Stokoe was published in the Northumbrian Minstrelsy.

Lyrics

Blow the Wind Southerly in Northumbrian Minstrelsy

Blaw the wind southerly, southerly, southerly,
Blaw the wind southerly, south, or south-west;
My lad’s at the bar, at the bar, at the bar,
My lad’s at the bar whom I love best.

Craig Morgan Robson sing Blow the Wind Southerly

Blow the wind southerly, southerly, southerly,
Blow the wind south o’er the bonny blue sea;
Blow the wind southerly, southerly, southerly,
Blow bonny breeze my lover to me.

They told me last night there were ships in the offing,
And I hurried down to the deep rolling sea;
But my eye could not see it, wherever might be it,
The bark that is bearing my lover to me.

Blow the wind southerly, southerly, southerly,
Blow the wind south that my lover may come;
Blow the wind southerly, southerly, southerly,
Blow bonny breeze and bring him safe home.

I stood by the lighthouse the last time we parted,
Till darkness came down o’er the deep rolling sea;
And no longer I saw the bright bark of my lover,
Blow, bonny breeze and bring him to me.

Blow the wind southerly, southerly, southerly,
Blow bonny breeze o’er the bonny blue sea;
Blow the wind southerly, southerly, southerly,
Blow bonny breeze and bring him to me.

Is it not sweet to hear the breeze singing,
As lightly it comes o’er the deep rolling sea?
But sweeter and dearer by far when ’tis bringing
The bark of my true love home safely to me!

(repeat first verse)

Graham Pirt sings Blow the Wind Southerly

Blow the wind southerly, southerly, southerly,
Blow the wind south o’er the bonny blue sea;
Blow the wind southerly, southerly, southerly,
Blow bonny breeze my lover to me.

They told me last night there were ships in the offing,
And I hurried down to the deep rolling sea;
But my eye could not see it, wherever might be it,
The bark that is bearing my lover to me.

Blow the wind southerly, southerly, southerly,
Blow the wind south that my lover may come;
Blow the wind southerly, southerly, southerly,
Blow bonny breeze and bring him safe home.

I stood by the lighthouse the last time we parted,
Till darkness came down o’er the deep rolling sea;
And no longer I saw the bright bark of my lover,
Blow, bonny breeze and bring him to me.

Is it not sweet to hear breezes blowing,
As lightly they come o’er the deep rolling sea?
But sweeter and dearer by far when ’tis bearing
The bark of my true love in safety to me!

Lewis Barfoot sings Blow the Wind Southerly

Blow the wind southerly, southerly, southerly,
Blow the wind south o’er the bonny blue sea.
Blow the wind southerly, southerly, southerly,
Blow, bonny breeze, my lover to me.

They told me last night there were ships in the offing
And I hurried down to the deep rolling sea.
But my eye could not see it, wherever might be it,
The barque that is bearing my lover to me.

Blow the wind southerly, southerly, southerly,
Blow the wind south o’er the bonny blue sea.
Blow the wind southerly, southerly, southerly,
Blow, bonny breeze and bring them to me.

Oh, is it not sweet to hear the breeze singing,
As gently it blows o’er the deep rolling sea?
But sweeter and dearer by far when ’tis
Bringing the barque of my true love in safely to me!

Blow the wind southerly, southerly, southerly,
Blow the wind south o’er the bonny blue sea.
Blow the wind southerly, southerly, southerly,
Blow bonnie breeze, my lover to me.