> Folk Music > Songs > The Girl I Left Behind Me

The Girl I Left Behind Me / Brighton Camp

[ Roud 23929 ; Ballad Index R546 ; Bodleian Roud 23929 ; DT GIRLLFT1 , GRLBHND9 ; Mudcat 8328 ; trad.]

Karl Dallas: The Cruel Wars

Andy Edwards played the tune Bright Camp, “a version of the well-known British tune Brighton Camp”, on the fiddle to Maud Karpeles at Coffee Ridge, Unicoi County, Tennessee in September 1950. This recording was included in 2017 on the Musical Traditions anthology of historic recordings of Appalachian singers and musicians 1927-1955, When Cecil Left the Mountains.

Harry Lee played Brighton Camp on the fiddle to Paul Carter on Marden Plain, near Paddock Wood in Kent, in October 1962. This recording, from a tape held by the British Library, and another one made by Ken Stubbs, were included in 2017 on the Musical Traditions anthology of traditional music recorded from Romany fiddlers and other musicians in Southern England (1910-2006), Boshamengro: English Gypsy Musicians. Rod Stradling noted:

Also known as The Girl I Left Behind Me, this tune has been recorded under either—or both—names since the late 18th/early 19th century. It has been associated with the Rose Tree (In Full Bearing), which in turn has been associated with Lea Rigs. As great a likeness also seems to exist to the tune of the Scots song Jock of Hazeldean.

The Ian Campbell Folk Group sang The Girl I Left Behind Me in 1972 on their Pye album Something to Sing About. They noted:

Any song which becomes popular with the army eventually gains a wider circulation among the people, and every campaign produces a hit song which is likely to outlive the political consequences of the military action. Tipperary, the great marching song of the army that fought the Kaiser, was given a new lease of life among the squaddies who fought Hitler, and is now in circulation all over Europe. Break the News to Mother was a popular tearjerker in the American Civil War; the British army sang it in the Boer War, and it can still be found in the repertory of our country singers. The Girl I Left Behind Me is still one of the most popular army songs ever, and can be reliably dated from 1758.

Martyn Wyndham-Read sang The Girl I Left Behind Me in 1972 on the Argo album Songs and Music of the Redcoats. He noted:

Written in 1758, this song became the most famous of the Army’s “loth-to-departs”—played as regiments marched away.

Jasper Smith, first cousin of Harry Lee’s wife Sarah (Sarey) Ann Smith, on mouth organ and his son Derby Smith on guitar sang Whistling Rufus and played Brighton Camp to Mike Yates in Epsom, Surrey in 1974. This recording was included in 2003 on the Musical Traditions anthology of Gypsy songs and music from South-East England, Here’s Luck to a Man … and in 2017 on Boshamengro (see above).

Lincolnshire band The Galley sang The Girl I Left Behind Me on their 1975 album Hail Smiling Morn / Joke and Push About the Pitcher. They noted:

This march, often entitled Brighton Camp, is far better known in parody than in the original: most people know some scurrilous rhyme set to it. For many years it was always played whenever a regiment left a town where it had been garrisoned, and to omit this custom, says Chappell, would have been regarded “as a slight on the ladies of the place”. See Chappell for copious notes on the origin of the song, and further, though equally florid verses to those we use here.

The Albion Band played The Girl I Left Behind Me on their 1980 album Lark Rise to Candleford, from Keith Dewhurst’s March 1978 play Lark Rise at the National Theatre, London.

Bram Taylor sang The Girl I Left Behind Me in 1993 on his Fellside album Further Horizons. He noted:

A song also to be found in the National Song Book and leads into the link up and final melody, Brighton Camp, where I decided to give Tom McConville, Phil Hare, Chris Lee, Dave Russell and Nic (who only came along for the ride) Mitchell their freedom and let them loose upon you the listener. The latter three musicians make up the trio, “Full House”. As a golfing enthusiast I was tempted to sing the version which is lodged in Paul [Adams]’s memory which goes:-

The dirty little pill went rolling down the hill
And got stuck in a bunker
From there to the green I took sixteen
And then by Christ I sunk her
I wrecked more ground than Columbus found
And the guy that I am after
Is the crazy little Scot who invented this plot
And robbed the world of laughter

The New Scorpion Band sang The Girl I Left Behind Me and The British Grenadiers on their 2000 album of songs and music of the Napoleonic wars, The Plains of Waterloo. They noted:

Both these tunes were very popular with the military at the turn of the 18th century. The first probably dates from 1758 and was always played when a regiment left town or a ‘Man o’ War’ weighed anchor; both were generally used by all regiments as marches.

Steve Tilston, accompanied by Nancy Kerr and Chris Parkinson, sang The Girl I Left Behind Me (Brighton Camp) on his 2005 CD Of Many Hands. He noted:

Quite probably one of the first tunes I ever heard. As the song Brighton Camp, I first heard this performed by Tim Kent, appropriately enough, a singer from Brighton.

And Nigel Schofield added:

Known in England as Brighton Camp and in Ireland as The Rambling Labourer, the tune certainly dates back to the reign of Elizabeth I: its link with America be traced back to a reference in a journal dated 1651. The tune is commonly associated with the US Cavalry, thanks to its use in the films of John Ford who named it his favourite melody of all time “wherever they rode—and whatever they fought for—that place became the United States!”

There have, over the years, been many different sets of lyrics applied to the tune. Aside from those featured here (which date from the late 18th century), there are many localised rewrites (as industrial ballad, emigration song, cowboy lament and country blues); there’s Waxie’s Dargle, Brighton Camp and several parodies (most of which have used the same title, though it’s worth hunting out The Forsaken Barbecue, or The Grill I Left Behind Me).

By the time of the American Revolution (or War of Independence, depending on which side of the Atlantic you are reading this), the tune was being played with equal enthusiasm by regiments on both sides. At the Battle of Bunker Hill (17 June 1775), it is recorded, “Across the valley below Breed’s Hill could be heard the selfsame melody, played harmoniously on both parts by those who soon would face each other with such discord.”

A century later (25 June 1876), General George Custer ordered the tune to be played as his cavalry rode into Little Bighorn—“that the lads might be reminded what they are fighting for”.

As the March of the Seventh Infantry, the tune is known as The Spoils of War, thanks to its having been “captured” from a British soldier at The Battle of New Orleans. The Mexican Army adopted it and renamed it Santa Anna (and the army of Texas responded with a new set of lyrics referring to the General’s disability—The Leg I Left Behind Me).

During the Civil War, it had been played by the regiments of both the Confederacy and the Union: it became the State anthem of Tennessee with an amended lyric which included the lines:

But now I fight for Tennessee
In the sixteenth you will find me
Though still I think of the girl I love
The girl I left behind me

As seen in films like She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, it was a regimental march for the Seventh Infantry, the Seventh Cavalry among others. To this day, it is the tune played at the annual passing out parade at West Point.

Lyrics

Martyn Wyndham-Read sings The Girl I Left Behind Me

I’m lonesome since I crossed the hill,
And o’er the moor and valley,
Such grievous thoughts my heart do fill,
Since parting with my Sally.
I seek no more the fine or gay,
For each does but remind me,
How swift the hours did pass away,
With the girl I left behind me.

O ne’er shall I forget the night,
The stars were bright above me,
And gently lent their silvery light,
When first she vowed to love me.
But now I’m bound to Brighton Camp,
Kind Heaven, then, pray guide me,
And send me safely back again,
To the girl I left behind me.

The Galley sing The Girl I Left Behind Me

I‘m lonesome since I crossed the hill
And o’er the moor and valley
Such heavy thoughts my heart do fill
Since parting with my Sally.
I seek no more the fine or gay,
For each does but remind me
How swift the hours did pass away
With the girl I left behind me.

O ne’er shall I forget the night
The stars were bright above me
And gently lent their silvery light
When first she vowed to love me.
But now I’m bound to Brighton Camp,
Kind Heaven then pray guide me
And send me safely back again
To the girl I left behind me.

Her golden hair to in ringlets fair,
Her eyes like diamonds shining,
Her slender waist with carriage chaste
May leave the swan repining.
Ye gods above O hear my prayer,
To my beauty fair to bind me
And send me safely back again
To the girl I left behind me.