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The Bonny Black Hare

[ Roud 1656 ; Master title: The Bonny Black Hare ; G/D 7:1427 ; Ballad Index RL042 ; Bodleian Roud 1656 ; GlosTrad Roud 1656 ; trad.]

Frank Purslow: The Constant Lovers

A.L. Lloyd sang The Bonny Black Hare accompanied by fiddler Dave Swarbrick in 1965 on the Topic theme album of traditional songs of love and lust, The Bird in the Bush. He noted:

Psychiatrists tell us the cowboy’s ready gun is a “potency affirmation”. Well, maybe. Certainly, to identify sex-relations with ordnance display is an old joke. Cupid with his bow and arrows is but the fore-runner of those sailors in the bawdy songs who fire their cannon and hole their girl amidships and fall asleep with an empty shot-locker. Here, suitably enough, the central image is a sporting gun with its punning target the black hare. Not many erotic songs put the matter so delicately and yet graphically as this good-natured open-air piece, whose sly humour is accentuated by the elusive bichronal rhythm of the tune. Is the song Irish? It was got from an immigrant potato-lifter near Walberswick, but he learnt it in England. Vance Randolph found a version among the Ozark hillfolk, too coarse to publish.

Martin Carthy sang The Bonny Black Hare on his and Dave Swarbrick’s 1967 album Byker Hill; this was reissued on their compilation album This Is... Martin Carthy: The Bonny Black Hare and Other Songs. An early live recording with Dave Swarbrick at the Folkus Folk Club in 1966 is available on Both Ears and the Tail. Another one, with Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick singing in duet at the Albert Hole, Bristol, in 1993 was included in the Dave Swarbrick anthology Swarb!. A solo live recording at the Sunflower Folk Club, Belfast, on 20 October 1978 was released in 2011 on the CD The January Man. Martin Carthy commented in the original recording’s sleeve notes:

The notion of identifying intercourse with ordnance, as in The Bonny Black Hare, is as old as Cupid with his bow and arrow. Just as old is the intuition connecting the images of love and hunting, as in the jokey southern counties song called The Furze Field. Restoration bucks were fond of making songs on this theme but were only annexing an ancient (perhaps sacred) piece of folk symbology. The song seems rare although it has been reported in an unmistakably British form in upper Arkansas. This version was collected from an Irish labourer, Mr Morrow, at Walberswick, Suffolk, in 1938. His tune is a member of the widespread melody family called Lough Lein but his rhythm was not very clear. Some versions he sang in a standard 9/8 (3+3+3) others a bit curtailed into a ’mixed’ 8/8 (3+2+3).

Lemmie Brazil sang Bonny Black Hare on 5 January 1967 in his caravan at Walham Tump, Gloucestershire, to Peter Shepheard. This recording was include in 2007 on the Brazil Family’s Musical Tradition anthology Down By the Old Riverside. Another recording made by Mike Yates in 1973-78 was included in 1979 on the Topic anthology of songs, stories and tunes from English gypsies, Travellers. Rod Stradling commented in the MT anthology’s booklet:

A rare song indeed—only five other singers have been recorded singing it; two in England, one in Scotland and two in the USA. Its seeming popularity to us is probably due to its appearance in Frank Purslow’s 1972 book The Constant Lovers, or to the Carthy/Swarbrick recording.

Fairport Convention sang Bonny Black Hare on their 1971 album Angel Delight and as the B-side of their single Rubber Band / Bonny Black Hare (Simons PMW 1, 1980). Later live recordings can be found on the charity compilation Feed the Folk and on the CD SwarbAid.

Brian Dewhurst with Tom Tiddler’s Ground sang The Bonny Black Hare in 1975 on their Folk Heritage album The Hunter and the Hunted. He noted:

Should I put this song on the album? Should I cut out some of the verses? Should I just leave it off? There were cries for all alternatives. The purists may not like the song, but I love it and I like to see the twinkle in the audience’s eye when I sing it.

John Roberts and Tony Barrand sang Bonny Black Hare live at Holstein’s, 2462 North Lincoln, Chicago, in November 1982. This recording was released in 1983 on the extended CD re-issue of their album Live at Holsteins!. They noted:

A.L. Lloyd collected songs, and also created them. He adapted texts from broadsides, chapbooks, motifs and fragments and fitted them with tunes, and moulded them seamlessly into gems which he passed back into the tradition. From him comes The Bonny Black Hare.

The Wilson Family sang Bonny Black Hare in a 1996 live recording on their 1997 Pure Records CD Stocking Tops.

Jim Moray sang The Bonny Black Hare in 2001 on his first EP, I Am Jim Moray.

Jiig sang The Bonny Black Hare in 2005 on their eponymous album Jiig. Ian Robb noted:

The November 2004 election of George Bush with the help of the so-called ‘moral majority’ in the USA had me thinking about society s changing values and in particular how even the folk music community has become overly earnest and prudish in the last few years. I’m not a fan of songs in which sex is gratuitously represented as abusive or exploitive, but the English song tradition is quite rich in gloriously bawdy accounts of lusty women and men each enjoying the other, so to speak. The Bonny Black Hare is one such song, and its use of firearm and hunting symbolism in no way disguises what is going on. I believe I first heard it sung by A.L. (Bert) Lloyd about 35 years ago, and assumed the odd rhythm and phrasing was due to Mr Lloyd’s fascination with Eastern European music. However, according to Martin Carthy—who also recorded it—the song was collected from an Irish labourer in Walberswick, Suffolk, in 1938. The source, a Mr Morrow, apparently sang some parts of the song in 9/8 and some in a “mixed 8/8 rhythm (3/2/3)”. Happily, Mr Morrow probably didn’t concern himself with such analysis.

Steeleye Span sang Lloyd’s version of The Bonny Black Hare on their 2006 album Bloody Men. A December 2006 live recording from Hove Centre was released in 2009 on their CD plus DVD Live at a Distance. Another live recording from their 2011 spring tour was included on the bonus CD of their 2011 live album Now We Are Six Again. Further live recordings were release in 2014 on their DVD The Wintersmith Tour, and, filmed at Buxton Opera House in October 2018, on their DVD 50^th Anniversary Tour. They noted on the studio album:

A wonderfully exuberant song with classic double-entendre from the British tradition. Usually sung to a complex rhythm, here simplified and given edge by the octave violin solos.

Pete Wood sang The Bonny Black Hare on his 2014 CD Young Edwin. He noted:

This is a rare traditional song, brought to life by the tune given it by Bert Lloyd in the 1960s. An exquisite mixture of bawdiness and tenderness.

Lyrics

Martin Carthy sings The Bonny Black Hare

On the fourteenth of May at the dawn of the day
With my gun on my shoulder to the woods I did stray
In search of some game if the weather proved fair
To see could I get a shot at the bonny black hare.

Oh, I met a young girl there, with her face as a rose.
Her skin was as fair as the lily that blows.
I says, "My fair maiden, why ramble you so?
Can you tell me where the bonny black hare do go?"

Oh, the answer she gave me, her answer was, "No,
But under my apron, oh, they say it do grow.
And if you’ll not deceive me, oh, I vow and declare
We’ll both go together to shoot the bonny black hare."

Oh, I laid this girl down with her face to the skies.
I took out my ramrod and my bullets likewise.
I says, "Lock your legs round me, and dig in with your heels.
For the closer we get, love, the better it feels."

Now the birds they were singing in the bushes and trees.
The song that they sang was, O she’s easy to please.
I felt her heart quiver and I knew what I’d done.
Says I, "Have you had enough of my old sporting gun?"

Oh, the answer she gave me, her answer was, "Nay.
It’s not often, young sportsman, that you come this way.
But if your powder is good and your bullets play fair,
Why don’t you keeping firing at the bonny black hare?"

"Oh, my powder is wasted and my bullets all gone.
My ramrod is limp, and I cannot fire on.
But I’ll be back in the morning, and if you are still there,
We’ll both go again to shoot the bonny black hare."

Lemmie Brazil sings Bonny Black Hare

Early one morning by the dawn of the day,
With his great gun in order he straight took his way;
To hunt for some game through the woods I did steer,
To seek and to find out my bonny black hare.

I met a pretty damsel with her eyes black as sloe,
Her teeth was like ivory, her cheeks like a rose;
Her hair hung in ringlets on her shoulders bare,
“Pretty maiden,” says I, “have you seen my black hare?”

“The whole of the morning I’ve been hunting all round,
My bonny black hare is nowhere to be found;
But since you’ve been kindly, my darling so fair,
You shall go along with me to hunt my black hare.”

His gun ready loaded intermid1 he was,
He threw the fair maiden down on the green grass;
His trigger he drew, put his ball in her hair,
And he fired a shot at her bonny black hare.

He said, “Pretty maiden, my powder’s all gone,
My gun’s out of order I cannot ram on;
But since you’ve been kindly, my darling so fair,
I’ll fire one more shot at your bonny black hare.”

John Roberts and Tony Barrand sing Bonny Black Hare

On the fourteenth of May, at the dawn of the day
With my gun on my shoulder to the woods I did stray.
In search of some game, if the weather proved fair
To see could I get a shot at the bonny black hare.

Well, I met a fair maid there with her face as a rose,
Her skin was as fair as the lily that grows,
I says, “My fair maiden, why ramble you so?
Can you tell me where the bonny black hare do go?”

Well, the answer she gave me, oh her answer was, “No,
But under my apron, oh they say some do grow.
And if you’ll not deceive me, I vow and declare,
We’ll both go together to shoot the bonny black hare.”

So I laid this girl down with her face to the skies,
I took out my ramrod and my bullets likewise.
I says, “Lock your legs round me and dig in with your heels,
For the closer we get, love, the better it feels.”

Now the birds they were singing in the bushes and trees,
The song that they sang was, oh she’s easy to please.
I felt her heart quiver and I knew what I’d done,
Says I, “Have you had enough of my old sporting gun?”

But the answer she gave me, oh her answer was, “Nay,
It’s not often young sportsmen like you come this way.
So if your powder is good and your bullets play fair
Why don’t you keep firing at the bonny black hare?”

“Well, my powder is wasted and my bullets all gone,
My ramrod is limber and I cannot fire on.
But I’ll be back in the morning, and if you are still there
I’ll be delighted to take another shot at the bonny black hare.”

Digital Tradition version

One morning in autumn by the dawn of the day
With my gun in good order I straight took my way
To hunt for some game to the woods I did steer
To see if I could find my bonny black hare

I met a young damsel, her eyes black as sloes
Her teeth white as ivory, her cheeks like a rose
Her hair hung in ringlets on her shoulders bare
Sweet maiden, I cried, Did you see my bonny black hare

This morning a-hunting I have been all around
But my bonny black hare is not to be found
The maid she then answered and at him did stare
I never yet heard of, or saw, a black hare

My gun is in good order, my balls are also
And under your smock I was told she did go
So delay me no longer, I cannot stop here
One shot I will fire at your bonny black hare

His gun he then loaded, determined he was
And instantly laid her down on the green grass
His trigger he drew, his balls he put near
And fire one shot at her bonny black hare

Her eyes they did twinkle and smiling did say
How often, dearest sportsman, do you come this way
There is few in this country can with you compare
So fire once again at my bonny black hare

His gun he reloaded and fired once more
She cried, draw your trigger and never give o’er
Your powder and balls are so sweet I declare
Keep shooting away at my bonny black hare

He said, my dear maiden, my powder is all gone
My gun is out of order, I cannot ram home
But meet me tomorrow, my darling so fair
And I’ll fire once more at your bonny black hare

Acknowledgements

The Byker Hill version was transcribed from the singing of Martin Carthy by Greer Gilman.