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The Bonny Light Horseman / Broken-Hearted I Wander

[ Roud 1185 ; Master title: The Bonny Light Horseman ; G/D 8:1584 ; Henry H122a ; Ballad Index HHH122a ; MusTrad MT195 ; VWML FK/16/125/1 , FK/17/326/2 ; DT BONLGHT , BONLGHT2 ; Mudcat 10951 ; trad.]

The Bonny Light Horseman is a lament from the Napoleonic Wars.

Martin Howley sang The Young Horseman to Jim Carroll and Pat Mackenzie in his home in Fanore, Co. Clare, in summer 1975. This recording was included in 1998 on the Topic anthology A Story I’m Just About to Tell (The Voice of the People Series Volume 8).

Canny Fettle sang Bonny Light Horseman in 1975 on their Traditional Sound album Varry Canny. This track was also included in 2002 on Fellside’s anthology CD Enlist for a Soldier.

Lal and Norma Waterson sang Bonny Light Horseman on their 1977 album A True Hearted Girl. This recording was also included in the Watersons’ 1992 CD re-release of For Pence and Spicy Ale and on the English folk anthology And We’ll All Have Tea. Lesley Nelson comments:

Sam Henry noted the tune is probably over four hundred years old and is of Irish origin because it used the old Irish gapped scale (which did not use the fourth and seventh notes of the modern scale). According to William Barrett the song appeared frequently in England after 1790 on broadsides printed in London, Birmingham and Preston. There are several variants of the tune. The song, also known as Broken Hearted I Wander, had widespread popularity during the Napoleonic Wars.

Pat Ryan sang Bonny Light Horseman in 1977 on her Folk Heritage album Leaboy’s Lassie.

Mary Ann Carolan sang The Bonny Light Horseman to Roly Brown at home in Hill o’ Rath, Co. Louth in 1978. It was released in 1982 on her Topic album Songs From the Irish Tradition. Seán Corcoran noted:

This English song was circulated on ballad sheets in Ireland and became quite popular. Versions have been found in Wexford (Stanford-Petrie No. 779), and the P.J. McCall Collection in the National Library in Dublin, in Galway (sung by Sean O Conaire) and in Antrim (Sam Henry, Songs of the People, No. 122). It was sung to two distinct airs—a Southern and a Northern/Western. Mrs Carolan sings the Southern air while the Galway tune is the same as Henry’s version A, although Sean O Conaire sings it in the highly decorated sean-nós style of Connemara. When first recorded in 1970 Mrs. Carolan sang this song in a much faster tempo.

Jacquey Gabriel sang The Bonny Light Horseman to Mike Yates in Winchombe, Gloucestershire in 1978. This recording was included in 2004 on the Musical Traditions anthology The Birds Upon the Tree. Rod Stradling or Mike Yates noted in the accompanying booklet:

A song from the days of Waterloo. Numerous broadside printers issued it, including Catnach, Such, Goode, Fortey and Batchelor (all of London), Pearson and Swindells (both of Manchester), Fordyce (Newcastle upon Tyne), Cooper (Newcastle, Staffordshire) and Pratt of Birmingham. And at least two American printers issued it in their Forget-Me-Not Songsters. (Locke & Bubier of Boston c. 1850 and Nafis & Cornish of New York in 1835). Some versions include verses relating to Napoleon Bonaparte—see, for example, the version in Terry Moylan’s The Age of Revolution in the Irish Song Tradition 1776-1815 (Dublin, 2000, p. 139).

John Faulkner and Doloreas Keane sang The Bonny Light Horseman in 1979 as the title-giving track of their Mulligan album Broken Hearted I’ll Wander. Faulkner noted:

This is a common song in the British Isles and Ireland and has been popular with children in the past. I learnt this set from Sam Henry’s collection Songs of the People. He says of the air which he recorded from Mr. John Parkhill of Coleraine, “This simple and haunting air is composed in the old Irish gapped scale. It is probably more than four hundred years old.” Padraic Foley in Tullamore who is an enthusiast for Napoleonic songs also has a fine version of it.

Planxty recorded Bonny Light Horseman in 1979 for their album After the Break.

Lisa Null sang Bonny Light Horseman in 1980 on her and Bill Shute’s LP American Primitive. Peter Bellamy and Claudia Schmidt sang chorus vocals.

Nic Jones sang The Bonny Light Horseman in 1980 at the Sidmouth International Festival. This recording was included in 2004 on the 2 CD anthology Folk Festival Sidmouth. Another live recording from the 1970s but of unspecified origin was included in 2006 on his Topic CD Game Set Match.

Tony Rose learned The Bonny Light Horseman from Nic Jones when they were working together in Bandoggs. He recorded it in 1982 for his album Poor Fellows and again in 1999 for Bare Bones.

Simon Haworth and Tina Cooper sang The Bonny Light Horseman in 1994 on their Fellside cassette The First Shift. Simon Haworth returned to this song in 1998 on his Fellside CD Coast to Coast.

Eliza Carthy and Nancy Kerr also recorded this song—followed by Michael Turner’s Waltz—in 1995 for their CD Shape of Scrape. This track has been reissued on their compilation On Reflection and on the anthology Troubadours of British Folk Vol. 3. An alternative take of this recording can be found on the 1995 Mrs Casey Records compilation Evolving Tradition. Eliza Carthy noted on the original album:

This is an Irish version of Bonny Light Horseman, learned from Norma Waterson, and originally from Mary Ann Carolan.

And Nancy Kerr wrote:

Michael Turner’s Waltz comes from the Sussex Tune Book, and is about Michael Turner, clerk of the parish and fiddle player.

In fact, Michael Turner’s Waltz is the trio from Mozart’s Deutscher Tanz KV 536 no. 2, published in 1788. For details see the Mudcat Café thread Origins: Michael Turner’s Waltz.

Kate Rusby sang Broken-Hearted I Will Wander on Over the Hills and Far Away, the 1996 soundtrack album of the TV drama series Sharpe.

Mick Ryan and Pete Harris sang The Bonny Light Horseman on their 1996 compilation CD The Widow’s Promise.

Fi Fraser and Jo Freya sang Bonny Light Horseman in 1998 on their No Masters CD The Fraser Sisters. They noted:

A song unashamedly stolen from the singing of Danny Stradling. As part of our formative years were spent being encouraged, mentored, shepherded etc by Danny and her husband Rod this song has fond memories. It is part of that wonderful store of southern English folk songs that set sad stories to relentlessly cheerful tunes.

Kitty Vernon sang The Bonny Light Horseman in 1998 on her and Mick Pearce’s WildGoose CD Dark the Day. She noted:

Our friend Tim Edwards once described this song as being in danger of becoming a Wild Rover for the 80s, so popular and widely sung was it during that decade. Since then this song of a woman mourning the death of her lover in the Napoleonic wars seems to have fallen out of the public hearing for a while, as songs seem to do.

Frank Harte sang Bonny Light Horseman in 2001 on his album My Name Is Napoleon Bonaparte.

Niamh Parsons sang Brokenhearted I’ll Wander in 2002 on her Green Linnet album Heart’s Desire. She noted:

An old classic, I learnt this version from the beautiful singer Patricia Flynn from Co. Armagh, who is also one of the organisers of the Forkhill Singers weekend. Thanks to my Liverpool friends Tony Gibbons and Terry Coyne for singing with me.

James Keelaghan sang Bonny Light Horseman in 2006 on his Fellside CD A Few Simple Verses.

Margaret Bennett sang Hù a hù Ailein Duinn / My Bonnie Light Horseman on her 2007 CD Take the Road to Aberfeldy. She noted:

This is one of the Gaelic songs I got from Allan MacArthur in Newfoundland. “My grandmother was full of songs,” he said, “and my mother learned her songs. She couldn’t sing English songs, only all Gaelic songs… war songs in the time of Napoleon Bonaparte… every song she knew why it was composed, the history behind the songs…”

According to Dr John Maclnnes, there’s no record of this Napoleonic song in Gaelic Scotland, but it probably dates to the Egyptian Campaign of 1798. Since the Battle of Waterloo (1815) was recent news when Allan’s grandparents emigrated, I imagine that, just as my parents spoke of World War II, so Allan’s talked of wars in which thousands of Highlanders took part. Remarkably, records show that between this campaign and 1837, soldiers leaving Skye (some as mercenaries) included 21 generals, 45 colonels, around 1,000 commissioned officers, 120 pipers and 10,000 in other army ranks. There is even a village in Skye called Waterloo.

At the same time, Lowland Scots Regiments also served—the plight of grieving women is universal, whatever the war, regiment, century, or decade. And so, to my mind, the woman who lost her Bonnie Light Horseman shares her sorrow with the one who lost Ailean Donn. As versions are sung far and wide, the Bonnie Light Horseman could have been from any place in the in British Isles or Ireland.

Rachel Newton sang Young Horseman in 2008 on her and Lillias Kinsman-Blake’s Fellside CD Dear Someone. They noted:

Rachel found this version of the popular folk song in the Voice of the People series. It was sung by Irish singer Martin Howley.

Joseph Topping sang Bonny Light Horseman in 2010 on his Fellside CD Ghosts in the Shadow.

Steve Roud included Bonny Light Horseman in 2012 in The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs. Bella Hardy sang it a year later on the accompanying Fellside CD The Liberty to Choose.

The Voice Squad sang The Bonny Light Horseman on their 2014 CD Concerning of Three Young Men. They noted:

We first heard this song form the singing of Mrs Mary Ann Carolan, who lived on the Hill o’ Rath, just outside Drogheda Co. Louth, recorded in the singer’s home by Mr Roly Brown.

Napoleon Bonaparte was the most outstanding artillery officer of his day at military school in France. This fact is acknowledged in the first verse of this song.

Siobhan Miller sang Bonny Light Horseman on her 2017 album Strata.

Dougie Mackenzie sang Bonny Light Horseman on his 2019 Greentrax album Along the Way. He noted:

A song from the Napoleonic Wars, first heard from Matthews, Doonan and Wilson at an Inverness Folk Festival.

Peter and Barbara Snape sang Bonny Light Horseman in 2019 on their CD All in the Song. Barbara Snape noted:

A broadside printed by Swindells of Manchester and popular from the 1790s. There are numerous Irish and English versions of this song. We have used our own tune.

Anaïs Mitchell sang Bonny Light Horseman as the title track of Bonny Light Horseman’s 2020 eponymous album Bonny Light Horseman.

Lucy Farrell sang Bonnie Light Horseman in 2020 on her and Andrew Waite’s CD Calm the Lions.

Lyrics

Martin Howley sings The Young Horseman

I once loved a soldier and a soldier bright and gay,
So now he has left me and gone far away.
To the dark plains of Egypt he was forced for to go
To die in the fields or to conquer his foe.

Broken-hearted I’ll wander, broken-hearted I will be,
Since my lovely young horseman to the war he’s gone from me.

And it’s early each morning as I come down for to dress,
I gaze at his picture hung over my head.
Such a lovely young fellow so manly and so tall.
It was scarcely you would think they would kill him at all.

It was brave Napoleon, it was he who took command,
And he planted his cannons all over the land.
He planted his cannons for some victory to gain,
And he slew brave MacDonald coming over from Spain.

If I was an eagle and had wings for to fly,
I would fly to the plains where my own darling lie.
And in his cold grave I would build my own nest,
And contented I’d be on his lily-white breast.

Lal and Norma Waterson sing The Bonny Light Horseman

Well now Bonaparte, he has commanded his troops for to stand
And he levelled up his cannon all over the land;
Yes he levelled his cannon, the whole victory to gain,
And he slew my light horseman returning from Spain.

Chorus (after each verse):
Broken-hearted I wander all for my true lover,
He’s a bonny light horseman, in the war has been slain

All ye wives’, sweethearts’ and widows’ attention I pray,
For me heart it is broken and it’s fading away.
I’m a maid so distracted, broken-hearted I wander
For my bonny light horseman in the war has been slain.

You should see my light horseman on a cold winter’s day,
With his red and rosy cheeks and his curly black hair.
He’s mounted on horseback, the whole victory to gain,
And he’s over the battlefield for honour and fame.

Now if I had have had the wings of an eagle I’d fly
To my bonny light horseman and there I’d lie by,
And with me little fluttering wings I would build up me nest.
Oh my bonny light horseman you’re the boy I love best.

Note: Eliza Carthy sings nearly the same words but has swapped verses two and three which fits the narrative better.

Jacquey Gabriel sings The Bonny Light Horseman

All you maidens, wives and widows, I would have you pay attention;
For my very heart is aching, aching in its inmost core.
I’m a maiden that’s distracted, broken-hearted I must wander,
For my bonny light horseman is slain in the wars.

Chorus (after each verse):
Broken-hearted I wander, broken-hearted I wander.
For my bonny light horseman is slain in the wars.

Were I wing-ed like an eagle, I would fly unto my darling.
To that spot so sad and lonely where my true love he is lain.
I would kiss the grass above him for evermore I love him,
And I’ll curse the wars so cruel that my true love has betrayed.

Like a dove I will go mourning for the loss of my own darling.
And no other man on this wide earth my heart will ever gain.
In my grave so cold and cheerless very soon I will be lying.
But my love and I in Heaven above will surely meet again.

Planxty sing The Bonny Light Horseman

Ye wise maids and widows, pray listen to me,
To this sad tale I rehearse unto thee:
A maid in distress who will now be a rover,
She relies on King George for the loss of her lover.

Chorus (after each verse):
Broken-hearted I’ll wander, broken-hearted I’ll remain,
For my bonny light horseman, in the wars he was slain.

Three years and six months since he left England’s shore,
My bonny light horseman, will I ne’er see him more?
He’s mounted on horseback, so gallant and gay,
And among the whole regiment respected was he.

When Boney commanded his armies to stand,
He levelled his cannon right over the land,
He levelled his cannons, his victory to gain
And he slew my light horseman on the way coming hame.

The dove she laments for her mate as she flies;
Oh where, tell me where is my darling? she cries,
And where in this world is there one to compare,
With my bonny light horseman who was slain in the war?

Tony Rose sings The Bonny Light Horseman

Oh, when Boney commanded all his troops for to stand,
He’s levelled his cannon all over the land,
He’s levelled his cannon for the victory to gain,
And he slew my light horseman from the wars coming home.

Chorus (after each verse):
Broken-hearted I’ll wander for the loss of my lover,
He’s the bonny light horseman, in the wars he was slain.

Oh, if I was a small bird and had wings to fly,
I’d fly o’er the salt sea where my true love he do lie.
And with these fond wings, oh I’d beat on his grave,
I’d kiss the fond lips that lie cold in the clay.

Now the dove she laments for her mate as she flies;
Where, tell me where is my true love? she cries,
And where in this wide world is there one to compare,
To my bonny light horseman who was slain in the war?

(repeat first verse)

Niamh Parsons sings Brokenhearted I’ll Wander

When Boney commanded his troops for to stand,
And they planted their cannon all over the land;
They planted their cannon the whole victory for to gain,
But they killed my light horseman returning from Spain.

Chorus (after each verse):
Brokenhearted I’ll wander, for the loss of my lover,
He is my bonny light horseman, in the wars he was slain.

If you see my love in sentry on a cold winter’s night,
With his rosy red cheeks and his flowing brown hair,
All mounted on horseback, the whole victory for to gain,
But it’s on the battlefield these honours are gained.

If I were a blackbird and I had wings to fly
I would fly to the spot where my true love he does lie;
And with my little fluttering wings his wounds I would heal,
And all through the night on his breast I would lie.

A dove she laments for her mate as she flies,
Tell me where, oh tell me where, is my true love tonight?
Tell me where in this wide world is there one to compare
To my Bonny Light Horseman who was shot in the war.

I will dress in men’s apparel and to his regiment I’ll go,
I will be a loyal subject and I’d fight all of his foes.
He would think it an honour if I could prevail
And die on the field where my true love he was slain.

Oh Boney, oh Boney, I have done you no harm,
Tell me why, oh tell me why you have caused me this alarm?
We were happy together, my true love and me,
But now you have stretched us in death over the sea.

The Voice Squad sing The Bonny Light Horseman

When Bonaparte he commanded his troops for to stand,
And he planted his cannons all over the land;
He planted his cannons the whole victory to gain,
And he’s killed my light horseman returning from Spain.

Chorus (after each verse):
Broken-hearted I’ll wander, for the loss of my lover,
He’s my bonny light horseman, in the wars he was slain.

If you saw my love on sentry on a cold winter’s day,
With his red rosy cheeks and his flowing brown hair,
All mounted on horseback the whole victory to gain,
And it’s on the battlefield great honour to gain.

And if I were a blackbird and had wings to fly,
I would fly to the spot where my true love does lie;
And with my little fluttering wings, his wounds I would heal,
And it’s all of the night on his breast I’d remain.

The dove she laments for her mate as she flies,
Oh where, tell me where, is my true love, she cries,
And where in this world is there one to compare,
With my bonny light horseman who was shot in the war.

Oh! Boney, Oh! Boney, I’ve done you no harm,
So why, tell me why you have caused such alarm,
We were happy together, my true love and me,
But now you have stretched him in his death over the sea.

Acknowledgements

Transcribed from Lal & Norma Waterson’s singing by Garry Gillard.
The Planxty version was copied from the Digital Tradition.