Concerning One Summer in Bonay I Spent

DESCRIPTION: The singer -- and others from all over Newfoundland -- congregated in "Bonay" one summer for wood "rhind" and fishing. The singer pokes fun at the girls that went along and at the men dressing up to meet them.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1940 (Doyle-OldTimeSongsAndPoetryOfNewfoundland, 2nd edition)
KEYWORDS: courting work fishing
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Doyle-OldTimeSongsAndPoetryOfNewfoundland, "Concerning One Summer in Bonay I Spent" (1 text, 1 tune): p. 33 in the 2nd edition, p. 21 in the 3rd, p. 20 in the 4th, p. 15 in the 5th
Blondahl-NewfoundlandersSing, p. 29, "Concerning One Summer in Bonay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Guigné-ForgottenSongsOfTheNewfoundlandOutports, pp. 92-94, "Concerning One Spring in Bonay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mills-FavoriteSongsOfNewfoundland, pp. 46-47, "Concerning One Summer In Bonay I Spent" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7292
RECORDINGS:
Omar Blondahl, "Concerning One Summer in Bonay" (on NFOBlondahl03)
NOTES [153 words]: Doyle mentions that the song was written by a "simple fisherman" and that "Bonay" is in the Strait of Belle Isle which separates Newfoundland from Labrador. - SH
Peter Neary and Patrick O'Flaherty, Part of the Main: An Illustrated History of Newfoundland and Labrador, Breakwater Books, 1983, p. 125, mentions this song, and says that "Bonay" is shorthand for Bonne Esperance in Quebec. Despite being part of Canada rather than Newfoundland, it was one of the important centers of the Labrador fishery in the late nineteenth century.
According to G. M. Story, W. J. Kirwin, and J. D. A. Widdowson, editors, Dictionary of Newfoundland English, second edition with supplement, Breakwater Press, 1990, p. 411, "rind" or "rhind" or "rine" is "The bark or cortex of a tree, specif a 6-ft (1.8 m) length of bark removed in one piece from a standing spruce or fir and used for various fisheries and building purposes." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.0
File: Doy33

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