Jacket So Blue, The (The Bonnet o' Blue)

DESCRIPTION: The girl sees a (soldier/sailor) marching past and falls in love. She meets him and offers to buy his discharge; he replies that he already has a girl at home. She asks for a portrait to console her; this at least is granted
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1806
KEYWORDS: love courting soldier clothes separation
FOUND IN: US(MA,NE,So) Ireland Britain(England,Scotland(Aber)) Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES (18 citations):
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "BONNET SO BLUE, THE"
Ford-VagabondSongsAndBalladsOfScotland, pp. 212-214, "The Bonnet o' Blue" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #105, pp. 1-2, "The Bonnet o' Blue" (1 text)
Greig/Duncan5 992, "The Bonnet o' Blue" (10 texts, 7 tunes)
Ord-BothySongsAndBallads, pp. 295-296, "The Bonnet o' Blue" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kidson-TraditionalTunes, pp. 118-119, "The Bonny Scotch Lad" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cazden/Haufrecht/Studer-FolkSongsOfTheCatskills 43, "The Jacket So Blue" (1 text, 1 tune)
Beck-FolkloreOfMaine, pp. 217-218, "Jacket So Blue" (1 text)
Gray-SongsAndBalladsOfTheMaineLumberjacks, pp. 112-115, "The Jacket So Blue" (1 text, from a broadside, probably the same as one of the Bodleian broadsides although the information is not enough to be sure)
Lane/Gosbee-SongsOfShipsAndSailors, p. 105, "The Jacket of Blue" (1 text, 1 tune)
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, p. 301, "The Wagoners" (1 text, fragmentary and localized to make the soldier a wagoner)
Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest 121, "Jacket So Blue, or A Company of Boatmen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Logan-APedlarsPack, pp. 101-106, "Bonnet o' Blue" (1 text)
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H644, p. 367, "The Bonnet sae Blue" (1 text, 1 tune)
Huntington-SongsTheWhalemenSang, pp. 275-277, "The Bonnet of Blue" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune)
Creighton-FolksongsFromSouthernNewBrunswick 42, "His Jacket Was Blue" (1 text, 1 tune); 43, "His Jacket Was Blue" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pottie/Ellis-FolksongsOfTheMaritimes, pp. 174-175, "His Jacket Was Blue" (1 text, 1 tune)
Guigné-ForgottenSongsOfTheNewfoundlandOutports, pp. 209-211, "The Jacket So Blue (Bonnet So Blue)" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FSC43 (Full)
Roud #819
RECORDINGS:
Nathan Hatt, "His Jacket Was Blue" (on NovaScotia1)
Raymond Noseworthy, "Jacket of Blue" (on MUNFLA/Leach)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(393), "Bonnet So Blue" ("In Liverpool town in fair Lancashire"), W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Harding B 25(251), Harding B 28(160), Harding B 11(4088), Harding B 28(104), Firth c.14(187) , Firth c.14(188), Firth c.14(190), Harding B 11(2653), "Bonnet So Blue"; 2806 c.17(52), Harding B 11(392), "Bonnet So Blue" ("At Kingston upon Woolwich, a town near Yorkshire")
LOCSinging, as101360, "Bonnet So Blue" ("In Liverpool town, in fair Lancashire"), L. Deming (Boston), 19C; also as101360, "Jacket So Blue" ("A ship's crew of sailors as you shall now hear")
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Manchester Angel" (theme)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
My Bonnie Scotch Laddie
Down in Yon Green Valley
The Bonnie Scotch Laddie and His Bonnet o' Blue
NOTES [53 words]: Broadside LOCSinging as101360 includes both a "troop of soldiers ... from Scotland" version ("Bonnet So Blue") and a "crew of sailors ... from Greenwich" version ("Jacket So Blue"). These correspond to Creighton-FolksongsFromSouthernNewBrunswick 42 and Creighton-FolksongsFromSouthernNewBrunswick 43, respectively. - BS
Last updated in version 6.8
File: FSC43

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography