Oh! Steer My Bark to Erin's Isle

DESCRIPTION: "Oh, I have roamed o'er many lands ... In Erin's isle I'd pass my time." If the singer's home were England or Scotland, he'd love that home; "pleasant days in both I've past," But he'll "steer my bark to Erin's isle, For Erin is my home."
AUTHOR: Words: Thomas Haynes Bayly
EARLIEST DATE: before 1869 (broadside, Bodleian Firth b.25(537))
KEYWORDS: home travel Ireland lyric nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
O'Conor-OldTimeSongsAndBalladOfIreland, p. 155, "Oh! Steer My Bark to Erin's Isle" (1 text)
Hylands-Mammoth-Hibernian-Songster, p. 32, "Erin Is My Home" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10364
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.25(537), "Oh, Steer my Barque to Erin's Isle", J. Moore (Belfast), 1852-1868; also 2806 c.15(318), 2806 c.15(257), "Oh, Steer my Bark to Erin's isle"
NOTES [143 words]: Bodleian makes the author N.T.H Bayly; O'Conor-OldTimeSongsAndBalladOfIreland has F.H. Bayly. - BS
The latter, of course, is an easy misreading of "T. H. Bayly." Spaeth's A History of Popular Music in America also credits the lyrics to Bayly (p. 85), adding that the tune is German, arranged by Ignaz Moscheles.
Curiously, the uncredited book The Library of Irish Music (published by Amsco) credits the *music* to T. H. Bayly with words by "S. Nelson"! (The BaylyNelson combination does seem to have been responsible for "O! They Marched Through the Town (The Captain with His Whiskers)," but Bayley was the lyricist.)
Incidentally, there seem to be conflicting dates for Bayly; Spaeth says he lived 1797-1829;Wikipedia gives 1797-1839. Nor can people seem to agree whether his surname was "Bayly" or "Bayley." Granger's Index to Poetry says "Bayly." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.1
File: OCon155A

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