My Blue-Eyed Boy

DESCRIPTION: Floating verses on the subject of lost love, usually borrowed from "The Butcher Boy" and/or a "Pretty Little Foot" variant. The wide and deep grave carved with a turtle dove may also be present. Identified by the line "Bring me back my blue-eyed boy"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety); possibly 1879 (Journal of the Andrew Hicks)
KEYWORDS: love beauty separation death suicide
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber)) US(Ap,MW,So) Ireland
REFERENCES (16 citations):
Bronson 76, "The Lass of Roch Royal" (23 versions, of which #11 appears to belong here)
Greig/Duncan6 1085, "My Love He Is a Sailor Bold" (1 text plus a single verse on p. 538, 1 tune)
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, pp. 478-480, "The Blue-Eyed Boy" (4 texts, though "D" is a fragment, probably of "Tavern in the Town" or "The Butcher Boy" or some such)
Randolph 759, "My Blue-Eyed Boy" (3 short texts, 1 tune)
High-OldOldFolkSongs, p. 46, "Remember... Well" (1 text)
McNeil-SouthernMountainFolksong, pp. 18-19, "(Bring Back My Blue-eued Boy)" (1 text)
Arnold-FolkSongsofAlabama, p. 33, "Blue-Eyed Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 257, "The Blue-Eyed Boy" (2 text, though the second is rather distantly related)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-1ed, pp. 151-152, "My Blue-Eyed Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-2ed, pp. 93-94, "My Blue-Eyed Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brewster-BalladsAndSongsOfIndiana 85, "The Blue-Eyed Boy" (1 text)
Pound-AmericanBalladsAndSongs, 102, pp. 212-213, "My Blue-Eyed Boy" (1 text)
Boette-SingaHipsyDoodle, p. 120, "Bring Me Back the One I Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H482, pp. 391-392, "Bring Me Back the Boy I Love"; H692, p. 392, "Never Change the Old Love for the New" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Huntington-TheGam-MoreSongsWhalemenSang, p. 224, "Never Change the Old Love for the New" (1 fragment, 1 tune, possibly this although it's too short to be certain)
DT, BLUEYEBY
Roud #4308 and 18831
RECORDINGS:
Brier Hopper Brothers, "Bring Back My Blue-Eyed Boy" (Champion 16692, 1933)
Carter Family, "Bring Back My Blue-Eyed Boy to Me" (Victor V-40190, 1930; Montgomery Ward M-4741, c. 1935; Bluebird B-6271, 1936)
Gid Tanner & Riley Puckett, "Bring Back My Blue-Eyed Boy" (Columbia 15577-D, 1930; rec. 1929)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Butcher Boy" [Laws P24] and references there
cf. "The Willow Tree" (form and lyrics)
cf. "Must I Go Bound" (lyrics, theme)
cf. "Died for Love (I)"
cf. "Love Has Brought Me to Despair" [Laws P25] (lyrics)
cf. "Remember Well and Bear In Mind" (lyrics)
NOTES [82 words]: This is so close to "The Butcher Boy" that I almost listed them as one song. But where "The Butcher Boy" is relatively coherent, this is little more than a lament composed of floating verses and the complaint "Bring me back my blue-eyed boy." So I've listed them separately -- but there *are* intermediate versions. Sandburg, for instance, has one (p. 324, "Go Bring Me Back My Blue-Eyed Boy," with the suicide theme intact, so I list it with "The Butcher Boy" -- but it has this chorus). - RBW
Last updated in version 5.0
File: R759

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