Bonny Bunch of Roses, The [Laws J5]

DESCRIPTION: Young Napoleon promises his mother that he will capture "The Bonny Bunch of Roses" (Great Britain). She warns him of his father's disaster in Russia and of the strength of the British. They sorrowfully prepare for the lad's death.
AUTHOR: George Brown (source: Roud/Bishop-NewPenguinBookOfEnglishFolkSongs)
EARLIEST DATE: 1847 (Journal of William Histed of the Cortes); c.1830 (Zimmerman-SongsOfIrishRebellion)
KEYWORDS: Napoleon dialog family political war Russia
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1805 - Battle of Trafalgar ends Napoleon's hopes of invading Britain
1811 - Birth of Napoleon Francis Joseph Charles Bonaparte (Napoleon II)
1812-1813 - Napoleon's Russian Campaign
June 18, 1815 - Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon forced into exile
1821 - Death of Napoleon I
July 22, 1832 - Death of Napoleon II
FOUND IN: US(MA,SE) Canada(Mar,Newf) Britain(England(All),Scotland) Ireland
REFERENCES (33 citations):
Laws J5, "The Bonny Bunch of Roses"
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "BONNY BUNCH OF ROSES O, THE"
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #94, pp. 1-2, "The Bonnie Bunch of Roses" (1 text)
Greig/Duncan1 155, "The Bonnie Bunch o' Roses" (6 texts, 6 tunes)
Greenleaf/Mansfield-BalladsAndSeaSongsOfNewfoundland 84, "The Bonny Bunch of Roses" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SongsAndBalladsFromNovaScotia 68, "Bonny Bunch of Roses O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Warner-TraditionalAmericanFolkSongsFromAnneAndFrankWarnerColl 3, "The Bonny Bunch of Roses-O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scott-TheBalladOfAmerica, pp. 105-107, "The Bonny Bunch of Roses O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Copper-SongsAndSouthernBreezes, pp. 202-203, "Bonny Bunch of Roses, O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Wt 391, "Bonny Bunch of Roses O" (1 text)
Purslow-MarrowBones, p. 7, "The Bonny Bunch of Roses-O!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Baring-Gould/Sheppard-SongsOfTheWest2ndEd, #27, "The Bonny Bunch of Roses" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud/Bishop-NewPenguinBookOfEnglishFolkSongs #2, "Bonny Bunch of Roses O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hodgart-FaberBookOfBallads, p. 200, "The Bonny Bunch of Roses" (1 text)
Huntington-SongsTheWhalemenSang, pp. 207-209, "The Bonny Bunch of Roses-O" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn-IrishStreetBallads 16, "The Bonny Bunch of Roses" (1 text, 1 tune)
Zimmerman-SongsOfIrishRebellion 32B, "The Bonny Bunch of Roses, O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moylan-TheAgeOfRevolution-1776-1815 184, "The Bonny Bunch of Roses" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hayward-UlsterSongsAndBalladsOfTheTownAndCountry, pp. 17-18, "The Bonny Bunch of Roses" (1 text)
Graham-Joe-Holmes-SongsMusicTraditionsOfAnUlsterman 7, "The Bonny Bunch of Roses" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ord-BothySongsAndBallads, pp. 301-302, "The Bonny Bunch of Roses" (1 text)
MacColl/Seeger-TravellersSongsFromEnglandAndScotland 85, "The Bonnie Bunch of Roses" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Reeves-TheEverlastingCircle 14, "The Bonny Bunch of Roses" (1 text)
Browne-FolkSongsOfOldHampshire, pp. 29-31, "The Bonny Bunch of Roses" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 988-989, "The Bonny Bunch of Roses" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie-BalladsAndSeaSongsFromNovaScotia 72, "The Bonnie Bunch of Roses" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
O'Conor-OldTimeSongsAndBalladOfIreland, p. 127, "The Bonny Bunch of Roses" (1 text)
Behan-IrelandSings, #8, "The Bonny Bunch of Roses" (1 text, 1 tune)
Dallas-TheCruelWars-100SoldiersSongs, pp. 132-134. "The Bonnie Bunch of Roses" (1 text, 1 tune)
Forget-Me-Not-Songster, pp. 222-223, "Bonny Bunch of Roses" (1 text)
DT 392, BONBUNCH* BONBUNC2
ADDITIONAL: Richard Hayward, Ireland Calling (Glasgow,n.d.), pp. 18-19, "The Bonny Bunch of Roses" (text, music and reference to Regal Zonophone recording [probably Regal Zono MR-2830 recorded ca. May 1938])
_Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 22, #1 (1973), p, 15, "The Bonny Bunch of Roses-O" (1 text, 1 tune, the Seamus Ennis version)
Roud #664
RECORDINGS:
Everett Bennett, "The Bonny Bunch of Roses" (on PeacockCDROM) [one verse only]
Sam Larner, "Bonny Bunch of Roses" (on SLarner01)
Tom Murphy and Minnie Murphy, "The Bonnie Bunch Of Roses" (on ITMA/CapeShoreNL)
Cyril Poacher, "The Bonny Bunch O' Roses" (on Voice08)
Ernest Poole, "Bonny Bunch of Roses" (on MUNFLA/Leach)
Anthony Power, "The Bonny Bunch Of Roses" (on ITMA/CapeShoreNL)
Brigid Tunney, "The Bonny Bunch of Roses" (on IRTunneyFamily01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(403), "The Bonny Bunch of Roses, O!" ("By the dangers of the ocean"), J. Harkness (Preston) , 1840-1866; also 2806 c.16(296), Harding B 16(31d), Harding B 11(404), Harding B 11(406), Harding B 11(405), "Bonny Bunch of Roses, O"; Harding B 17(350a), Harding B 11(18), Firth b.25(245), Harding B 11(4381), "Young Napoleon" or "The Bonny Bunch of Roses"; Firth b.27(457/458) View 1 of 4, "Bonny Bunch of Roses"; Firth b.27(8), "Young Napoleon"
LOCSinging, as109240, "Young Napoleon" or "The Bonny Bunch of Roses," Taylor's Song Mart (London), 19C
Murray, Mu23-y1:115, "Bonny Bunch of Roses," James Lindsay (Glasgow), 19C
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The New Bunch of Loughero" (theme)
SAME TUNE:
The Bunch of Rushes, O! (per broadsides Bodleian Harding B 17(350a), Bodleian Harding B 11(18), Bodleian Harding B 11(4381))
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Bold Blucher
NOTES [133 words]: Zimmerman-SongsOfIrishRebellion: "The bunch of roses is usually said to symbolize England, Scotland, and Ireland, or the red coats of the English soldiers. In a ballad printed both in England and in Ireland, 'The Grand Conversation on Napoleon', we find the lines: 'The bunch of roses did advance And boldly entered into France,' alluding to Napoleon's enemies after Waterloo."
The ballad is recorded on one of the CD's issued around the time of the bicentenial of the 1798 Irish Rebellion. See:
Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "The Bonny Bunch of Roses" (on Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "My Name is Napoleon Bonaparte," Hummingbird Records HBCD0027 (2001))
The probable recording date and id for Hayward's record is provided by Bill Dean-Myatt, MPhil. compiler of the Scottish National Discography. - BS
Last updated in version 6.8
File: LJ05

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