Blow The Wind Southerly

Blow the wind southerly, southerly, southerly,
Blow the wind south o'er the bonny blue sea;
Blow the wind southerly, southerly, southerly,
Blow, bonny breeze, my lover to me.

They told me last night there were ships in the offing,
And I hurried down to the deep rolling sea;
But my eye could not see it, wherever might be it,
The bark that is bearing my lover to me.

Blow the wind southerly, southerly, southerly,
Blow the wind south that my lover may come;
Blow the wind southerly, southerly, southerly,
Blow, bonny breeze, and bring him safe home.

I stood by the lighthouse the last time we parted,
Till darkness came down o'er the deep rolling sea;
And no longer I saw the bright bark of my lover,
Blow, bonny breeze, and bring him to me.

Is it not sweet to hear breezes blowing,
As lightly they come o'er the deep rolling sea?
But sweeter and dearer by far when 'tis bearing,
The bark of my true love in safety to me.

####.... Variant from a fragment of a lyric found in Sir Cuthbert Sharp's The Bishoprick Garland, or a Collection of Legends, Songs, Ballads, etc., belonging to the County of Durham, edited by J. Ritson, and published by Nichols, and Baldwin & Craddock (1834) ....####

Collected by Barry Taylor and published on-line in Taylor's Traditional Tunebook of English Tunes. A variant was popularized by Kathleen Ferrier singing Northumbrian Folk Songs with piano accompaniment by Phylis Spurr on Decca F-0300, 1950.