#01640 Print This Page

My Bonny Labouring Boy
See also: The Bonny Labouring Boy

As I roved out one evening all in the blooming spring,
I spied a lovely maid who grievously did sing;
Saying, "Cruel was my father that did me so deny,
And would not let me marry my bonny lab'ring b'y.

"Young Johnny was my true love's name as you shall plainly see,
My parents they employed him their labouring boy to be,
To harrow, reap, and sow the seed, and plough my father's land,
And soon I fell in love with him as you may understand.

"I courted him for twelve long months but little did I know,
That my cruel parents would prove my overthrow;
They watched us close one evening while in a shady grove,
Pledging our love together in the constant bonds of love.

"My father he stepped up to me and seized me by the hand,
And swore he'd send young Johnny into some foreign land;
He locked me in my bedroom my comfort to deny,
And kept me there to grieve and mourn for my bonny lab'ring b'y.

"My mother came next morning and this to me did say,
'Your father has intended to appoint your wedding day.'
I nobly made an answer that with him I'd ne'er comply,
And single I will remain for my bonny lab'ring b'y."

Says the daughter to the mother, "Your plans are all in vain,
Lords, dukes, and earls, their riches I disdain;
I'll rather live a humble life, my time I would empl'y,
Increasing nature's prospects for my bonny lab'ring b'y."

Fill your glasses to brim and let the toast go merrily 'round:
Here's health to every lab'ring b'y that works and ploughs the ground;
And when his work is over to his home he'll go with j'y,
And happy is the girl that gets a bonny lab'ring b'y.

####.... Variant of a 19th century British broadside ballad [Laws M14] American Balladry From British Broadsides (G. Malcolm Laws, 1957). Also a variant of a 19th century British broadside ballad, My Bonny Labouring Boy, published by A. Ryle and Co. (London) between 1845 and 1859, and archived at the Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads, shelfmark: Harding B 11(2525) ....####

Collected in 1952 from James Heaney of Stock Cove, NL, by Ken Peacock and published in Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 2, pp.564-565, by the National Museum Of Canada (1965) Crown Copyrights Reserved. A variant was also sung by Pattie Maher (b.1893) of Flatrock, NL, and published as The Bonny Labouring Boy in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA).

Main Page


~ Copyright Info ~