The Girl I Left Behind Me (folk song)

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The painting The Girl I Left Behind Me by Eastman Johnson , which takes up the folk song of the same name

The Girl I Left Behind Me , sometimes just The Girl I Left Behind , is an English folk song . It is best known as the soldier song and is sung in many different text variations. Despite the different backgrounds, most of the known verses have the common feature that the song expresses the longing for a girl left behind; and the hope of seeing it again one day. One theory suggests that the text could have been written in 1758 during the Seven Years' War while the Admirals Hawke and Rodney were watching troops in the port of Brest , but there is no evidence to support this.

history

The first lyrics under the name The Girl I Left Behind Me were published in the Irish song collection The Charms of Melody in 1791 . The oldest known work that contains the melody of The Girl I Left Behind Me dates back to 1810. The melody is also known in England under the name Brighton Camp . An example of a text variation from this period would be:

The hours sad I left a maid
A lingering farewell taking
Whose sighs and tears my steps delayed
I thought her heart was breaking
In hurried words her name I blest
I breathed the vows that bind me
And to my heart in anguish pressed
The girl I left behind me

Then to the east we bore away
To win a name in story
And there where dawns the sun of day
There dawned our sun of glory
The place in my sight
When in the host assigned me
I shared the glory of that fight
Sweet girl I left behind me

Though many a name our banner bore
Of former deeds of daring
But they were of the day of yore
In which we had no sharing
But now our laurels freshly won
With the old one shall entwine me
Singing worthy of our size each son
Sweet girl I left behind me

The hope of final victory
Within my bosom burning
Is mingling with sweet thoughts of thee
And of my fond returning
But should I n'eer return again
Still with thy love i'll bind me
Dishonors breath shall never stain
The name I leave behind me

Web links

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  1. ↑ a b c Lesley Nelson-Burns: The Girl I Left Behind Me. Version 2. In: The Contemplator's Folk Music Site. Accessed April 10, 2020 (English).
  2. ^ A b James J. Fuld: The Book of World-famous Music - Classical, Popular, and Folk . Courier Corporation, 2000, ISBN 978-0-486-41475-1 , pp. 242–244 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed April 10, 2020]).
  3. ^ William Chappell: The Ballad Literature and Popular Music of the Olden Time. Volume 2. Chappell and Company, London 1855, pp. 708-711 ( digitized in the Google book search).
  4. ^ A b The Charms of Melody, or Siren Medley. Edition 72. Carrick, Dublin n.d. [1791?], P. 286 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).