“Dear Companion (The Broken Heart; Go and Leave Me If You Wish To, Fond Affection)”

Description

"I once did have a dear companion (or: "love with fond affection"); Indeed I thought his love my own Until a dark eyed girl betrayed me And now he cares no more for me." The girl, looking at her baby, recalls her unfaithful love and regrets her shame

Notes

This piece would appear to break up into two subfamilies, "Dear Companion" ("I once did have a dear companion") and "A Fond Affection." I tried to separate the two -- but when I saw the incredible mixture in Randolph, I gave up. - RBW

It's also getting harder to distinguish "Columbus Stockade Blues" from this song. We use the "Columbus Stockade" line as a marker, but several versions of "Dear Companion" overlap heavily with that song in lyrics. - PJS

So true. Peacock's version, e.g., is "Columbus Stockade Blues" minus the first verse, though the tune is different. - RBW

Cross references

Recordings

  • Dock Boggs, "I Hope I Live a Few More Days" (on Boggs3, BoggsCD1 -- an incredibly complex composite of lost love/abandonment songs, jumbled together and confused, but seemingly with more lines from this song than any other)
  • Carter Family, "Fond Affection" (Victor 23585, 1931; Montgomery Ward M-4744, 1935; Zonophone [Australia] 4364, n.d.)
  • Crowder Brothers, "Leave Me Darling, I Don't Mind" (Melotone 7-04-70, 1937)
  • Clarence Green, "Fond Affection" (Columbia 15311-D, 1928)
  • Sid Harkreader, "Many Days With You I Wandered" (Vocalion 15100, 1925)
  • Kelly Harrell, "Bye and Bye You Will Forget Me" (Victor 20535, 1926; on KHarrell02 -- clearly this song, though it borrows lyrics from "Bye and Bye You Will Forget Me")
  • Mainer's Mountaineers "Let Her Go God Bless Her" (Bluebird [Canada] B-6104, 1935)
  • Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner, "Go and Leave Me If You Wish" (Brunswick 293, 1929; rec. 1928)
  • David Miller, "Many Times With You I've Wandered" (Champion 15429, 1928)

References

  1. Belden, pp. 209-210, "Fond Affection" (1 text)
  2. Randolph 755, "The Broken Heart" (7 texts plus 1 excerpt and mention of 1 more, 2 tunes, though some, especially the fragments, may not go here; the "A" text contains material from "I Loved You Better Than You Knew" and several others, notably "H," are or are mixed with "The Broken Engagement (II -- We Have Met and We Have Parted)"' "F" is "Thou Hast Learned to Love Another")
  3. Randolph/Cohen, pp. 493-495, "The Broken Heart" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 755A)
  4. SharpAp 111, "The Dear Companion" (1 text, 1 tune)
  5. Sharp/Karpeles-80E 43, "The Dear Companion" (1 text, 1 tune)
  6. Ritchie-Southern, p. 10, "Dear Companion" (1 text, 1 tune)
  7. Ord, pp. 181-182, "Go And Leave Me If You Wish To" (1 text)
  8. BrownII 153, "Fond Affection" (13 text, including several much longer than the usual versions; the "M" text in particular seems conflate; the first four verses may be a separate song beginning "Darling, do you know who loves you?")
  9. Chase, p. 166, "(Dear Companion") (1 text, tune referenced)
  10. Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 32-33, "Now Go and Leave Me If You Wish" (1 text)
  11. MacSeegTrav 59, "Blue-Eyed Lover" (1 text, 1 tune, an incredibly composite version I file here for lack of any better idea; it has lyrics from many songs of this type and even "The Widow in the Cottage by the Sea")
  12. Peacock, p. 453, "Go and Leave Me If You Wish, Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
  13. Sandburg, p. 323, "Fond Affection" (1 short text, with this title and some lyrics which belong here but with other elements reminiscent of "Carrickfergus")
  14. Silber-FSWB, p. 164, "Dear Companion" (1 text)
  15. DT, DEARCOMP* GOLEAVME ONCEILUV
  16. Roud #411
  17. BI, R755

About

Alternate titles: “Once I Loved with Fond Affection”; “If It's In Your Heart”; “I Once Did Love Your Fond Affection”; “Fond of Affection”; “Raven Dark Hair”; “Fond Devotion”; “Future Days”; “Separation”
Author: unknown
Earliest date: 1909 (Belden)
Found in: US(Ap,SE,So) Britain(Scotland) Canada(Newf)