“Farewell to Bonny Galaway”
Description
"Ae night as I lay on my bed, The thought of love came into my head." He travels "To see the bonnie lassie lived in Galaway." Her father objects; her mother said she will "have her married to a lord's son." The girl makes him welcome; they flee Galaway
Supplemental text
Farewell to Bonny Galaway
Partial text(s)
*** A ***
From Emelyn Elizabeth Gardner and Geraldine Jencks Chickering,
Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan, p. 201. "Obtained in
1916 from Mr. John Laidlaw, Ypsilanti."
Yae night as I lay on my bed,
The thought of love came into my head,
So then I rose and went away
To see the bonnie lassie lived in Galaway.
I had na lang in my love's chamber set,
Til her father he spacke up,
And with an angry voice did say,
"What's brought you here to bonny Galaway?"
(3 additional stanzas)
Notes
This is so close to "One Night As I Lay On My Bed" (with which it shares both lyrics and theme) that I thought about lumping them. But that seems to be mostly a nightvisiting song; this is a song of elopement. So I split them. - RBW
Cross references
- cf. "One Night As I Lay On My Bed" (lyrics, theme)
References
- Gardner/Chickering 76, "Farewell to Bonny Galaway" (1 text)
- ST GC076 (Partial)
- Roud #3694
- BI, GC076