Author Topic: Add: The Girl I Left Behind Me


irishajo

Posted - 09 Mar 03 - 04:06 pm

I'm lonesome since I cross'd the hill
And o'er the moor and valley;
Such heavy thoughts my heart do fill,
Since parting with my Sally.

I seek no more the fine and gay,
For each does but remind me
How swift the hours did pass away
With the girl I've left behind me.

Oh ne'er shall I forget the night,
The starts were bright above me,
And gently lent their silv'ry light,
When first she vow'd she loved me.

But now I'm bound to Brighton camp,
Kind Heav'n may favor find me,
And send me safely back again
To the girl I've left behind me.

Source: Agay, Denes, Best Loved Songs of the American People, 1975, Doubleday

Notes:

'This lively traditional fife tune, imported from England as 'Brighton Camp,' was known in America as early as the seventeenth century, and became generally popular during the Revolution.'



Ed

Posted - 09 Mar 03 - 05:44 pm

Database entry is here




dmcg

Posted - 10 Mar 03 - 02:58 pm

According to this site for napoleonic medals:

The first Brighton Camp was formed during the French invasion scare; the Prince meeting the troops on the outskirts of the town, and they pitched their tents at Belle Vue Field. The encampment consisted of regular troops and militia; its maximum strength was 10,000 men, and they were kept under arms from 13th August to 28th October, 1793.

In the following summer a second camp was established about a mile and a half to the west of Brighton, its maximum strength reaching nearly 15,000. In 1795 there was a third camp at Brighton, made memorable by two men being shot and others flogged for mutiny.

This date does not match "the seventeenth century" given above. Does anyone know of an earlier Brighton Camp?




masato sakurai

Posted - 10 Mar 03 - 04:48 pm

William Chappell wrote (Popular Music of the Olden Time, 1859; Dover, 1965, vol. 2, p. 708):
 This air is contained in a manuscript in the possesion of Dr. Rimbault, of date about 1770, and in several manuscript collections of military music of the latter half of the last [i.e., 18th] century. It is a march, and is either entitled The girl I left behind me, or Brighton Camp.
 One of the lines in the song "The girl I left behind me," is "But now I'm bound to Brighton Camp," and this gives a clue to the date of the words.
 Although there were encampments along the coast between 1691 and 1693, before the victory of La Hogue, I do not attribute the song to so early a date, because I find no traces of words or music in the numerous publications in the first half of the eighteenth century; but in 1758 and 9 there were also encampments, whilst Admirals Hawke and Rodney were watching the French fleet in Brest harbour. The French had prepared "flat-bottomed boats" for the landing of troops. In 1759 all danger of a descent upon our coast was averted by Admiral Boscawen's victory over one French fleet, and Admiral Hawke's over another. These and other successes of the year were chronicled in a song entitled "The year fifty-nine." In that year, a farce was printed, entitled The Invasion, to ridicule the unnecessary apprehansions which some persons had entertained of a nocturnal descent upon our coast by means of the flat-bottomed boats, and Garrick produced a pantomime, entitled Harlequin's Invasion, with the same object.
 It appears, therefore, that the song of The girl I left behind me may be dated, with great probability, in 1758.
Lewis Winstock, in Songs & Music of the Redcoats 1642-1902 (Leo Cooper, 1970, p. 67), reiterates Chappell's conclusion in a condensed form.

However, according to James J. Fuld (in The Book of World-Famous Music: Classical, Popular and Folk, 5th ed., Dover, 2000, pp. 242-244):
 The earliest known version of the melody was printed about 1810 in Hime's Pocket Book for the German Flute or Violin (Dublin, n.d.), vol. III, p. 67, under the title The Girl I Left Behind Me; NLI. Manuscripts containing the melody, dating back to about 1770, mentioned in Chappell, p. 708, have not been located. Two American manuscripts of the melody from about 1800 are noted in Fuld-Davidson, pp. 35 and 41.
 The eariest known printing of the words is in a booklet "printed in the Year 1808" entitled The Girl I Left Behind Me, with the Answer. To which is added Ellen O'Moore, Erin Go Bragh, The Gallery Slave.
 [...]
 There is considerable controversy as to whether the melody of this song was originally Englsih or Irish. The melody is also said to have been known as Brighton Camp; however, no earlier printing of it has been found under this title, and the Brighton Camp Quick March, entered in Stationers' Hall on Nov. 12, 1792, has a completely different melody; BM.
Hime's Pocket Book version is printed in Aloys Fleischmann, ed., Sources of Irish Traditional Music c.1600-1855, vol. 2 (Garland, 1998, p. 954 [No. 5244]).



Edited By masato sakurai - 10/03/2003 16:54:47






Malcolm Douglas
Posted - 10 Mar 03 - 05:16 pm

Roud 262

Roud also includes the My Parents Reared Me Tenderly / The Girl I Left Behind group (Laws P1A/B) under this heading, but they don't really seem to be related.

Frank Kidson also addressed the subject in Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, vol. V p.642 (1910):



Girl I Left Behind Me, The

An air in march time long associated with the British army, and formerly played when a regiment was changing its quarters from one town to another. Another name for it is Brighton Camp. It has been claimed as of Irish origin, but no satisfactory proof of this has been adduced. The tune cannot be traced back to a printed copy earlier than the end of the 18th century, but there seems every likelihood that it has been traditionally current as a military marching air. Chappell in Popular Music refers to a manuscript copy formerly in possession of Dr Rimbault, in date about 1770; he fixes the date of the song as about 1758. The earliest copy of the words the present writer has seen is in his own library in a MS collection dated 1797, and undoubtedly written in that, or a previous year. The words "Brighton Camp" occur in the song, and it has been claimed that as the name Brighton is only a recent change from Brighthelmstone the song cannot be of any great age. It must, however, be pointed out that there can be little doubt that "Brighton" was a local pronunciation, or shortening of the longer name, long before it became officially recognised. The Irish claim to the tune first began with Thomas Moore's inclusion of it in the seventh number of the Irish Melodies, 1818, to his words "As slow our ship", with the air named The Girl I left behind me as its old title.

Bunting followed this claim up in 1840, but failed to give any logical reason for this assumption of Irish origin. Moore's and Bunting's versions are elaborate ones, and quite destroy the strongly marked rhythm of the simple marching form. Under the title Brighton Camp the tune is found in The Gentleman's Amusement, circa 1810, and elsewhere, and under The Girl I left Behind Me in a MS music book in the writer's possession, c. 1815. These versions have some degree of difference, and may be seen in Songs of the Georgian Period, (Moffat & Kidson).



Further details of the continuing dispute can be seen at The Fiddler's Companion:

Brighton Camp

There seems to be no evidence to support Agay's assertion that the tune is 17th century in origin, and most authorities would date its rise in popularity in America to the period of the Civil War rather than the Revolution.

Broadside examples under various titles at  Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads:

Brighton Camp / The Girl I Left Behind Me

A good few other broadsides name the tune, and songs continued to be made or set to it for a long while; the Irish An Spailpín Fánach being one such.

Edited By Malcolm Douglas - 10/03/2003 17:55:55




masato sakurai

Posted - 10 Mar 03 - 05:40 pm

See also Bruce Olson's Roots of Folk site, where he argues against Chappell, cites the text from The Charms of Melody (n.d., Dublin, issue #72), and says the text, being approximately of 1805-6, "appears to be the oldest text yet found."

The Girl I left behind me






irishajo

Posted - 10 Mar 03 - 06:14 pm

Hmm...maybe I shouldn't use Mr. Agay as a reliable source anymore...




dmcg

Posted - 10 Mar 03 - 07:04 pm

I'm glad Ed is in charge of the database entry for this one!




IanC

Posted - 11 Mar 03 - 03:04 pm

Here's my notes from a recent Mudcat Quiz - I spent a bit of time researching the thing so I thought we might as well have the benefit.

Girl I Left Behind Me
The oldest text is from issue 72 of "Charms of Melody" (approximately 1805-6). However, in a songbook, "The New Whim of the Night, or the Town and Country Songster for 1799", is a song "The Girls we love so dearly" 'Written by R. Rusted - tune "The Girl I left behind me".

Wm. Chappell in "Popular Music of the Olden Time" had said quite a lot about "The girl I left behind me" being connected with "Brighton Camp" and being an 18th century song, though he gives no solid information to demonstrate an 18th century date.

James J. Fuld, "The Book of World Famous Music", notes that the song appears in Bell's "Rhymes of the Northern Bards", 1812 and points out that "Brighton Camp Quick March", 1792, is not the same tune. The tune appears as "Brighton Camp or the Girl I Left Behind Me" in Riley's Flute Melodies (1816).


:-)



linda

Posted - 15 Apr 03 - 01:34 am

Do you know if this song was used in a war poster? I have what appears to be one depicting a woman with a white dress on sitting down. The only colour in it is a blue sash around her waist and in her hair. The third and fourth verse of the above noted song is quoted below the title "The Girl I Left Behind Me". It has a different coat of arms on each side of the verses. The picture is framed with a circlet of stars. I can't find anything about it.


dmcg

Posted - 15 Apr 03 - 10:06 am

I can't say I know anything about this. However, it certainly sounds like it could be a war poster. Blue sashes are common symbols for patriotism etc and the circlet of stars is also commonly used. The coats of arms are probably the best clues to track down where it came from and when. Have you any way of putting a copy of the poster on the net?




masato sakurai

Posted - 02 Jun 03 - 12:32 pm

The tune from Hime's Pocket Book:

X:1
T:The Girl I Left Behind Me
M:2/4
L:1/8
S:Hime's Pocket Book for the German Flute or Violin, vol. III (c.1810) [from Fleischmann, no. 5244]
K:G
g/f/|ec BA|BG EF|G3/2A/ G/A/B/c/|d3/2B/ gf/g/|ec BA|BE E/F/G/A/|B/A/G/F/ EF|
G2G:|]|:e|ef gf/e/|fB Bd|ef g/f/e/d/|e3/2f/ gf/g/|ec BA|BE E/F/G/>A/|
B/A/G/F/ EF|G2G||B/c/|dB gf/g/|dB ba/g/|f/e/d/c/ B/A/G/F/|E/G/F/A/ G:|]




Edited By masato sakurai - 02/06/2003 12:30:18






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