The Girl I Left Behind
Encyclopedia
"The Girl I Left Behind" also known as "The Girl I Left Behind Me" is a long-standing popular folk tune and song, dated by most authorities to the late 18th or early 19th century.
, issue no. 72, printed in Dublin from 1791 and in Exshaw's Magazine (Dublin, September 1794). The earliest known version of the melody was printed about 1810 in Hime's "Pocket Book for the German Flute or Violin" (Dublin), vol. 3, p. 67, under the title "The Girl I left Behind Me" (National Library of Ireland, Dublin). Theodore Ralph claimed that it was known in America
as early as 1650, under the name "Brighton Camp", but there is no evidence to support this assumption, and the only known tune of "Brighton Camp" differed from that of the song in question.
It has many variations and verses, for example "Blyth Camps, Or, the Girl I left behind Me" (1812, Newcastle), "Brighton Camp, or the Girl I left behind Me" (1815, Dublin, from which the "Brighton" title probably came), and others. Here is one example:
A number of Irish-language and English-language songs were set to this tune in Ireland in the 19th century, such as "An Spailpín Fánach" (translated into English as "The Rambling Labourer"), The Rare Old Mountain Dew
(published New York, 1882) and in the 20th century, such as Waxie's Dargle.
In England the tune is often known as "Brighton Camp" and is used for Morris Dancing.
These are the lyrics popular by the army in the 19th century:
During the Civil War the Confederates had their own version:
Lincoln's assassination inspired another version.
The theme, "The Girl I Left Behind," can be heard as an overlay in Glenn Miller's arrangement of "American Patrol," popularized during the World War II.
, and is one of two songs often associated with the famous The Spirit of '76 painting, along with "Yankee Doodle
". One example in popular culture which illustrates this cliché is at the end of the Bugs Bunny
cartoon, A Wild Hare
, in which the bunny marches into the sunset at the end of the cartoon, playing the tune on a fife (in reality, a carrot) and effecting a stiff leg as with the fifer in the painting.
Ewan MacColl
's song Ivor uses the tune to wryly mock the supposedly favourable treatment given to Ivor Novello
in prison during World War II. The tune appears in the Popeye
Cartoon Popeye the Sailor meets Sindbad the Sailor. Popeye mumbles to it under his breath as he marches toward his final confrontation with Sindbad. "The Frogs and the Lobsters
", an episode of the Hornblower
television series, features the tune being played by a band of the Royal Marines
, along with the first few bars of "Rule Britannia". The song appears several times in the TV movie Sharpe's Company. In a 1960s Beverly Hillbillies episode, the melody is used for the commercial jingle "the best durn soap is Foggy Mountain Soap".
The tune has also been used as a theme for western films about Indian Wars
, such as a 1915 silent film about Custer, titled The Girl I Left Behind Me and a theme in the soundtrack of the John Ford
and John Wayne
"Cavalry Trilogy", including Fort Apache
and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
. In the 1968 film The Charge of the Light Brigade
a detachment of British soldiers whistle the tune just before the battle of the Alma. In the Australian film Breaker Morant
, 'The Girl I Left Behind' is sung during the comedic episode when Peter Hancock vindicates himself of a murder charge by explaining to the court, his alibi of 'visiting' lady friends.
and Molly Mason
, Joyce Anderson and Matt Cunningham, among others.
History
The first known printed text of a song with this name appeared in the serial song collection The Charms of Melody, Dublin, IrelandIreland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, issue no. 72, printed in Dublin from 1791 and in Exshaw's Magazine (Dublin, September 1794). The earliest known version of the melody was printed about 1810 in Hime's "Pocket Book for the German Flute or Violin" (Dublin), vol. 3, p. 67, under the title "The Girl I left Behind Me" (National Library of Ireland, Dublin). Theodore Ralph claimed that it was known in America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as early as 1650, under the name "Brighton Camp", but there is no evidence to support this assumption, and the only known tune of "Brighton Camp" differed from that of the song in question.
It has many variations and verses, for example "Blyth Camps, Or, the Girl I left behind Me" (1812, Newcastle), "Brighton Camp, or the Girl I left behind Me" (1815, Dublin, from which the "Brighton" title probably came), and others. Here is one example:
- All the dames of France are fond and free
- And Flemish lips are really willing
- Very soft the maids of Italy
- And Spanish eyes are so thrilling
- Still, although I bask beneath their smile,
- Their charms will fail to bind me
- And my heart falls back to Erin's isle
- To the girl I left behind me.
A number of Irish-language and English-language songs were set to this tune in Ireland in the 19th century, such as "An Spailpín Fánach" (translated into English as "The Rambling Labourer"), The Rare Old Mountain Dew
The Rare Old Mountain Dew
-History:It was written by Edward Harrigan with music by Dave Braham, from the Irish drama The Blackbird. It was printed in "Irish street Ballads", 1916. It was later recorded under the title The Rare Old Mountain Dew. It is about the intoxicating properties of Irish moonshine, or Poitín...
(published New York, 1882) and in the 20th century, such as Waxie's Dargle.
In England the tune is often known as "Brighton Camp" and is used for Morris Dancing.
- 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
Civil War use
The song was popular in the US regular army, who adopted it during the War of 1812 after they heard a British prisoner singing it. The song was used by the Army as a marching tune throughout the 19th century.These are the lyrics popular by the army in the 19th century:
- I'm lonesome since I crossed the hill
- And over the moor that's sedgy
- Such lonely thoughts my heart do fill
- Since parting with my Betsey
- I seek for one as fair and gay
- But find none to remind me
- How sweet the hours I passed away
- With the girl I left behind me
During the Civil War the Confederates had their own version:
- Old Abe lies sick, Old Abe lies sick
- Old Abe lies sick in bed
- He's a lying dog, a crying dog
- And I wish that he was dead
- Jeff Davis is a gentleman
- Abe Lincoln is a fool
- Jeff Davis rides a big white horse
- And Lincoln rides a mule
Lincoln's assassination inspired another version.
Other musical forms
This tune has been quoted in some pieces of classical music, such as:- Hamilton HartyHamilton HartySir Hamilton Harty was an Irish and British composer, conductor, pianist and organist. In his capacity as a conductor, he was particularly noted as an interpreter of the music of Berlioz and he was much respected as a piano accompanist of exceptional prowess...
's An Irish Symphony - Roy HarrisRoy HarrisRoy Ellsworth Harris , was an American composer. He wrote much music on American subjects, becoming best known for his Symphony No...
's Symphony No. 4 Folk Song Symphony
The theme, "The Girl I Left Behind," can be heard as an overlay in Glenn Miller's arrangement of "American Patrol," popularized during the World War II.
Examples of use in media
The song has a march beat and has often been associated with British and American military bands, especially in the context of soldiers heading out to (or returning from) battle. The tune is easy to play on the fifeFife (musical instrument)
A fife is a small, high-pitched, transverse flute that is similar to the piccolo, but louder and shriller due to its narrower bore. The fife originated in medieval Europe and is often used in military and marching bands. Someone who plays the fife is called a fifer...
, and is one of two songs often associated with the famous The Spirit of '76 painting, along with "Yankee Doodle
Yankee Doodle
"Yankee Doodle" is a well-known Anglo-American song, the origin of which dates back to the Seven Years' War. It is often sung patriotically in the United States today and is the state anthem of Connecticut...
". One example in popular culture which illustrates this cliché is at the end of the Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
cartoon, A Wild Hare
A Wild Hare
A Wild Hare is a 1940 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated short film. It was produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions, directed by Tex Avery, and written by Rich Hogan. It was originally released on July 27, 1940...
, in which the bunny marches into the sunset at the end of the cartoon, playing the tune on a fife (in reality, a carrot) and effecting a stiff leg as with the fifer in the painting.
Ewan MacColl
Ewan MacColl
Ewan MacColl was an English folk singer, songwriter, socialist, actor, poet, playwright, and record producer. He was married to theatre director Joan Littlewood, and later to American folksinger Peggy Seeger. He collaborated with Littlewood in the theatre and with Seeger in folk music...
's song Ivor uses the tune to wryly mock the supposedly favourable treatment given to Ivor Novello
Ivor Novello
David Ivor Davies , better known as Ivor Novello, was a Welsh composer, singer and actor who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. Born into a musical family, his first successes were as a songwriter...
in prison during World War II. The tune appears in the Popeye
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor is a cartoon fictional character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, who has appeared in comic strips and animated cartoons in the cinema as well as on television. He first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre on January 17, 1929...
Cartoon Popeye the Sailor meets Sindbad the Sailor. Popeye mumbles to it under his breath as he marches toward his final confrontation with Sindbad. "The Frogs and the Lobsters
The Frogs And The Lobsters
The Frogs and the Lobsters is an episode of the television program Hornblower. It is set during the French revolutionary wars and very loosely based on the chapter of the same name in C.S. Forester's novel, Mr. Midshipman Hornblower and on the actual ill-fated Quiberon expedition of 1795...
", an episode of the Hornblower
Hornblower (TV series)
Hornblower is the umbrella title of a series of television drama programmes based on C. S. Forester's novels about the fictional character Horatio Hornblower, a Royal Naval officer during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars....
television series, features the tune being played by a band of the Royal Marines
Royal Marines
The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...
, along with the first few bars of "Rule Britannia". The song appears several times in the TV movie Sharpe's Company. In a 1960s Beverly Hillbillies episode, the melody is used for the commercial jingle "the best durn soap is Foggy Mountain Soap".
The tune has also been used as a theme for western films about Indian Wars
Indian Wars
American Indian Wars is the name used in the United States to describe a series of conflicts between American settlers or the federal government and the native peoples of North America before and after the American Revolutionary War. The wars resulted from the arrival of European colonizers who...
, such as a 1915 silent film about Custer, titled The Girl I Left Behind Me and a theme in the soundtrack of the John Ford
John Ford
John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
and John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
"Cavalry Trilogy", including Fort Apache
Fort Apache (film)
Fort Apache is a 1948 Western film directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and Henry Fonda. The film was the first of the director's "cavalry trilogy" and was followed by She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and Rio Grande , both also starring Wayne...
and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon is a 1949 Western film directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne. The film was the second of Ford's trilogy of films focusing on the US Cavalry ; the other two films were Fort Apache and Rio Grande...
. In the 1968 film The Charge of the Light Brigade
The charge of the light brigade
The Charge of the Light Brigade may refer to the following:* Charge of the Light Brigade, a military action in the Crimean War* The Charge of the Light Brigade, a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson* The Charge of the Light Brigade, a 1936 film...
a detachment of British soldiers whistle the tune just before the battle of the Alma. In the Australian film Breaker Morant
Breaker Morant (film)
Breaker Morant is a 1980 Australian film about the court martial of Breaker Morant, directed by Bruce Beresford and starring British actor Edward Woodward as Harry "Breaker" Morant...
, 'The Girl I Left Behind' is sung during the comedic episode when Peter Hancock vindicates himself of a murder charge by explaining to the court, his alibi of 'visiting' lady friends.
Recordings
"The Girl I Left Behind" has been recorded many times, by Jay UngarJay Ungar
Jay Ungar is an American folk musician and composer. -Biography:Ungar was born in the Bronx , the son of immigrant Jewish parents from Eastern Europe. He frequented Greenwich Village music venues during his formative period in the 1960s...
and Molly Mason
Molly Mason
Molly Mason is an American musician and composer.Mason grew up in Washington state. She plays traditional American fiddle and acoustic bass guitar....
, Joyce Anderson and Matt Cunningham, among others.