Brighton Camp

BRIGHTON CAMP. AKA and see "Girl I Left Behind Me (1) (The)," "Blyth Camps," "Bride in Camp," "Spailpin Fanach (1)." English; Air, Morris Dance (Polka Step), March, or Country Dance Tune (2/2 time). England; North-West, Sussex. G Major (most versions): E Flat Major (Chappell, Scott). Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (Chappell, Scott): ABB' (Sharp): AABB (most versions). The name Brighton is derived from a compound Saxon name (Beorhthelm's tun, or 'Beorhthelm's farm or village') in which the first part is reduced to one syllable. The town of Brighton is in east Sussex and was originally a fishing village that became very popular in the 1760's with the growing fashion for bathing. While still a prince, George IV visited the spa starting in 1783 and purchased an estate nearby, engaging architect John Nash to transform it into the elegant oriental Pavilion which is today a tourist attraction. William IV also stayed there but Queen Victoria found it vulgar and sold it to the Brighton Corporation in 1850 for £50,000.

English music antiquarian William Chappell (1859) dates the song to 1758, reasoning from the fact that there were encampments on the coast of England in 1758 and 1759 to watch for the French fleet which had been threatening invasion of the island. When the English navy defeated the French later in 1759, the fears which established the watch camps dissipated and then were ridiculed in pantomime and farce in London. The air was printed in a MS. of c. 1770 once in the possession of a Dr. Rimbault, but also appears in march form in MS. collections of military music of that time. Kidson (Groves) says he can only reliably date it to 1797, from a manuscript collection then in his possession. The English novelist Thomas Hardy, himself an accordionist and fiddler, mentions the tune in scene notes to The Dynasts:

A June sunrise; the beams struggling through the window curtains. A canopied bed in a recess on the left. The quick notes of 'Brighton Camp' or 'The Girl I Left Behind Me,' strike sharply into the room from fifes and drums without.

Perhaps because the tune was so commonly found throughout English musical tradition it was collected from morris dance musicians from many Cotswold villages, including Adderbury, Bampton, Bidford, Eynsham, and Headington. The Eynsham tune is a bit different than the usual (in the very early 20th century collector Cecil Sharp thought the Eynsham team was the most vigorous morris team he witnessed, and was impressed by their speed and high kicks). In modern times the tune is considered a 'beginner's tune' at some English sessions. It should be noted that Irish claims for provenance of the tune are quite robust (see note for "Girl I Left Behind Me (1) (The)").

I'm lonesome since I crossed the hill,
And o'er the moor and valley,
Such heavy thought 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 left behind me,
With the girl I left behind me.

Source for notated version: Joe Trafford (Headington) [Bacon & the Carey MSS].

Printed sources; Bacon (The Morris Ring), 1974; pp. 34, 62, 143, 197a. Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Time), vol. 2, 1859; pp. 187-188. Scott (English Song Book), 1926; p. 8. Sharp (Country Dance Tunes), 1909; p. 1. Trim (Thomas Hardy), 1990; No. 42. Wade (Mally's North West Morris Book), 1988; p. 4.

Recorded source: Topic TSCD458, John Kirkpatrick - "Plain Capers" (1976).

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X: 1
T:Brighton Camp, or the Girl I left Behind Me
S:from 'Riley's Flute Melodies', I, #349 (1816)
Q:1/4=60
Z:Bruce Olson
L:1/4
M:C
K:G
e/|d3/4B/4  B3/4A/4 B3/4G/4E|{D/E/F/}G/G/ G/4A/4 B/4c/4dB3/4d/4|
d3/4B/4 B3/4A/4 B3/4G/4 E3/4G/4|F/A/ (D/4E/4F/4D/4)GG/::A/|
B/d/e/f/ g/d/B/G/|B/d/e/g/ gf/a/|g/f/g/e/ d/B/ B/G/|F/A/ (D/4E/4F/4D/4)GG/:|]

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