Annotation:Blaw the Wind Southerly

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BLOW THE WIND SOUTHERLY (HOME TO MY DEAR). AKA and see "Kinloch of Kinloch," "Mrs. Kinloch's Favorite," "Yellow John (1)." Scottish, English; Jig or Waltz. England, Northumberland. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (Stokoe): AA'BB' (Carlin). The first strain of this tune is the 'B' part of "Over the Water to Charlie," while the second strain is new. The title appears in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes, published c. 1800, and the song speaks of a young woman beseeching the wind to blow southerly to bring her lover's ship to shore.

Blaw the wind southerly, southerly, southerly,
Blaw the wind southerly, south, or south-west;
My lad's at the bar, at the bar, at the bar,
My lad's at the bar whom I love best.

This is evidently a fragment of an older ballad, and is taken from Ritson's Bishoprick Garland (1834). A variation of the last two lines has been sometimes heard from old songs:--

Blaw the lad ti' the bar, ti' the bar,
Blaw the lad ti' the bar that I love best. (Bruce & Stokoe, 1882)

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Bruce & Stokoe (Northumbrian Minstrelsy), 1882; p. 183. Carlin (English Concertina), 1977; p. 21.

Recorded sources: Topic TSCD 669, Billy Ballantine & Jimmy Hunter (et al) - "Ranting and Reeling: Dance Music of the north of England" (1998. Piccolo player Billy Ballantine {born c. 1890's} and harmonica player Jimmy Hunter were both from Northumberland).

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