Bonnie Blue Flag (The)

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Theme code Index	33 44 53 23
Also known as
Composer/Core Source
Region	United States
Genre/Style	Military
Meter/Rhythm	Air/Lament/Listening Piece, March/Marche
Key/Tonic of	G
Accidental	1 sharp
Mode	Ionian (Major)
Time signature	6/8
History
Structure	AB
Editor/Compiler	Biography:James S. Kerr
Book/Manuscript title	Book:Merry Melodies vol. 3
Tune and/or Page number	No. 292, p. 32
Year of publication/Date of MS	c. 1880's
Artist	Biography:Hoyt Ming and His Pep Steppers
Title of recording	New Hot Times
Record label/Catalogue nr.	Homestead Records 103 (reissue)
Year recorded
Media
Score ()

BONNIE BLUE FLAG. AKA and see "Coleman's March [2]," "Whistle On Your Way." American, March and Song Air (6/8 time). USA; Alabama, Pa. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Bayard): AABB (Kerr, Sweet). A popular Southern Civil War composed song and show tune that quickly became the national anthem of the Confederacy and later entered fiddle and dance folk repertory (especially through discharged soldiers). Besides being an anthem, it was also used as a march air in the Confederacy and, after the war, in other areas of the country (such as southwestern Pennsylvania for one) in martial (i.e. fife and drum) repertory. Samuel Bayard (1981) states it was a favorite in that region of Pennsylvania, although its Southern origins were not always known. Some editors, such as Sigmund Spaeth in History of Popular Music in America, have claimed this tune is derived from a 6/8 time Irish air "The Irish Jaunting Car," although that ditty is also sung to other melodies. Others do not see the connection, and Paul Wells, for one, seems to think a more likely candidate for origins of "Bonny Blue Flag" is the Irish tune "Wearin' o' the Green." It was the repertory of northwest Alabama fiddler D. Dix Hollis, as listed in the Opelika Daily News of 4/17/26. The chorus refers to the official flag of the Confederacy:

Hurrah, hurrah, for Southern rights, hurrah! Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears the single star.

O'Neill (1922) says: "Not less popular that "Johnny I hardly knew ye" in the North, was 'The Bonnie Blue Flag', the Southern National Air, which was to the boys in grey what 'Yankee Doodle' was to the boys in blue. In Adair Fitzgerald's Famous Songs we are told the words of 'The Bonnie Blue Flag' were written in 1862 by Mrs. Annie Chambers Ketchum to an Irish melody adapted or composed by Henry McCarthy. After a fruitless search in several old time collections for the now very rare strain it is presented as noted from the author's memory." See also the cognate tune "Coleman's March [2]."

Source for notated version: George Fisher (Somerset County, Pa., 1962) [Bayard].

Printed sources: Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 547, p. 489. Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 3; No. 292, p. 32. O'Neill (Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody), 1922; No. 70. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964; p. 28.

Recorded source: Homestead Records 103, Hoyt Ming and His Pep Steppers - "New Hot Times!"

X:1
T:Bonnie Blue Flag, The 
M:6/8
L:1/8
S:Capt. F. O'Neill
Z:Paul Kinder
R:March
K:G
D/2G/2|B2 B BAB|c2 c cBc|dcd B2 G|A3-A2 B/2d/2|
g2 g f2 g|e2 d B2 G|A2 G G2 F|G3-G2||
(3d/2e/2f/2|g2 g gfe|f2 f fed|ede gfe|d3 def|
g2 g f2 g|e2 d B2 G|A2 G G2 F|G3-G2||