The bonny bunch of roses
Anthony Power
Listen to songs, music & stories. View photos of the people & places. Meet the singers & musicians from Ship Cove, Patrick’s Cove, St Bride’s, and Branch. This interactive map of the Cape Shore is a great way to start navigating your way around the outports of this short stretch of Newfoundland’s coastline.
ExploreThe gambling man, song (I am a roaming gambler, I gamble down in town …) A typed transcript based on Aidan O'Hara's field recording, with annotations and corrections by the collector.
| Creator | O'Hara, Aidan |
| Date | November 1975 |
| Publisher | Irish Traditional Music Archive |
| Location | Branch, St Mary's Bay, Newfoundland, Canada |
| Subject | Newfoundland: Singing in English |
| Language | English |
| Collection | Aidan O'Hara Collection |
| Type | Text |
| Extent | 1 p. |
| Copyright | Aidan O'Hara |
| Roud Number | 498 |
| View in ITMA catalogue: | Go to catalogue |
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The bonny bunch of roses, song (I overheard a female talking …) The lyrics of this ballad take the form of a conversation between Napoleon Bonaparte’s widow and his son. She warns her son of the danger of challenging England, Ireland, and Scotland—the bonny bunch of roses—and the folly of attacking Russia. Anthony’s version omits some of the lines that clarify the relationship of the characters, but the singer compensates by rearranging the order of the verses to create a coherent narrative. Most notably, the characters of Napoleon and his son are merged. Historically inaccurate, the song tells a tale of military expansion, of resistance met, and of the ultimate defeat of the invading forces by the opposing allies.
| ITMA Reference | 51940 |
| Creator | Power, Anthony, singing in English |
| Contributor | O'Hara, Aidan ; Goldstein, Kenneth |
| Date | 30 July 1978 |
| Publisher | Irish Traditional Music Archive |
| Location | Branch, St Mary's Bay, Newfoundland, Canada |
| Subject | Newfoundland: Song in English |
| Language | English |
| Collection | RTÉ Newfoundland Recordings |
| Type | Sound |
| Extent | 00:03:08 |
| Copyright | Performer, Kenneth Goldstein, Hugh Rowlings, and Aidan O'Hara |
| Roud Number | 664 |
| View in ITMA catalogue: | Go to catalogue |
© Item in copyright
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Henry Campbell, ca. 1975.
| ITMA Reference | 255532 |
| Creator | O'Hara, Aidan |
| Date | [1975] |
| Publisher | Irish Traditional Music Archive |
| Location | Branch, St Mary's Bay, Newfoundland, Canada |
| Subject | Newfoundland: Singing in English |
| Collection | Aidan O'Hara Collection |
| Type | Image |
| Extent | 1 digital image |
| Copyright | Aidan O'Hara |
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Down by the riverside, song (When I was young and in my prime my age scarce twenty-one …) This song tells the tale of a man whose parents force him to marry a woman of higher social status, forsaking the woman he loves. He later murders his wife because he cannot live with his choice. He is sentenced to hang for his crimes. After Minnie Murphy finished her performance, one of the men present in the room comments that he sometimes heard this song in the lumber camps of western Newfoundland. Little is known about the origins of the song, though the reference to Wexford Gaol suggests a possible southeast Ireland connection. Variants, including that collected by MacEdward Leach from John James of Trepassey, Newfoundland, have been recorded almost exclusively in Newfoundland.
| ITMA Reference | 54059 |
| Creator | Murphy, Minnie, singing in English |
| Contributor | O'Hara, Aidan |
| Date | 1 May 1976 |
| Publisher | Irish Traditional Music Archive |
| Location | St Brides, Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, Canada |
| Subject | Newfoundland: Song in English |
| Language | English |
| Collection | Aidan O'Hara Collection |
| Type | Sound |
| Extent | 00:03:20 |
| Copyright | Performer and Aidan O'Hara |
| Roud Number | 25802 |
| View in ITMA catalogue: | Go to catalogue |
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Jack Mooney (right) and Gerald Campbell (left) on stage at the 1977 Newfoundland Folk Festival in Bannerman Park, St. John’s.
| ITMA Reference | 255629 |
| Creator | O'Hara, Aidan |
| Date | [August] 1977 |
| Publisher | Irish Traditional Music Archive |
| Location | Bannerman Park, St John's, Newfoundland, Canada |
| Subject | Newfoundland: Singing in English |
| Collection | Aidan O'Hara Collection |
| Type | Image |
| Extent | 1 digital image |
| Copyright | Aidan O'Hara |
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