Henry Campbell was a fisherman who also kept a few cattle. “There’s little else to say of Henry,” his son Gerald said one afternoon in January 2018 (phone conversation with Rebecca Draisey-Collishaw).
Henry sang all of the time, but was otherwise a quiet man. Henry had a vast repertoire of songs; after all, he lived at a time when “all his crowd sang.” Henry, though, was known for having a particularly fine memory for songs that no one else could recall. Many of the singers recorded by Aidan O’Hara mention Henry: Henry was the one who was sure to know the words to a particularly long ballad or recall the words for a forgotten verse. Henry especially liked to sing at Christmas time, and at any house parties that might be happening.
Georges Banks / Henry Campbell & Gerald Campbell
Georges Banks, song (Ye roving sons of Newfoundland, I hope you will draw near …) Georges Bank is a large plateau-shaped shoal off the coast of Massachusetts. It is part of a series of banks and shoals that extend along the edge of the North American continental shelf—the most northern of which are Newfoundland’s Grand Banks. This ballad tells the story of a ship, the Morning Star, whose crew was fishing on Georges Banks. The ship was caught in a November gale that resulted in many fisherman freezing or being swept overboard before they could return to Newfoundland. Other versions of this song are included in Greenleaf and Mansfield’s Ballads and Sea Songs of Newfoundland (1933:260–263); Kenneth Peacock’s Songs of the Newfoundland Outports 3 (1965:916–21); and among the recordings of MacEdward Leach.
| ITMA Reference | 54052 |
| Creator | Campbell, Henry, singing in English ; Campbell, Gerald, singing in English |
| Contributor | O'Hara, Aidan |
| Date | 9-10 November 1975 |
| Publisher | Irish Traditional Music Archive |
| Location | Branch, St Mary's Bay, Newfoundland, Canada |
| Subject | Newfoundland: Song in English |
| Language | English |
| Collection | Aidan O'Hara Collection |
| Type | Sound |
| Extent | 00:08:13 |
| Copyright | Performer and Aidan O'Hara |
| Roud Number | 6468 |
| View in ITMA catalogue: | Go to catalogue |
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The brave volunteer / Henry Campbell
The brave volunteer, song (One cold stormy night in the month of December …) The song tells the story of a widow lamenting the loss of her husband, whose ship sank off the shore of Galway. In this version of the song, the protagonist (whose name is Henry) leaves to seek his fortune, but how remains unclear. Another version of the song, recorded on a 19th-century ballad sheet held in the Bodleian Libraries (Bod7845) specifies that Henry has volunteered to fight as a mercenary for a Portuguese king.
| ITMA Reference | 54046 |
| Creator | Campbell, Henry, singing in English |
| Contributor | O'Hara, Aidan |
| Date | 4-5 October 1975 |
| Publisher | Irish Traditional Music Archive |
| Location | Branch, St Mary's Bay, Newfoundland, Canada |
| Subject | Newfoundland: Song in English |
| Language | English |
| Collection | Aidan O'Hara Collection |
| Type | Sound |
| Extent | 00:04:42 |
| Copyright | Performer and Aidan O'Hara |
| Roud Number | V3259 / 9784 |
| View in ITMA catalogue: | Go to catalogue |
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The true lovers' conversation / Henry Campbell
The true lovers' conversation, song (One pleasant evening as pinks and daisies, closed in their bosom a drop of dew …) This broadside ballad recounts an overheard conversation between two lovers. The woman questions the man’s fidelity and love. Eventually it is revealed that she fancies another who has wealth and fortune. The man rejects her and she retracts her statements, explaining that she was merely testing his love for her. In Shamrock, Rose and Thistle, song scholar Hugh Shields suggests that the text originates from an anonymous poet of Magheratimpany, Ballynahinch, Co Down (1981:155). Henry Campbell learned this song from a woman named Kay Lynch—a nurse in Branch—who got it out of a songbook.
| ITMA Reference | 54052 |
| Creator | Campbell, Henry, singing in English |
| Contributor | O'Hara, Aidan |
| Date | 9-10 November 1975 |
| Publisher | Irish Traditional Music Archive |
| Location | Branch, St Mary's Bay, Newfoundland, Canada |
| Subject | Newfoundland: Song in English |
| Language | English |
| Collection | Aidan O'Hara Collection |
| Type | Sound |
| Extent | 00:12:30 |
| Copyright | Performer and Aidan O'Hara |
| Roud Number | 2948 |
| View in ITMA catalogue: | Go to catalogue |
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Courtesy of Gerald Campbell
Gerald Campbell (1933–2019)
James Connors
Irish Traditional Music Archive /
Taisce Cheol Dúchais Éireann
73 Merrion Square
Dublin 2
Ireland
D02 WK75
T +353 (0)1 661 9699
