“Baloo, My Boy” is a Scottish tune (“baloo” or
“balow” being a child’s lullaby) taken from poem
allegedly composed by Lady Anne Bothwell – does not
appear to have survived as a broadside, it certainly
became an extremely popular song in England during the
sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and was
reproduced in various collections of traditional
Scottish music. There has been some debate over the
content of the ballad, but one suggested gist describes
the tune as the...(+)
“Baloo, My Boy” is a Scottish tune (“baloo” or
“balow” being a child’s lullaby) taken from poem
allegedly composed by Lady Anne Bothwell – does not
appear to have survived as a broadside, it certainly
became an extremely popular song in England during the
sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and was
reproduced in various collections of traditional
Scottish music. There has been some debate over the
content of the ballad, but one suggested gist describes
the tune as the lament of an abandoned mother (Anne
Bothwell, the Bishop of Orkney’s daughter) whose
lover (purportedly Alexander Erskine, son of the Earl
of Mar), having jilted her, has subsequently been
killed in battle, possibly in 1640.
Though Scottish and clearly literary in origin, its
resonance with early modern English audiences was
clear. Given community and official preoccupations with
abandoned mothers, bastardy and runaway fathers (one
fairly common consequence of pre-marital sex) and their
associated threat to the social order, the ballad would
certainly chimed with contemporary concerns. This would
certainly account for its absorption into English
culture: as well as various representations of Lady
Anne Bothwell appearing in later artwork, snippets from
the original tune also found their way into other
cultural forms, notably Richard Broome’s The Northern
Lass (first printed in 1632). Such popularity and
adaptability might go some way towards explaining why
it was chosen to feature in a Civil War thriller that
conveyed other features of early modern England so
well.
Source: Word Press
(https://historianworking.wordpress.com/2013/08/08/balo
o-my-boy/).
Although originally created for traditional Scottish
instruments, I created this Interpretation of the
Scottish Ballad "Baloo, My Boy" (Lady Anne Bothwell's
Lament) for Flute, Oboe & Celtic or Concert (Pedal)
Harp.
(by Magatagan, Mike)8x⬇ 17x
SHEET MUSIC