Today’s blog, the 18^th in the #mysongscapes series of winter 2020, honours  East Coast singer Laura Smith and her beautiful rendition of a traditional song that was part of my own childhood. Laura died of cancer yesterday in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. I offer this in her memory, and in memory of my dad.

When I was a little girl, my father sang the traditional Scottish version of this song to me. Maybe it was a lullaby; maybe it was just one of the many songs he sang or whistled around the house. (I’m a whistler, too, and I have a whistling son, which makes me inordinately happy.)  “My bonnie lies over the ocean, my bonnie lies over the sea, my bonnie lies over the ocean, oh bring back my bonnie to me.” My little sister’s name is Bonnie, so the song got lots of play in our house over the years.  My father died in 1995, not long after the photo of us, below, was taken. Coincidentally, that was the year that Laura Smith released her award-winning album B’Tween the Earth and My Soul.

Laura’s version on that album was moody and even a little haunting.  She called it ‘My Bonny’ and it hinted at the sad end of a love affair and her own determination to move on.  But it also seemed to celebrate the wild east coast… “someone’s got a kite on the wind…”.  Although I saw Laura Smith in Toronto acting in a play, I never saw her perform this song.  But we have my friend Duke Lang’s (paganmaestro) beautiful video version with evocative images illustrating her unique voice. Here is the late Laura Smith singing ‘My Bonny’.

MY BONNY (Laura Smith, 1995 from the album B’Tween the Earth and My Soul)

My bonny lies over the ocean
My bonny lies over the sea
My bonny lies over the ocean
Bring back my bonny to me 

The leaves haven’t even started fallin’
Already there’s such a chill in the air
Someone’s got a kite on the wind, maiden calling
Well I’ve got a tramp’s whisker that tells me you still care

So bring back, bring back
Ah bring back my bonny to me
Yeah, bring back, bring back
Ah bring back my bonny to me

Soon there’ll be no difference between the land and the water
I can walk on the ice to places I’ve never been
When I get as far as I can go, oh I’m gonna turn
And throw my cares over my shoulder
Along with your memory
I’ll just let it all float down the Gulf Stream

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My bonny lies over the ocean
My bonny lies over the sea
My bonny lies over the ocean
Come on bring back, bring back my bonny to me

Yeah, bring back, bring back
Ah bring back my bonny to me
Yeah, bring back, bring back
Ah bring back my bonny
Bring back my bonny, yeah
Bring back my bonny to me 

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This is the 18th blog in #mysongscapes series of winter 2020 that combine music I love with my photography. If you enjoyed reading it, have a look at the others.  And please leave a comment if you enjoyed any of them.

1. Joni Mitchell’s ‘Night in the City’;
2. Paul Simon’s ‘Kodachrome’ and my life in photography;
3. Vietnam and Songs of Protest;
4. Galway Bay and memories of my grandfather and Ireland;
5. Simon and Garfunkel’s Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme;
6. The John Denver lullaby I sang to my first grandchild, Today While the Blossoms Still Cling to the Vine.
7. Gordon Lightfoot for a Snow Day
8. Madame George by Van Morrison – my favourite song in the world
9. Brown Eyed Girl(s) – Van Morrison’s classic and my black-eyed susans
10. Raindrops – on flowers and in my gardens
11. Miss Rumphius and the Lupines
12. Bring me Little Water – on water in the garden
13. Amsterdam… Spring Sunshine
14. Both Sides Now – a reflection on clouds and Joni Mitchell
15. Crimson & Clover and Other Legumes – a love letter to the pea family, Fabaceae
16. Mexico – James Taylor serenades in my travelogue of a decade of trips to Mexico
17. Crystal Blue Persuasion – a psychedelic hymn that lets me celebrate blue flowers in the garden