1317. Fennario (Traditional Scottish) - with Marco Acca
This is the last of the fifteen videos I recorded with Marco Acca when we met in Rome a couple of months ago. I hope we will be able to get together again sometime and do several more songs. This song, also known as "The Bonnie Lass o' Fyvie", "Bonnie Barbara-O" or "Peggy-O", tells of the unrequited love of a captain of Irish dragoons for a beautiful Scottish girl in the town of Fyvie, as told by one of the captain's soldiers. In most versions the girl refuses as she would never marry a foreigner or a soldier, though in some versions the girl is willing but the mother intervenes. When the captain leaves Fyvie, in some versions he threatens to burn down the town, but dies either in battle or of a broken heart. The song soon made its way to England, where it was known as "Handsome Polly-O" or "Pretty Peggy of Derby". It also turned up in America, probably brought by Scottish immigrants to America. Cecil Sharp recorded it in "English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians", and there are variants which set it in the War of 1812 and the American Civil War. The name "Fennario" is really a nonsense word, replacing "Fyvie" to fit the rhyme and rhythm. A lot of other words were used at various times but this is the one that has stuck. The song became very popular during the folk revival of the 1960s. Bob Dylan included it on his first album (1962) under the title "Pretty Peggy-O", based on an early recording by John Strachan (1951). Joan Baez also sang it on her 1963 album <b>...</b>
folk song fyvie joan baez dylan simon garfunkel marcoacca raymondcrooke
