Richard Dyer-Bennet Sings "The Bonnie Earl of Morey"

This performance dates from 1962. Dyer-Bennet's cds are available via Amazon and Smithsonian-Folkways. Read more about his fascinating career in Richard Dyer-Bennet: The Las Minstrel, available via Amazon.

[@RetroFan]

James Stewart is my 12th Great-Grandfather.

[@rowanhunter2157]

I've only just discovered RDB and can't get enough

[@mandolin510]

This is the source of "mondegreen," misheard song lyrics: "laid him on the green" was misheard as "Lady Mondegreen."
www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~wilkins/writing/Resources/essays/mondegreens.html

[@brendadrew834]

Love this...brings out my Scottish blood! I play many of these great old folk songs on the piano and they've influenced my own composing of folk inspired songs. Thanks for sharing!

[@MerlePsyA]

Thank you so much for uploading these videos. I just finished reading the biography you wrote of RDB, and I have several CDs of his music. But I never saw him sing. These videos, like the CDs, are priceless! I grew up listening to RDB on 78 records.

[@mankeyfunk]

Thanks, Merle, for your comment. Glad you enjoyed the book! A fan of RDB sent me these videos on a VHS cassette years ago. They're from a TV broadcast. Cheers, POJ

[@xasjodeau]

Thank you so much, mankeyfunk! This is one of my favorite RD-B songs. You have excellent taste!

[@mankeyfunk]

@xasjodea Thanks for your comment. I am Dyer-Bennet's biographer. See Richard Dyer-Bennet: THe Last Minstrel, available in libraries, or via Amazon.com. As a side note, an entire book has been written about the subject of this song. The Bonnie Earl of Murray by Edward Ives. Ives dedicated it to Dyer-Bennet. Cheers, POJ

[@michaeldinsmore5539]

Just a minor bone of contention - it's "Moray," not "Morey." Also, in the lyrics, "Huntley" should be "Huntly."

[@mankeyfunk]

Thanks for your comment. I had not heard the bagpipe band story. Have you read Edward Ives's book The Bonny Earl of Murray: The Man, the Murder, and the Ballad? A fascinating book-length study of the ballad. I hope you have a chance to read my biography of Dyer-Bennet: Richard Dyer-Bennet the Last Minstrel, published by University Press of Mississippi in late 2009.

[@donaldwright6617]

I love this folk song as performed by RDB. (I bought a CD on the Vanguard Classics label called "The Art of Richard Dyer-Bennet" at least a quarter-century ago; it has "The Bonnie Early of Morey" and several other great folk songs. I love RDB's performance of some of Beethoven's transcriptions of folk songs also-much more so than when classical singers perform them.) I didn't know about Edward Ives's book until I saw your post above, and have just ordered it. Thanks for the recommendation!

[@mankeyfunk]

Hope you enjoy it! Thanks, Paul Jenkins

[@xasjodeau]

@mankeyfunk I just ordered your book. I'm glad you brought my attention to it. Looks like a good one.