Blow the Wind Southerly

"Blow the Wind Southerly" is a folk song with origins in Tyneside.[2] The chorus of "Blow the Wind Southerly" first appeared in print in the 1834 publication The Bishoprick Garland by Cuthbert Sharp.[3][4] The 1882 book Northumbrian Minstrelsy published an arrangement by John Collingwood Bruce and John Stokoe of the chorus in D major and an 6/8 time signature.[5] In the 1892 book Songs and Ballads of Northern England, Stokoe added to "Blow the Wind Southerly" three new verses written by John Stobbs on a broadside.[6]

Kathleen Ferrier made an a cappella recording that is perhaps the best-known version of the song in 1949, released by Decca Records.[7][8][9]

Welsh opera singer Bryn Terfel recorded two versions, first in 2009 accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Barry Wordsworth, with vocal backing by London Voices.[10] In 2013, Terfel recorded another version with the Orchestra at Temple Square conducted by Mack Wilberg.[11]

Sheku Kanneh-Mason recorded an instrumental version on cello in 2019. It was released on his 2020 album Elgar, also on Decca.[12] A music video of Kanneh-Mason performing that version was also released in 2020.[13]

As with all folk music, there are now multiple versions of the lyrics after years of these lyrics being passed down the generations primarily by word of mouth. A common version is:

The Ferrier recording does not have the "Oh," at the start of the last verse and changes ""when 'tis" to "'tis when".[15] Also, the Ferrier recording varies the words of the chorus, whereas traditional versions do not; and the Ferrier recording misses out the second of the three verses shown above. [14]