The Girl I Left Behind

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"The Girl I Left Behind" also known as "The Girl I Left Behind Me" is a long-standing popular folk tune derived from an old Irish ballad that dates to around 1650.

It has many variations and verses. Here is one example:

All the dames of France are fond and free
And Flemish lips are really willing
Very soft the maids of Italy
And Spanish eyes are so thrilling
Still, although I bask beneath their smile,
Their charms will fail to bind me
And my heart falls back to Erin's isle
To the girl I left behind me.

[edit] Notes

The song has a march beat and has often been associated with British and American military bands, especially in the context of soldiers heading out to battle. There is a British variant called "Brighton Camp".

This tune has been used as a theme for western films about Indian Wars, such as:

The tune is easy to play on the fife, and is one of two songs often associated with the famous The Spirit of '76 painting, along with "Yankee Doodle". One example in popular culture which illustrates this cliché is at the end of the Bugs Bunny cartoon, A Wild Hare, in which the bunny marches into the sunset at the end of the cartoon, playing the tune on a fife and effecting a stiff leg as with the fifer in the painting.

An internet search of "The Girl I Left Behind" or "The Girl I Left Behind Me" reveals many recordings of this traditional folk song.

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