My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean
Folk · 1800s · Traditional Scottish/English folk song, in print since the 1880s
Sing My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean with pitch feedback
“My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean” is transcribed here with its tonic on C4 at 108 bpm in 3 beats to the bar. The 17 notes span E3 to E4 — 12 semitones — which rates Hard to sing, and a full 4-pass session runs about 0:53.
12 semitones as transcribed. The practice room transposes it to sit in your own range.
- One time through
- 0:13 at 108 bpm
- A full session
- 0:53 — 4 passes
- Leaps of a third or more
- 2
My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean lyrics, as transcribed here
- My Bonnie lies over the ocean,
- my Bonnie lies over the sea,
The songbook transcribes the opening phrase rather than the whole song, because 4 tight repetitions of a phrase you can hear yourself improve on beats one distracted run at the full thing.
Origin and copyright status
Traditional folk song of unknown authorship; sheet-music printings were in circulation by the 1880s, and no copyright has ever attached to the tune or lyric.
- Attribution
- Traditional Scottish/English folk song, in print since the 1880s
- Language
- English
Every melody in the songbook is public domain, which is why the whole thing can be sung in a browser without a licence. A specific recording or arrangement of the same tune can still be under copyright — this is our own transcription of the melody.
Genre, era and what it drills
Tags describe what the melody asks of a voice, not what it sounds like — “ballad” is the reason to pick it on a given day.