Penguin Book version along with Mikeen McCarthy's

A SAILOR'S LIFE
(Laws K12) (Roud 273)
A sailor's life is a merry life.
They rob young girls of their heart's delight,
Leaving them behind to sigh and mourn.
They never know when they will return.

Here's four and twenty all in a row.
My sweetheart cuts the brightest show;
He's proper, tall, genteel withal,
And if I don't have him I'll have none at all.

O father, fetch me a little boat,
That I might on the ocean float,
And every Queen's ship that we pass by,
We'll make enquire for my sailor boy.

We had not sailed long upon the deep,
Before a Queen's ship we chanced to meet.
'You sailors all, come tell me true,
Does my sweet William sail among your crew?'

'Oh no, fair lady, he is not here,
For he is drowned, we greatly fear.
On yon green island as we passed by,
There we lost sight of your sailor boy.'

She wrung her hands and she tore her hair,
Much like a woman in great despair.
Her little boat 'gainst a rock did run.
How can I live now my William is gone?'

From the singing of Henry Hills, Lodsworth, Sussex 1899
The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs

EARLY IN THE MONTH OF SPRING   
(Laws K12) (Roud 273)
Rec from Mikeen McCarthy (Traveller) Cahersiveen, Kerry

It was early, early in the month of Spring
When my love Willie went to serve the king,
The night was dark and the wind blew high.
Oh, that parted me from my sailor boy.

Oh then, father, father, build me a boat,
It's on the ocean I mean to float
To watch those big ships as they pass by,
Have they any tidings of my Willie boy.

Oh, she was not sailing but a day or two
When she spied a French ship and all her crew.
Saying, captain, captain, come tell me true,
Oh does my boy Willie sail aboard with you?

What colour hair has your Willie dear?
What kind of clothes do your Willie wear?
He've a black silk jacket and it trimmed all round,
And his golden locks they are hanging down.

Oh indeed, fair lady, your love is not here,
For he is drownded I am greatly feared,
In yon green island as we passed by
Oh, we lost nine more and your Willie boy.

Oh, she wrung her hands and she tore her hair,
She was like a lady all on despair,
She dashed her small boat against the rocks,
Saying, what will I do if my love is lost?

Oh father, father, dig we my grave,
Dig it long, both wide and deep,
Put a headstone to my head and feet,
And let the world know it was in love I died.

A.L.Lloyd the English folk-song scholar, in his note to a Sussex version of this song, which it entitled   "A Sailor's Life", pointed out that it is often combined with "Died For Love", although he held them to be two different songs.   Mikeen's last verse makes this such a hybrid.


Jim Carroll