All the "versions" of this song that have been posted so far are modern collations recorded by revival singers; most if not all appear to be based on Ewan MacColl's collation. Either some odd changes have been made to some of them, or mis-hearings have been incorporated in some examples posted here. Of the tiresome insistence of some people on writing "my" as "me" all the time, I have already spoken in other places. It may be appropriate (in some contexts) as document, but when copying lyrics from a professional entertainer it risks affectation, particularly as many people will take it as prescriptive, and will imagine that that is how the song should be sung —whereas it's no more than an attempt (often completely unnecessary) to represent the accent of an individual interpreter.

Only two sets of the song, so far as I know, have ever been found in tradition: I'll add them both here in order to put the derived forms into (perhaps) a slightly clearer context. First, the set that Cecil Sharp got from Thomas Taylor (67), at Ross Workhouse, Herefordshire, 10 September 1921. Taken in this case from Maud Karpeles (ed), Cecil Sharp's Collection of English Folk Songs, Oxford: OUP 1974. II, 299, no. 294.


ON BOARD OF A MAN OF WAR O

I married a wife and her name was Grace
I oft-times cursed her ugly face,
Saying: It's you that has brought me to this disgrace
On board of the man o' war O.

They hung me up by my two thumbs,
And they cut me till the blood did run;
And that was the usage that they gave me
On board of the man o' war O.

If I could get my one foot on shore
Some other pretty girl I'd marry once more;
Neither the winds not the waves should entice me any more
On board of the man o' war O.


[not in verse 3 line 3 appears to be an uncertain reading, and may be nor].


The song was first printed (tune and first verse only) in The Journal of the Folk Song Society, VIII (31) 1927, 14. The following notes were appended:

"No further words were collected." —M[aud] K[arpeles]. [Evidently the other two had been overlooked at that time. All three stanzas were later printed in James Reeves, The Idiom of the People, London: Heinemann, 1958, 155].

"This tune is a curious blend of the Irish march-tune The Peacock and I'm seventeen, come Sunday." —L[ucy] E. B[roadwood].

"This version seems to be an adaptation from that form of The Peacock air familiar to sailors as Just as the tide was flowing. See Kidson's Traditional Tunes, p. 108." —A[nne] G. G[ilchrist].


X:1
T:On Board of a Man of War O
S:Thomas Taylor (67), Ross Workhouse, Herefordshire, 10 September 1921.
Z:Cecil Sharp
B:Maud Karpeles, Cecil Sharp's Collection of English Folk Songs, Oxford 1974: II, 299, no. 294.
N:Sharp MS 3348 (words) 4875 (music)
N:Roud 662
L:1/8
Q:1/4=120
M:4/4
K:D
(BA)|G2 EE F2 DD|G2 G2 A2 (BA)|
w:I_ mar-ried a wife and her name was Grace I_
G2 E2 F2 D2|
w:oft-times cursed her
M:3/2
E2 E2 E4 e2 ee|
w:ug-ly face, Say-ing: It's
M:4/4
d2 BB (BA)GG|
w:you that has brought_ me to
M:3/2
A2 A2 B4 (B3c)|
w:this dis-grace On_
M:4/4
d2 ee B2 (AG)|A4 E2|]
w:board of the man o'_ war O.

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This is the tune that Sharp got from Thomas Taylor (67), at Ross Workhouse, Herefordshire, 10 September 1921. Taken in this case from Maud Karpeles (ed), Cecil Sharp's Collection of English Folk Songs, Oxford: OUP 1974. II, 299, no. 294.

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The other set was noted by E J Moeran from James Sutton, at Winterton, Norfolk, July 1915.


THE PRESSGANG

As I walked up of London street
A pressgang there I did meet;
They asked me if I'd join the fleet,
And sail in a man o' war, boys.

Pray, brother shipmates, tell me true
What sort of usage they give you,
That I may know before I go
On board of a man o' war, boys.

But when I went, to my surprise
All that they told me was shocking lies,
There was a row and a [jolly] old row
On board of a man o' war, boys.

The first thing they did they took me in hand,
They flogged me with a tar of a strand,
They flogged me till I could not stand
On board of a man o' war, boys.

Now, I was married and my wife's name was Grey;
'Twas she that led me to shocking delay,
'Twas she that caused me to go away
On board of a man o' war, boys.

So when I get my foot on shore
Those Irish girls to see once more,
I'll never go to sea any more
On board of a man o' war, boys.


The Journal of the Folk Song Society, VII (26) 1922, 11-12.


X:1
T:The Pressgang
S:James Sutton, at Winterton, Norfolk, July 1915.
Z:E J Moeran
B:Journal of the Folk Song Society, VII (26) 1922, 11-12
N:Roud 662
L:1/8
Q:1/4=120
M:4/4
K:Bb
(Bc)|d2 d2 (Bc) d2|c2 (cB) A2 c2|
w:As_ I walked up_ of Lon-don_ street A
B2 (AG) (AG F2)|G2 (F=E) D2 D2
w:press-gang_ there__ I did_ meet; They
G3 A B2 (AG)|
w:asked me if I'd_
M:6/4
(cd) =e2 d4-d2 c2|
w:join_ the fleet,_ And
M:4/4
B2 A G A2 B2|(G3F) G4|]
w:sail in a man o' war,_ boys.