THEY DON'T WRITE 'EM LIKE THAT ANYMORE - by Jim Matthews

I'll sing you a song, it's not very long
If I can remember the words
If I can remember the words
If I can remember the words.

There was something about a bold sailor
Lately returned to the shore
He'd been sailing around the East Indies
But I don't remember no more.

There was also a fair pretty maiden
Her name it was Nancy I'm sure
She'd been waiting long years for him to return
But she couldn't wait anymore.

There were blackbirds and blacksmiths and thrushes
Singing on every green spray.
Someone wore a black shawl or was it nothing at all
And somehow I'm sure it was May.

Well, he told her of cruel privations
As they rounded the Horn in a gale
But never a word of relations
With cabin boys, male or female.

But putting his hand in his pocket
A handful of broken tokens he chose
And he said to his own darling Jewel
Do you recognize any of those?

Well, our William like all British sailors
Had silver and gold in great store
So wedding bells chimed, to Wild Mountain Thyme
They don't write 'em like that anymore.

Got this from a friend who signs onto Mudcat occasionally as KNITPICK. It's a great song that she said she got from the singing of Carla Sciaky. Hope it's the one you are looking for.

karen