The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #133473 Message #3029931
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
11-Nov-10 - 08:42 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Jack Tar / Poor Jack / Saucy Sailor
Subject: ADD Version: Saucy Sailor Boy
Some nine copies in the Bodleian of the one mentioned in the Ballad Index; for the record here it is.
SAUCY SAILOR BOY
1 Oh, come my own one, come my fond one Come my dearest unto me, Will you wed with a poor sailor lad, That's just returned from sea? 2 O you are dirty, love, you are ragged, love, And smell so strong of tar, So begone you saucy sailor boy, So begone you, Jack Tar, 3 If I'm dirty, love, if I'm ragged, love, And smell so strong of tar, I have got silver in my pocket, love, And gold in bright store. 4 As soon as she heard him say so, Down on her bended knees she fell, She says, I will love my Henry, I will love my jolly sailor well. 5 Do you think I am foolish, love? Do you think I am mad? For to wed a poor country girl, When there's a fortune to be had. 5 So I'll cross the briny ocean, Where the meadows are so green, And since you have refused my offer, love, Some other girl shall wear the ring. 6 I am frolicsome, I am easy, Good-tempered and free, And I don't care a single pin, my boys, What the world says of me.
Firth c.13(240), Bodleian Collection, H. Such, London, c. 1863-1885.
This seems to me to be a song for teasing, a parlor song for a couple who know nothing of the sea. I will check some of the others for variant lyrics.