Here's a broadside edition of this song, from Bodleian Ballads Catalogue: Harding B 18(670)

Publisher: H. De Marsan, Publisher, 54 Chatham Street, N.Y
Publication date: about 1860


MY JOHNNY WAS A SHOEMAKER

My Johnny was a shoemaker, and dearly he loved me;
My Johnny was a shoemaker, but now he's gone to sea,
With nasty tar to sile his hands,
And sail across the briny sea, e, e, e —
My Johnny was a shoemaker.
    CHORUS:
    But now he's gone to reef top-sail,
    And sail across the briny sea, e, e, e —
    My Johnny was a shoemaker.

His jacket was a deep sky blue, and curly was his hair;
His jacket was a deep sky blue, it was, I do declare;
But now he's gone to reef top-sail,
And sail across the briny sea, e, e, e —
My Johnny was a shoemaker.
CHORUS

A captain he will be bi'm bye, with a sword and spy-glass too;
A captain he will be bi'm bye, of a bold and gallant crew.
And then across the sea he'll roam, all for to marry me, e, e, e —
My Johnny was a shoemaker.
CHORUS

And when I am a captain's wife, I'll sing the whole day long;
Yes, when I am a captain's wife, why, this shall be my song:
May peace and plenty be our lot, and a little son on our knee, e, e, e —
My Johnny was a shoemaker.
CHORUS

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As stated in the Traditional Ballad Index, there are two broadsides of this song at Bodleian Ballads, and two at the Library of Congress. Apparently, they're all the same H. De Marsan edition - I didn't check the ones at the Library of Congress.

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I suppose most people know the Steeleye Span version of this song, which does not include the last (captain's wife) verse. The version recorded by the John Renbourn Group on the Maid in Bedlam is much closer to the text in this broadside. Who's the female vocalist on the John Renbourn Group recording?