....and most of us think it's really wonderful when a thread lives on for a dozen years or more. Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry on this song:

Johnny the Sailor (Green Beds) [Laws K36]

DESCRIPTION: Johnny comes from sea and asks the innkeeper for a bed and the chance to see her daughter (Molly). Neither is granted. He reveals that his last trip made him rich; the innkeeper offers him all he asked. He ignores the offer; he will go where he is wanted
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1830 (broadside, Bodleian, Harding B 25(1124))
KEYWORDS: sea money courting greed landlord sailor
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond,South),Scotland(Aber)) US(Ap,MW,NE,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Ont) Ireland
REFERENCES (25 citations):
Laws K36, "Johnny the Sailor (Green Beds)"
Belden, pp. 160-162, "Green Beds" (2 texts plus reference to 1 more)
Randolph 53, "Johnny the Sailor" (3 texts plus 2 excerpts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 70-72, "Johnny the Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 53A)
Eddy 32, "The Green Bed" (1 text)
Gardner/Chickering 24, "The Green Beds" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Warner 49, "Captain John" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 108, "Green Beds" (2 texts plus 2 excerpts and mention of 1 more)
BrownSchinhanIV 108, "Green Beds" (5 excerpts, 5 tunes)
Hudson 42, pp. 156-158, "Young Johnny" (1 text)
Brewster 31, "Young Johnny" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 430-431, "Jackson" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 58, "The Green Bed" (4 texts, 4 tunes)
Greig #115, p. 2, "The Brisk Young Sailor Lad" (1 text)
GreigDuncan1 48, "Johnny and the Landlady" (6 texts, 3 tunes)
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, pp. 48-49, "The Green Bed" (1 text, 1 tune)
Butterworth/Dawney, pp. 40-41, "A Story, A Story" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wiltshire-WSRO Ox 271, "John Returned from the Sea" (1 text)
SHenry H779, p. 54, "The Sailor in the Alehouse" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 124, "Young Johnny" (1 text)
Mackenzie 93, "Green Beds" (2 texts, 1 tune); "The Liverpool Landlady" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke-Ontario 8, "Johnny the Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 142, "Jackson" (1 text)
DT 323, JACKBEDS* JACKBED2*
ADDITIONAL: James P. Leary, Compiler and Annotator, _Wisconsin Folklore_ University of Wisconsin Press, 2009, article "Kentucky Folksong in Northern Wisconsin" by Asher E. Treat, pp. 243-244, "Young Johnny He Has Landed" (1 text, 1 tune, sung by Pearl Jacobs Borusky)
Roud #276
RECORDINGS:
Warde Ford, "Johnny" (AFS 4200 A1, 1938; tr.; in AMMEM/Cowell)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(1124), "Liverpool Landlady," T. Birt (London), 1828-1829; also Harding B 11(2177), Harding B 11(2178), Firth c.13(178), Firth c.13(177), "Liverpool Landlady"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wild Rover No More" (plot)
cf. "The Saucy Sailor (Jack and Jolly Tar II) [Laws K38]"
cf. "Sweet William of Plymouth" (theme: poor sailor returning wealthy, is rejected by sweetheart's parents who think him still poor)
cf. "Snapoo" (plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Jack Tar
I'll Tell You of a Story
The Sailor
NOTES: Laws's numeration of the ballad subfamily known as "Jackson" is confused. In Native American Balladry he lists it as an American song, with no known relatives, and numbers it as dH40. However, in British Broadsides, he lists it as a version of "Johnny the Sailor." The latter identification is clearly correct, even though Sandburg describes his text as a "survivor of the years of the War with Mexico." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.7
File: LK36

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The Ballad Index Copyright 2012 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.