Lyr' Add: DOWN BY THE SEASIDE
(The Broken Ring song)

Down by the seaside where the ships were a-sailing\I spied a pretty maid, she was weeping and wailing.
Says I, "My pretty maid, what is it that grieves you?"
But the answer that she gave:- "There is no one can relieve me.

2
"It's been seven long years since my love and I parted,
He left me on shore almost broken-hearted,
And he said that he'd return if his life was but spared him.
Like a dove now I'll mourn since death has deprived him."
3
"Your true love and I fought under one commander,
We fought for our lives and for old England's honour,
Until that unlucky spot where your love and I parted,
But the best of it all was he died loyal-hearted.
4
"Here is a gold ring, 'twas his last parting token,
"Take this to my love since the vows are all broken,
Tell her to be true and to love well the bearer,
Tell her to be true for I vow there's none fairer'."
5
"Begone, you false man and look out for your chances,
I will bid all my love and all his advances,
Since death has served me so I will ne'er wed a stranger,
To the wild woods I'll go and become a woods ranger."
6
But when that he saw she was so loyal-hearted
He flew into her arms saying, "No more we'll be parted,"
They both sat down to sing, but she sang the clearest,
Like a nightingale in the spring saying, "You're welcome home, dearest."

Millville, New Brunswick, 1953.
"This is a rare variation on the broken ring theme. P. 58, with musical score and chords.

Helen Creighton, 1979, "Maritime Folk Songs," Breakwater Press.