If I Was a Blackbird
Roud# 307

The song was collected in 1906 from an unknown author.

This song is likely composed of floating verses in common with ballads from the early 1800s, such as "The Darling Boy"/"I Wish I Had Never", but no earlier broadside versions have been found.

From the Bodleian Broadside Ballads Library

I Wish I Had Never Lov'd No One At All
Printer: S.B. Clouter (Bristol)
Between 1806-1815
Very poor facsimile copy

The Darling Boy
Roud# 1452
Printer: J. Pitts
Between 1802-1819

I wish I had ne'er known no one at all,
For love is the occasion of my down-fall,
For love it is a grief and torment to me,
And I have lost my love fighting for sweet liberty.

I wish I had never seen his curly hair,
His smiling looks doth my heart ensnare,
His red rosy cheeks and his rolling black eye,
His smiling looks doth my heart decoy.

Some say I'm with child but that I do defy,
More honour to ask me if I should deny,
Come tarry awhile and I'll let you to know,
He loves me too well for to leave me so.

He courted me often by night and by day,
But now he's turned out and gone far away,
But when he returns I will crown him with joy,
And kiss the sweet lips of my darling boy.

I wish I had wings like a blackbird to fly,
I'd fly to the arms of my dear darling boy,
And on his sweet bosom I would build a nest,
My heart with delight on his snow white breast.



In "If I Was a Blackbird", however, the cause for the woman’s grief is her parents’ disapproval of her suitor—a sailor - whereas in "The Darling Boy"/"I Wish I Had Never", the lad has simply sailed away to fight for “sweet liberty,” leaving the woman distraught and, apparently, pregnant. In both versions the woman fantasises about the affection she will lavish on her true love when he returns:
And when he returns I will crown him with joy,
And I’ll kiss the sweet lips of my own darling boy.