For another song that is similar and fits the same tune, check out THE YOUNG SAILOR LAD in the database. "From the Grieg Duncan Folk Song Collection Collected from Margaret Gillespie, 1905 "

I like to sing the Young Sailor Lad to the tune of If I Were A Blackbird, starting the first verse - When I was a young maid my fortune was bad, for I fell in love with a young sailor lad... and ending the chorus with ... and I'd pillow my head on his golden chest. Combining the verses of Margaret Gillespie with the extra verse by Mrs. Cruikshank and other influences, and tweaking it a little as it became mine over time of memorizing, this is how I sing it now:

When I was a young maid, my fortune was bad,
For I fell in love with a young sailor lad
He courted me fondly by night and by day
But now he has left me and gone far away.

My friends they all tell me that I am beguiled
Some of my friends say that I am with child;
But I'll keep myself easy, they'll say what they will
While there breath in my body, I'll love him still.

If the child be a boy he shall fight for his King
If she be a girl she will wear a gold ring
A ring on her fingered engraved all in gold
With the name of her father, the young sailor bold.

If I was a blackbird, I'd whistle and sing,
I'd fly to the vessel my true love sails in,
In the top rigging, I'd there build my nest
And I'd pillow my head on his golden chest.

There was three curly locks in my laddie's black hair
His three curly locks did my poor heart ensnare
His red rosy cheeks and his dark rolling eyes
And his false flattering tongue did my poor heart entice.

A bunch o blue ribbons I'll lay up with care
To tie back the locks o my laddie's black hair
An when he comes home I will crown him with joy
An' kiss the sweet lips o my dear sailor boy.

I particularly like the verse about the child being boy or girl and the engraved gold ring.

Andy Stewart's version that changed it to a man's point of view just grates on my nerves because it was the men who went to sea and this song used to be a very good example of the woman's experience, but now it has been overwhelmed by his recorded version. There are a lot of men around whom I have heard singing it from his version and it just doesn't ring true for me when I hear it (sensitive new age guy syndrome?). Anyway, I guess I should get over it.

Alice