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Origins: She Had a Dark and a Rovin' Eye

DigiTrad:
THE FIRESHIP
THE ROVING KIND
WATTON TOWN'S END:


Related threads:
Lyr Add: The Sailor's Wife (Rakish Kind) (8)
Lyr Req: The Fireship (34)
Lyr Req: a dark and a rovin' eye (Fireship) (24)
Fireship/One of the Roving Kind (19)


Gene Graham 05 Apr 97 - 09:37 PM
Bob Schwarer 05 Apr 97 - 03:14 PM
dick greenhaus 05 Apr 97 - 11:05 AM
Ralph Butts 05 Apr 97 - 07:18 AM
Ralph Butts 05 Apr 97 - 07:09 AM
Dick Wisan 04 Apr 97 - 11:07 PM
Arnowitt 04 Apr 97 - 10:58 PM
Les Blank 04 Apr 97 - 10:55 PM
Les Blank 04 Apr 97 - 10:47 PM
Joe Offer 04 Apr 97 - 08:43 PM
Mountain Dog 04 Apr 97 - 06:58 PM
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Subject: Lyr Add: THE ROVING KIND (Guy Mitchell)
From: Gene Graham
Date: 05 Apr 97 - 09:37 PM

Here's the lyrics to the version of THE ROVING KIND that I remember; as recorded by GUY MITCHELL/1981 CBS/ENCORE - The SMASH HIT that made him a star. It was backed with: MY HEART CRIES FOR YOU, also a BIG HIT. Liner notes say Mitch Miller "pitched" MY HEART CRIES TO YOU to Frank Sinatra, who turned it down.

THE ROVING KIND - Guy Mitchell

REFRAIN: She had a dark and a roving eye-i-i
And her hair hung down in ring-a-lets
She was a nice girl, a proper girl
But - one of the roving kind."

As I cruised out one evening upon a night's career
I spied a lofty clipper ship and to her I did steer
I hoisted (heisted) out my sig-a-nals, which she so quickly knew
And when she saw my bunting flag, she immediately hove too-oo-oo. REFRAIN:

I took her for some fish and chips and treated her so kind
And hardly did I realize she was the rovin' kind
I kissed her lips, I missed her lips and found to my surprise
She was nothin' but a pirate ship rigged up in a dis-gui-se. REFRAIN:

So come all ye good sailor men who sail the wintry sea
And come all ye apprentice lads, a warning take from me
Beware of lofty clipper ships, they'll be the ruin of you-ou
For it was there that she made me walk the plank and pushed me under too-hoo-hoo. REFRAIN:

TAG: She was a nice girl, a proper girl; But one of the rovin' kind.

Source: THE ROVING KIND - GUY MITCHELL/1981 CBS


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Subject: RE: She Had A Dark & A Rovin Eye
From: Bob Schwarer
Date: 05 Apr 97 - 03:14 PM

More's the pity. I love those old sea songs, bawdy or not. Bob S.


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Subject: RE: She Had A Dark & A Rovin Eye
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 05 Apr 97 - 11:05 AM

Hi- The requested song is called The Fireship. It's in the database (if you can't remember the title, you could always search for [Dark and roving])

The one quoted is a Weavers re-write (to clean it up and avoid offending Methodists) of a fine old bawdy sea song.


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Subject: RE: She Had A Dark & A Rovin Eye
From: Ralph Butts
Date: 05 Apr 97 - 07:18 AM

That's interesting. The italics are still set on. The whole thing is one big HTML page. That means your tags will be influenced by what happened before. If someone goofs, it's harder to undo. Adding a to this message should remove the italics.....Tiger


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Subject: RE: She Had A Dark & A Rovin Eye
From: Ralph Butts
Date: 05 Apr 97 - 07:09 AM

Dick.......If you do your editing in Notepad or a word processor first, you can probably view the page with your browser to check the appearance. With Netscape, it's "Open File in Browser".....Tiger


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Subject: RE: She Had A Dark & A Rovin Eye
From: Dick Wisan
Date: 04 Apr 97 - 11:07 PM

I believe I recall that this song had a fair run as a pop song in the 50's --has to be the early 50's-- which explains the non-Weaverish style of some of the recordings. I remember some Folkish person singing

She was a nice girl, a proper girl
But, one of the rakish kind.

He explained that "rakish" was the original word (dangerous thing to say). You could tell who was pop and who knew the real thing by whether they sang "rakish" or "roving".

Can't remember any more of the words than poster has. It's one of those perennials about the sailor ashore:

Boy meets girl,
Boy gets girl
Girl gets everything boy has,
Boy loses girl & everything else.

HTML fixed. --JoeClone, 16-Apr-03.


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Subject: RE: She Had A Dark & A Rovin Eye
From: Arnowitt
Date: 04 Apr 97 - 10:58 PM

Nope. The Black family also did a lovely, clear record- ing of it. I'll write em out over the next few days. once I dig out my tape. I've been meaning to do it anyway.


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Subject: RE: She Had A Dark & A Rovin Eye
From: Les Blank
Date: 04 Apr 97 - 10:55 PM

Just as I hit the SEND button, a verse popped into my head. Don't know for sure, but it may belong to this song.

As I sailed out one evening upon a night's career,

I saw a lofty clipper ship and to her I did steer.

I hoisted up my sig-ga-nals, which she so quickly knew.

And when she saw my bunting fly, she immediately hove too-oo-oo.

Chorus

Am I mad ??


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Subject: RE: She Had A Dark & A Rovin Eye
From: Les Blank
Date: 04 Apr 97 - 10:47 PM

This song was also recorded by Guy Mitchell (of Pittsburg Pennsylvania and Sparrow in the Treetop fame) in the late fifties or early sixties. As much of a fan as I am of the Weavers I have never heard their rendition. Joe, where can I look for the album you mentioned ?

Les Blank


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Subject: RE: She Had A Dark & A Rovin Eye
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Apr 97 - 08:43 PM

The song is "The Roving Kind," by Jessie Cavanaugh and Arnold Stanton. You'll find it on "The Best of the Decca Years" CD by the Weavers, which I'm too lazy to transcribe this evening. Good song, though. I'm going to wait and see if I can find the lyrics or maybe somebody else will transcribe it.

It's got kind of a "big band" sound to it, which is not what you'd expect from the Weavers. I used to hear it occasionally when one of our local radio stations played the "Music of Your Life" format - it was the ONLY Weavers song they played.

-Joe-


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Subject: She Had A Dark & A Rovin Eye
From: Mountain Dog
Date: 04 Apr 97 - 06:58 PM

Looking for lyrics and chords to an old tune with a nautical flavor my Dad used to sing, accompanied on a tenor ukelele.

I remember these lines from the chorus:

"She had a dark and a roving eye

And her hair hung down in ring-gel-lets

She was a _____ girl, a proper girl,

But one of the roving kind."

Any help would be appreciated.


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