Brisk Young Sailor- Sam Davidson (Aber) 1907 Greig I
[From: The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection - Volume 8- page 261; by Patrick N. Shuldham-Shaw, Emily B. Lyle - 2002. This is the most complete version from the "Greig/Duncan Collection." It's a rare version which has the suicide and the core stanzas.
R. Matteson 2017]
I. A Brisk Young Sailor- sung by Sam Davidson 1863–1951 of Auchedly, Tarves Aberdeen; a farmer of North Seat Farm and well known singer who learned ballads from his farm hands.
1. A brisk young sailor came courting me,
He stole frae me my liberty;
He stole it with my ain free goodwill,
And I canna deny but I love him still.
2. Such a foolish young girl was I
To lay my love on a sailor boy;
A sailor boy altho' that he be,
He aye pro'ved true when he courted me.
3. As lang as my apron was to my toe
He followed me thro' frost and snow;
But now my apron's to my knee
He cares nae mair for my company.
4. There's an alehouse in yonder town
My love gangs and he sets himself down,
He takes another fair maid on his knee,
And he tells her what he has done to me?
5. There's a blackbird on yonder tree,
Some says it's blind and canna see,
I wish it had been the case with me,
When first I fell in his company.
6. I wish, I wish but I wish in vain,
I wish I were a maid again,
But a maid again I'll never be
Till an apple grows on an orange tree.
7. I wish my baby it was born,
And set upon its nurse's knee,
And I myself were dead and gone
And the long green grass growing over me.
8. I saw her love come in last night[1]
To search for his own heart's delight,
He ran upstairs, the doors he broke,
He found his love hanging on the rope.
9. He's ta'en his knife and he's cut her down,
And in her breast this note it was found:
"I promised to be this young man's wife,
And for his sake hae ta'en my life."
10. "You'll go dig my grave both long, wide and deep,
Put a marble stone at my head and my feet,
And in the midst a turtle-dove,
To let all the world know that I died in love."
1. dialogue abruptly shifts to 3rd person