A Sailor's Life- Henry Hills (Sus) 1899 Merrick
[From Vol. 1, No. 3, Songs from the Collection of W. P. Merrick (1901), pp. 66-138. Published by: English Folk Dance + Song Society. "A Sailor's Life" was sung by Henry Hills of Lodsworth from W. P. Merrick in November, 1899. Reprinted in Penguin Book Of English Folk Songs with notes bu Williams and Lloyd which follow.
This has the opening stanza and other text from D, The Sailor Boy and his Faithful Mary.
R. Matteson 2017]
Notes in Penguin Book Of English Folk Songs (1959):
"This favourite song has an obscure connection with another popular piece sometimes called Died For Love (from which the students' song There is a Tavern in the Town has descended). Though it lacks the central story of the girl's ocean search for her sweetheart, Died For Love has a similar tune, and some versions use the opening stanza of A Sailor's Life. In revenge, some sets of A Sailor's Life borrow the conclusion of the other song, with the girl directing that her grave be dug wide and deep, and a white turtle dove be put on it, to show that she "died for love". In fact, various singers seem to have "cross-pollinated" the two songs in several ways. Mr. Hills' version has a story at once completer and more concise than usual, and less contaminated with Died For Love. In England, the song has been reported, sometimes under the titles of Sweet William, or Early, Early all in the Spring, from Lincolnshire (FSJ vol.II [issue 9] pp.293-4), Dorset (FSJ vol.VIII [issue 34] p.212), Worcestershire (English County Songs, L.E. Broadwood, 1893), Somerset (English Folk Songs, vol.II, Cecil Sharp, 1921), and Suffolk (Six Suffolk Folk Songs, E.J. Moeran, 1932). Kidson (A Garland of English Folk Songs, 1926, p.92) prints a set of unidentified origin. Pitts and Catnach both published broadsides of the song (the latter called it The Sailor Boy and his Faithful Mary ). It seems particularly common in the United States, and has been adapted to the life of timber-raftsmen." -R.V.W./A.L.L.
This version was collected by W. Percy Merrick from Henry Hills of Lodsworth, Sussex, in 1899, and was first published in the Folk Song Journal, vol.I, [issue 3], p.266.
A SAILOR'S LIFE- Sung by Henry Hills, Lodsworth, Sussex in November of 1899.
A sailor's life is a merry life.
They rob young girls of their heart's delight,
Leaving them behind to sigh and mourn.
They never know when they will return.
Here's four and twenty all in a row.
My sweetheart cuts the brightest show;
He's proper, tall, genteel withal,
And if I don't have him I'll have none at all.
O father, fetch me a little boat,
That I might on the ocean float,
And every Queen's ship that we pass by,
We'll make enquire for my sailor boy.
We had not sailed long upon the deep,
Before a Queen's ship we chanced to meet.
'You sailors all, come tell me true,
Does my sweet William sail among your crew?'
'Oh no, fair lady, he is not here,
For he is drowned, we greatly fear.
On yon green island as we passed by,
There we lost sight of your sailor boy.'
She wrung her hands and she tore her hair,
Much like a woman in great despair.
Her little boat 'gainst a rock did run.
How can I live now my William is gone?'