An Irish Young Lady- Grindle (ME) pre1924 Barry A
[From British Ballads from Maine by Barry, Eckstrom and Smyth; 1929. Phillips Barry places the five versions under "Secondary Ballads" and makes no comment about Child's two ballads other than cf. Child 295. Two of Barry's versions are broadsides and since the Boston broadside was not cataloged by Ford it is probably c. 1840s.
This ballad is not to be confused with the popular ballad, Child No. 73 Lord Thomas and Fair Annet, which is commonly known in the US, and Canada as "The Brown Girl."
US and Canada versions are based on the hundreds of late 18th century English broadsides sometimes titled "The Sailor from Dover" or "Sally and her Truelove Billy."
Child's B version of 295, "The Brown, Brown Girl" collected by Rev. S. Baring-Gould, introduced stanzas from the "Sally and her Truelove Billy" songs. In his article "Folk Song Tradition, Revival and Re-Creation" Steve Gardham has shown that Baring-Gould's ballad is a re-creation of two ballads and not traditional.
To put it simply, the versions are not related to "The Brown Girl" but are part of the "The Sailor from Dover" and "Sally and her Truelove Billy" song group. In the US and Canada some common titles are "Pretty Sally," "Sally," and "A Rich Irish Lady." They have been put here following Bronson and others who have attached them to Child 295, not because they belong here.
R. Matteson 2014]
SALLY AND HER TRUE LOVE BILLY
(cf. Child 295)
A. "An Irish Young Lady." Sent in 1924, by Dr. Robert L. Grindle, of Mount Desert, aged 82, who writes of this and other songs contribute, by him: "I think probably these old English songs were introduced by American sailors who had sung them in the forecastle. Every woman living on the Maine coast seventy-five or a hundred years ago came in contact with sailors in her own family or among her neighbors. And probably my grandmother learned this song by hearing some sailor sing it. I say my grandmother, because my mother learned it in her childhood and it is more likely that her mother taught it to her than that she learned it elsewhere." Air recorded, September, 1928, by Mr. George Herzog.
An Irish young lady to old England came,
A most beautiful damsel, fair Sally by name;
This lady was so lofty and her portion so high
That upon a young sailor she'd scarcely cast an eye.
2 She said, "I do not hate you nor any other man,
But as for to love you I'm sure I never can,
So leave off your attentions and hold your discourse,
For I never will marry you unless f am forced."
3 This lady was sick and she went to her bed;
The thought of this young man came into her head;
She was taken sick in love and she knew not just why,
So she sent for this young man she'd slighted so high.
4 "O am I the young man you've sent for?" said he,
"O am I the doctor who can cure thee?"
"O yes, you're the doctor can either kill or cure,
And without your assistance I'm ruined, I'm sure."
5 "O Sally, O Sally, O Sally!" said he
"O don't you remember when I come to court thee,
You most scornfully denied me and bade me be gone?
And so now I'll reward you for what you have done."
6 "O times past and gone, lover, forget and forgive,
And grant a little more for to live,"
"O times past are gone, I'll neither forget nor forgive,
But I'll dance or your grave all the days I may live."
7 "Adieu to my father, adieu to my mother,
Adieu to my sister and likewise my brother,
Adieu to this young man who can't pity me,
O then ten thousand times over my folly I see."
8 "Cheer up, love, cheer up, love," said he,
"Cheer up, love, cheer up love, and married we'll be,"
And married they were and they lived in unity,
And were as happy a couple as ever you did see.