Early Early in the Spring- [Laws M1] Roud #152
[This somewhat similar ballad has borrowed from "Died for Love"-- mostly the "Go dig my grave" last stanza.
Early, Early in the Spring [Laws M1]
DESCRIPTION: The singer is (pressed and) sent to sea. (He writes to his true love, but her father withholds the letters.) When he returns, her father tells him she has wed another. He accuses her of unfaithfulness and swears to spend the rest of his life at sea
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1869 (Logan; broadside version appears to date to the seventeenth century)
KEYWORDS: separation courting love poverty sailor pressgang
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So) Britain(England,Scotland(Aber)) Canada (Mar,Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES (29 citations):
Laws M1, "Early, Early in the Spring"
Logan, pp. 28-30, "The Disappointed Sailor" (1 text)
OShaughnessy-Grainger 6, "Early One Spring" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greig #128, p. 1, "Early in the Spring" (1 text)
GreigDuncan1 51, "The Sailor Deceived" (5 texts, 2 tunes)
Belden, pp. 163-164, "Early, Early in the Spring" (2 texts)
Randolph 81, "Early, Early in the Spring" (4 texts plus an excerpt, 2 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 77-80, "Early, Early in the Spring" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 81D)
McNeil-SFB1, pp. 144-145, "The Disappointed Lover" (1 text, 1 tune)
Boswell/Wolfe 38, pp. 67-69"Early, Early in the Spring" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 87, "Early, Early in the Spring" (2 texts plus 1 excerpt)
BrownSchinhanIV 87, "Early, Early in the Spring" (3 excerpts, 3 tunes)
Hudson 41, pp. 155-156, "Early in the Spring" (1 text)
Moore-Southwest 94, "Early In One Spring" (1 text, 1 tune)
MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 144-146, "Early, Early in the Spring" (1 text)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 328-331, "Early, Early in the Spring" (3 texts, the third very short; 2 texts on p. 444)
SharpAp 125, "Early, Early in the Spring" (5 texts, 5 tunes)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 154-155, "Early Early in the Spring" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 98, "Early Early in the Spring" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 549-550, "The Letters of Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 63, "Early, Early in the Spring" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 66, "The Trail to Mexico" (5 texts, 1 tune, of which only the "C" and "D" texts go here; "A" and "B" are "The Trail to Mexico" and "E" is "Going to Leave Old Texas")
JHCox 111, "Early in the Spring" (3 texts plus mention of 1 more)
JHCoxIIA, #18, pp. 79-80, "'Twas Early in the Spring" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cambiaire, pp. 55-56, "Early, Early in the Spring (The Girl I Left Behind)" (1 text)
Ashton-Sailor, #56 insert, "The Sailor Deceived" (1 text)
BBI, ZN2863, "When I went early in the Spring"; cf. ZN1423, "In e'ery street I hear 'em sing"
DT 429, EARLYSPR*
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 22, #5 (1973), p, 19, "Early in the Spring" (1 text, 1 tune, ending with a suicide; the version was collected in Pennsylvania by Sam Bayard though the informant's name was not recorded)
Roud #152
RECORDINGS:
Robert Cinnamond, "Early, Early, All In the Spring" (on Voice15, IRRCinnamond03)
Margaret Dirrane, "'Twas Early, Early in the Spring" (on Aran1)
Sam Hazel, "Early, Early in the Spring" (AFS 3095 A2, 3095 B1, 1939)
Leonard Hulan, "The Letters of Love" (on PeacockCDROM) [one verse only]
Roisin White, "It Was Early Early All In the Spring" (on IRRWhite01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Trail to Mexico" [Laws B13] (plot)
NOTES: Several texts of this song, including Belden's "B" and one found by Lomax, convert the sailor to a cowboy. It is quite likely that this is a deliberate recension, and so perhaps worthy of separate listing. But Laws does not distinguish the versions, so we don't either. But cf. "The Trail to Mexico" [Laws B13].
Wolfe notes a suggestion by Sharp and Karpeles that this is based on Vernon's 1793 West Indies expedition. This is obviously possible but not compelling, and has vanisehd from many versions. - RBW
Cox II
18. 'Twas Early in the Spring- Fortney (WV) 1914
[Known also as "My Boy Willie" and "The Young Sailor Boy," this English ballad appears to be the source of the Western song, The Trail To Mexico.
R. Matteson 2014]
18. 'TWAS EARLY IN THE SPRING
(Early in the Spring)
Communicated by Miss Frances Sanders, Morgantown, Monongalia County, June, 1914. Obtained from Miss Belle Fortnoy. Music noted by Miss Sanders.
1. 'Twas early, early in the spring,
I pressed aboard to serve my king;
I left my dearest dear behind,
Who had oft times told me her heart.
2. As I went sailing on the sea,
I wrote every opportunity;
I wrote letters to my dear,
But not one word could I over hear.[1]
3. At length I came to her father's hall
And for my dearest dear did call,
"She's married sir, she's suited for life,
She's married sir, she's a rich man's wife."
4. "Oh what is this that I do bear?"
"She's married sir, it doth appear,
"She's married, sir, she's suited for life,
Therefore, young man, seek another wife."
5. I stepped up and her hand did take,
And all my former vows did make;
"Since you I've proved false and I've proved true,
Forever dear, adieu, adieu."
6. "If you wrote letters to this town,
I never yet have received them
'Tis my father's fault, you will this find,
Oh blame not this poor heart of mine."
7. "There's a river running through this town,
In which my body shall be found;
It shall be laid under yonder tree,
Remember, love, that I died for thee."
Laws. See NC II 290.
1. This is unclear, perhaps: "But not one word did I hear," would be clearer.