Early in the Month of Spring- Mikeen McCarthy (Kerry) 1974 Carroll
[From the recording "From Puck To Appleby" originally on casette, a recording of Irish Travellers in England, made circa 1974 by Jim Carroll and Pat Mackenzie. Thier notes follow,
R. Matteson 2017]
Jim Carroll: What you have there is a song usually known on this side of the Atlantic as 'A Sailor's Life', with a bit of 'Died For Love' thrown in. We recorded it on numerous occasions from Irish Travellers and used the title for an album of them (Early In The Month of Spring). This is the version we got from Kerry Traveller Mikeen McCarthy, along with our note when we re-issued the cassette as 'From Puck To Appleby'.
Liner notes: English folk-song scholar, A L Lloyd, in his note to the Sussex version of this, entitled A Sailor's Life, pointed out that this is often com¬bined with Died For Love, although he held them to be two different songs. He might also have added that is has become entangled with several other songs, including The Butcher Boy and Black is the Colour. The evocative 'month of spring' opening line can also to be found in the version recorded from Traveller Lal Smith in 1952, which is hardly surprising as Mikeen and Lal's families were closely associated in Mikeen's youth. Lal's father, Christie Purcell, was a showman who, among other occupations, ran a travelling theatre company (known in Ireland as a Fit-Up). They performed plays such as East Lynne and Murder in the Red Barn around the towns and villages of rural Kerry in the nine¬teen thirties and forties and Mikeen and his three sisters participated in the productions as stage crew and as actors. Mikeen learned the song from his father's singing and it was one that he sold on a ballad sheet when he was involved in that trade as a young man.
Ref: The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs, R Vaughan Williams and A L Lloyd (eds.), Penguin Books. 1959. Other CDs: Liz Jeffries - Topic TSCD 653; Phoebe Smith - Topic TSCD 661; Harry Cox -Rounder CD 1839.
Early in the Month of Spring- Sung by Mikeen McCarthy, (Peggy Delaney’s brother), Cahirciveen, Co Kerry. Learned from his father.
Oh, 'twas early, early in the month of spring,
When my love Willie went to serve the king;
The night was dark and the wind blew high,
Oh, that parted me from my sailor boy.
"Oh, then, father, father, build me a boat,
It's on the ocean I mean to float,
To watch those big boats as they pass by;
Have they any tidings of my sailor boy?"
Oh, she was not sailing but a day or two,
When she spied a French ship and all her crew,
Saying, "Captain, Captain, come tell me true,
Oh, does my love, Willie, sail aboard with you?"
"Oh, what colour hair has your Willie dear?
What kind of clothes do your Willie wear?"
"He've a bright silk jacket and it trimmed all round,
And his golden locks they are hanging down."
"Oh. indeed fair lady, your love is not here,
For he is drownded, I am greatly feared,
For in yon green island as we passed by,
Oh. we lost nine more and your Willie boy."
Oh, she wrung her hands and she tore her hair,
She was like a lady all on despair,
She dashed her small boat against the rocks,
Saying, "What will I do if my love is lost?"
Oh, I'll write a letter and I'll write it long,
In every line I will sing a song,
In every line I will shed a tear,
And in every verse I'll cry, "Willie dear."
"Oh, then, father, father, dig me my grave,
Oh, dig it long, both wide and deep,
Put a headstone to my head and feet,
And let the world know it was in love I died."