Maiden’s Prayer- Harry Cavanagh (AU) c. 1959
[From: WarrenFahey.com, one of two version from Australia posted. Fahey's notes follow. This is version of "Maiden's Prayer," a variant created and popularized during and after World War I by various branches of the military including the US, UK and AU about 1918.
R. Matteson 2017]
Warren Fahey: Mr Cavanagh contacted me after I had made an appeal in the Australian Maritime Museum magazine ‘Ahoy!’ and sent me this song which he had been singing ever since he was a young lad in the Navy. He said he “came home from the club, after reading my article ‘Where are all the maritime Songs?’ and sat down at the kitchen table until he could recall all the words.
The Maiden’s Prayer– sung by Harry Cavanagh of North Ryde, NSW (near Sydney) Australia during July, 2000.
She was a maiden young and fair
And came from high society
He was a mallot[1] brass and bold
Who took this girls virginity
Her father came home late one night
And found the house without a light
He went upstairs to his daughter’s room
And found her hanging from a beam
He took his knife and cut her down
And on her breast this note he found
My love was for a sailor boy
Who sailed across the big blue sea
I often wrote and thought f him
He never wrote or thought of me
Oh Dad I cannot stand the pain
To bear this child without a name
So dig my grave and dig it deep
And place white lilies at my feet
They dug her grave and dug it deep
And placed white lilies at her feet
And on her breast they placed a dove
To show that she had died for love
Now all you maidens bear in mind
A sailor’s love is hard to find
But when you find one good and true
Don’t change the old one for the new.
1. probably a corruption of matelot, matlo or matlow is a UK reference to sailor