Sailor Boy- Henry Maurer (OH) 1922 Eddy JAFL
[From Journal of American Folklore, 1922 in the article Traditional Texts and Tunes, by Tolman. Notes from Kittredge follow. Also published in Dearborn Independent - Volume 27, Part 2, page 13 in 1927 and Ballads and Songs from Ohio, version A. Reprinted in Leach, The ballad Book, 736.
R. Matteson 2017]
THE SAILOR BOY.
The following may all be called variants of "The Sailor Boy:" "Journal of the Folk-Song Society," i, 99; "One Hundred English Folksongs," No. 72; JAFL xxx, 363-364 (see for references). Christopher Stone, Sea Songs and Ballads, pp. 174-176; Cuala Press Broadside for August, 1909 (Second Year, No. 3). The last two stanzas of the text here given are found in "The Butcher's Boy," Part I, 169-170.
Sailor Boy- Sung to Miss Eddy by Mr. Henry Maurer, Perrysville, Ohio before 1922.
[music]
1. Weary are the hours of a sailor boy;
Its cause, its cause, is to weep and to mourn,
Its cause, its cause, is to weep and to mourn,
For the sake of the lover that never will return.
Its cause, its cause, is to weep and mourn
For the sake of the lover that never will return.
2. Black is the color of my true-lover's hair,
His resemblance is the lily's fair,
To tell, to tell, will give me joy,
For none will I have but my sweet sailor boy.
3. Father, father, build me a boat,
That I may on the ocean float;
And every ship that I sail by,
There I'll inquire for my sweet sailor boy
4. As I sailed down from Spain,
I saw three ships sail over the main,
I hailed a happy captain as he passed by,
And there I inquired for sweet Willy boy.
5. "Captain, captain, tell me true,
Doth sweet Willy sail with you?
To tell, to tell, 'twill give me joy,
For none will I have but sweet Willy boy."
6. "O fair lady! I'll tell you true,
He was drowned in the gulf below;
On Eroc Isle[1] as we passed by,
There we left your sweet sailor boy."
7. She dashed her boat against a rock,
I thought the lady's heart was broke,
She wrung her hands and tore her hair,
Just like a lady in despair.
8. "Bring me a chair to sit upon,
And pen and ink to write it down."
At the end of every line she dropped a tear,
At the end of every verse cried, "Oh, my dear!"
9. "Dig my grave both wide and deep;
Put a marble stone at my head and feet,
And on my breast a turtle dove,
To show the world that I did love."
1. commonly "Rock Isle"