Sweet Sailor Boy- Leroy W. Cook (KS-CO) c.1890 Lumpkin
[Fragment published in Colorado Folksong Bulletin, Volume 3; Page 28, 1964. Bulletin notes follow. Lumpkin collection, not online.
R. Matteson 2017]
The Sweet Sailor Boy was contributed in MS (words and tune) by Dr. Leroy W. Cook, in November, as he learned this song from his father while they were living in Kansas about 1890. Dr. Cook explained that he does not now recall the last stanzas of this song — the stanzas that tell how the girl rows or sails her boat over to the bay and sinks it and herself in order to be with her sweet sailor boy.
"My Sweet Sailor Boy," sung by Dr. LeRoy W. Cook
"Father, Oh Father, build me a boat,
That I may over the ocean float;
And ev'ry ship that I pass by,
O there I'll enquire for my sweet sailor boy."
Her father, her father built her a boat
That she might over the ocean float,
And ev'ry ship that she passed by,
Oh there she enquired for her sweet sailor boy.
"Captain, Oh Captain, tell me true;
Does my sweet sailor boy sail with you?"
"Nay, my dear young lady, nay;
He lies over there in yonder bay."