Sweet William- George Baldwin (Hamp) 1907 Gardiner
[From: George Gardiner Manuscript Collection (GG/1/12/715). Variant of broadside D.
R. Matteson 2017]
Sweet William- George Baldwin (8 stanzas) of Tichborne, Hampshire in June 1907.
A sailor's life is a merry life
They rob young women of their heart's delight,
They leave them behind for to sigh and mourn:
And never know when their love return.
Four and twenty sailors all in a row,
And my Sweet William cuts a nice show,
He's a proper sailor, genteel withal,
If I don't have him, I'll have none at all.
Oh, father bring me a little boat,
That I may on the ocean float
And every Queen's ship as I pass by,
I may inquire my sailor boy."
She had not sail-ed long on the deep,
Before a Queen's ship she chanced to meet,
You sailors all, pray tell me true,
Does my sweet William sail along with you?"
Oh, no, fair lady, he is not here,
For he is drowned, I greatly fear,
On yonders island as we passed, by,
There we lost sight of your sailor boy."
She wrung her hands, she tore her hair
Just like a woman in great despair.
Her little boat against the rocks did roll,
Saying, "How can I live now my Billy's gone."
Then she set down for to write a song,
She wrote it wide, she wrote it long,
At every line she dropped a tear,
Saying at the bottom, "I have lost my dear."
She wrung her hands, she tore her hair
Just like a woman in great despair.
She threw her body into the deep,
In her William's arms to lie fast asleep.