Borstal Boy- Brendan Behan (Wales) 1958 BK
[Excerpt from his Brendan Behan's 1958 autobiographical book Borstal Boy. I'm not sure of the source of this version. It was sung by "taffies" (slang word for Welshman) and collected in an orchard, by Brendan Behan. A "borstal" is a youth detention centre in the United Kingdom so "borstal boy" would be a youth from a detention center.
R. Matteson 2017]
And the last and serious song:
In Liverpool where I did dwell,
A Borstal boy I loved so well,
He courted me, and stole my heart away,
And then with me, he would not stay.
Her father dear came 'ome one night,
'E found 'is daughter out of sight,
'E went upstairs and the door 'e broke,
And 'e found 'er 'anging by a rope.
'E got 'is shiv, and cut 'er down
And on 'er writ, these words 'e found,
"Oh, father dear, what a fool was I,
To 'ang myself for a Borstal boy.
When I'm in my grave, and dead,
A granite stone lay at my 'ead,
And at my feet put a turtle dove,
To show my friends I died for love."