Bluegrass Messengers

Father Get Me a Little Boat- (Suffolk) c.1909 G. Butterworth

[No informant, source info. From George Butterworth Manuscript Collection (GB/4/54) [4 1/2 stanzas] Butterworth collected in the Southwold, Suffolk area, sometimes accompanied by Vaughan Williams, or Francis Jekyll.

This is aversion of Oikotype D, with the miracle broadside ending.

R. Matteson 2017]

O Father Get Me a Little Boat

1. O father get me a little boat
That on the ocean I may float
And every Queen's ship that we pass by,
I will enquire for my sailor boy.

2.She had sail-ed far on the sea,
Before a Queen's ship she chanced to meet,
Saying, "Sailors all, pray tell me true,
Is my Sweet William among your crew?"

3. O no, fair lady he is not here,
But he is drown-ed I deeply fear,
On yonder island that we passed by,
Where I lost sight of your sailor boy.

4. She wrung her hands and she tore her hair,
Mush like a woman in deep despair,
Her little boat against a rock did run,
How can I live when my Billy's gone?"

5. She flung her body in the deep,
In her William's arms she lay fast asleep.