Recordings & Info 8F. Roving Sailor
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COME MY LITTLE ROVING SAILOR - NO JOHN
Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection (at Clare College, Cambridge) (CJS2/9/3157)
Come, My Little Roving Sailor
First Line: Come, my little roving sailor
Performer: Cannady, Lucy
Date: 22 Aug 1918
Place: USA : Virginia : Endicott
Collector: Sharp, Cecil J.
Roud No: 542
COME, MY LITTLE ROVING SAILOR.
Come, my little roving sailor,
Come, my little roving bee,
Come, my little roving sailor,
Come, sailor boy, won't you marry me?
Madam, I have gold and silver,
Madam, I have house and land,
Madam, I have a world of treasure.
All shall be at your command.
What cares I for your gold and silver,
What cares I for your house and land,
What cares I for your world of treasure.
All I want is a handsome man.
Madam, do not stand on beauty,
For beauty is a fading flower;
For the reddest rose in yonders garden
Will fade away in one half hour.
Sung by Mrs. Lucy Cannady at Endicott, Franklin
Va., Va., Aug. 22nd 1918.
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THE ROVING SAILOR Sung by Mr. Jacob Sowder at Callaway, Franklin Co., Va., August 14th 1918.
Come my little roving sailor,
Come my little roving bee,
Come my little roving sailor,
Roving sailor, will you marry me?
Madam, I have gold and silver,
Madam, I have house and land,
Madam, I have a world of pleasure,
All shall be at your command.
What cares I for your gold and silver?
What cares I for you house and land?
What cares I for a world of pleasure?
All I wants is a handsome man.
Madam, do not stand on beauty,
Beauty is a fading flower;
The best rose in yonders garden
Fade away in one half an hour.
First they'll hug you and then they'll kiss you,
Then they'll call you honey, my dear.
They'll tell you more in half an hour
Than you'll find true in seven long years.
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Play-Party Songs in Western Maryland
by Florence Warnick
The Journal of American Folklore,
Vol. 54, No. 213/214 (Jul. - Dec., 1941), pp. 162-
166
Published by: American Folklore Society
PLAY-PARTY SONGS IN WESTERN MARYLAND
By FLORENCE WARNICK
The play-party songs given below were used in Garrett Co., Maryland.
Members of Protestant churches were not allowed to dance, but there was
no bar to their playing swinging games, some of which were not very
different from square dances. In the small backwoods community where
the writer was reared, we often had no musical instruments, and almost
everyone made an effort to sing the songs which we danced or played.
All the verses that the writer and those whom she has consulted can recall
are given.
II. COME, MY LITTLE ROVING SAILOR
Come, my little roving sailor,
Come, my little roving bee,
Come, my little roving sailor,
Won't you ring around with me?
Won't you be right and left with me?
Won't you change partners with me?
Won't you promenade with me?
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Nursery Songs from the Appalachian Mountains: First- Second Series
https://books.google.com/books?id=fRI2AQAAMAAJ
1921 - Snippet view - More editions
ROVING SAILOR 1 Come, my little roving sailor,
Come, my little roving bee, Come, my little roving sailor,
Come, sailor boy, won't you marry me?
2 Madam, I have gold and silver, Madam, I have house and land, Madam, I have a world of -------
ROVING SAILOR [1], THE. Irish, Air (4/4 time). G Major. Standard tuning. AB. Source for notated version: Dr. Browne, Mayo (Joyce). Joyce (Old Irish Folk Music and Songs), 1909; No. 444, pg. 250.
X:1
T:Roving Sailor, The [1]
M:C
L:1/8
R:Air
B:Joyce – Old Irish Folk Music and Songs, No. 444 (1909)
Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion
K:G
G>A|B>ABG E2 D>E|G2 G>A B2g2|edBA GABG|
A4 G2||d2|g2 fg e3d|e2 dB d3d|d2 Bd g2 GA|BG E4 G>A|
B>ABG E2 DE|G2 G>A B2g2|edBA GABG|A4 G2||
ROVING SAILOR [2], THE. American, Reel or March (4/4 time). USA, southwestern Pa. A Dorian. Standard tuning. ABB. The tune is used more for songs than dancing, states Bayard (1981), and in Ireland is joined to the ballad "William Taylor." In Pennsylvania it was a song and play‑party tune, and was used as a dance tune by fiddlers. This ditty was sung to it:
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Come, my little roving sailor,
Come, my little roving bee,
Come, my littl roving sailor,
Won't you ring around with me?
***
Chorus:
Granny will your dog bite? No, child, no, child,
Granny will your dog bite? No, child, no.
***
An alternative chorus was:
Little Betty Martin, tiptoe, tiptoe,
Little Betty Martin, tiptoe fine.
***
Source for notated version: Levi Hall (Fayette County, Pa., 1944) [Bayard]. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 126, pg. 69
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The Roving Sailor
Aaron, Tossi. Tossi Sings Folk Songs and Ballads, Prestige International INT 13027, LP (196?), trk# A.05
Hall, Levi. Bayard, Samuel (ed.) / Dance to the Fiddle; March to the Fife, Penn State, Bk (1982), p 69/#126 [1944]
Roving Sailor (Reel)
New Hampshire Fiddlers Union. Music of John Taggart, Front Hall FHR 204C, Cas (1992), trk# 9b
Village Green Musicians. Village Green - Dance Music of Old Sturbridge Village, North Star NS 0038, Cas (199?), trk# B.02b