Sailor Boy- (Limerick) c.1770 broadside, Goggin
[From a broadside printed by William Goggin of Mary Street, Limerick; c. 1770.
R. Matteson 2017]
Here is the text in full of A, the earliest extant broadside printed by William Goggin of Mary Street, Limerick about 1780. Note that this Irish print has the identifiers "French ships" "Sweet William" and "green island." The opening two lines are very similar to "Early, Early in the Spring," a different ballad which is Laws M1, Roud #152. See also: The Croppy Boy.
Steve Gardham commented, "I don't recognize the first 2 lines of stanza 6 and any of stanza 7. The whole definitely smacks of having been taken from oral tradition. There is a very strong likelihood of earlier printings going back at least to about 1770. There is absolutely nothing to suggest the original was Irish."
"Sailor Boy."
1. It was early in Spring
I went on board to serve the King,
The raging seas and the winds blew high,
That parted me and my sailor boy.
2. I wish I had a little boat
That o'er the Ocean I might float,
To watch the French as I pass by,
Inquiring for my Sailor boy.
3. We had not Sailed but an hour or two
When she beheld the whole ships crew.
My whole ships crew tell unto me
If my sweet William is on board with thee.
4. Your sweet William he don't sail hear[sic]
And for his loss we greatly fear.
On yon green Island as we passed by
It's there we lost your young sailor Boy.
5. She wrung her hands and she tore her hair,
Like a fair maiden in deep despair,
her boat she flung against the rocks
Crying what shall I do since my true love's lost.
6. I'll tell my dream to the hills high;
And all the small birds as they fly,
Ah, happy, happy is the girl she cried,
That has her true-love by her side.
7. Come all ye seamen now dress in blue
And all you ladies dress in the same,
From the Cabbin boy to the main mast high,
And mourn in black for my sailor boy.