Sailor Boy- Maude Williams (MO) 1903 Belden A
[From Belden's "Songs and Ballads," p. 186. Miss Maude Williams [later Martin] (1879-1953) was a singer and early collector for Belden and the Missouri Folk-Lore Society. Belden's notes follow.
R. Matteson 2017]
The Sailor Boy
This song is a general favorite on both side of the water. The core of it is that the girl asks her father to build her a boat that she may go in search of her sailor lover; that, meeting ships, she inquires for him and is told that he was drowned (or simply 'lost') at an island (commonly 'Rocky Island'); and that she then runs her boat upon a rock or throws herself overboard. Very often the conclusion is borrowed. from The Butcher Boy: she calls for pen, ink, and paper and writes a letter directing that her grave be dug long and deep and a turtle dove be placed on her breast to show that she died for love. The Lincolnshire text shows a pretty complete contamination of the two: she hangs herself, and her father comes home, cuts her down, and finds the letter. Stall texts were printed by Catnach and Such, and one by Pitts is allied to it in story tho not in language. It is recorded from tradition in Scotland (Christie I 249), Ireland. (JFSS VIII 213), Lincolnshire (JFSS II 293-4), Sussex (JFSS 199), Worcestershire (ECS 71-5, Dorset (JFSS VIII 212), Somerset (NSS IV 2-3); in Newfoundland. (FSM9-62), Nova Scotia (SBNS 89-91), Quebec (JAFL xxxl 1?0-1), ottawa (JAFL XXXI 162); in Virginia (SharpK II 87-8, scsM 319-20), West Virginia (FSS 353-?), Kentucky (SharpK II 87), Tennessee (JAFL XXX 363-4, XIJV 79-80, FSSH 188-9, SharpK II 86-7), North Carolina (JAFL XIIV 80-1, SSSA 177-8, FSSH 189-90, SharpK II 84-6, 88-9), Georgia (JAFL XXIX 199), Ohio (JAFL XXXV 410-1), and Wisconsin
(BSSB 85-6, adapted to the life of raftsmen). 'Careless Love,'reported by Henry from North Carolina (BMFSB 24-5), and "A Soldier's Life," reported by Cox from West Virginia (FSWV 29-30), use parts of it. I have not found it reported from the North Atlantic states.
A. 'The Sailor Boy.' Reported by Miss Williams in 1903 from Clinton County, where it was 'a neighborhood song when the singer was young.'
A sailor's trade is a dreary life,
It robs the girls of their hearts' delight;
It causes them to weep and it causes them to mourn
The loss of a true love never to return.
(Repeat the last two lines of each stanza)
'O Father, O Father, come build me a boat
That over the ocean I may float,
And every ship that I pass by
There I'll inquire for my sweet sailor boy.'
As she was sailing all over Maine[1],
She met three ships just out from Spain;
She hailed each captain as she passed by
And then she inquired for her sweet sailor boy.
'O Captain, Captain, tell me true,
Did my sweet William sail with you?'
'No, kind miss, he is not here;
Your love got drownded in the Gulf, my dear.
'Down yonder by that rocky isle
We left him lie as we passed by.'
She wrung her hands and she tore her hair
Just like some lady in despair.
'Go bring me a chair to sit upon,
Pen, ink, and paper to write it down.'
At the end of every line she dropped a tear,
At the end of every verse cried, 'Oh, my dear!'
'Go dig my grave both wide and deep,
A marble stone at my head and feet,
And on my breast place a sweet turtle-dove
To let the world know that I died for love.'
1. Should read 'over the main.'