Sweet William- Robert Slade (Dors) 1906 Hammond
[From Henry Hammond Manuscript Collection (HAM/4/29/2). Version of broadside D, missing the opening stanza.
R. Matteson 2017]
Sweet William- sung by Robert Slade of Dorchester Workhouse, Dorset in December of 1906.
There's five and twenty stands in a row,
And my sweet William is the finest show.
He's very tall, genteel withal,
So I don't have him, I'll have none at all.
Father, dear father bring me a boat
That I might on the wide ocean float,
And every Queen's ship that I come by
I will enquire for my sailor boy."
She had not sailed long, on the wide ocean
Before five lofty queen's ships she met,
"Come noble sailors, come tell me true,
Is my sweet William on board with you?
"Oh! [no, oh, no,] he's not here,[1]
[For he's drowned] I greatly fear.
For the other night when the wind blew high,
We did a-lose a fine sailor boy."
Oh1 she wrung her hands and she tore her hair,
Jut like some woman in deep despair,
The little boat against the rock she run:
Saying, "How can I live when my love is drowned?"
She sat her down, she wrote a song,
She wrote it wide,she wrote it long
End of every line she shed a tear
Crying at the end, "I've lost my dear."
1. the two lines were forgotten and combined into one- I've suggested missing text in brackets.