Bluegrass Messengers

Sweet Willie- Anon (NC) c.1915 Greer LV6

[From two MS in I. G. Greer Collection: Sailor Boy, Lyric Variant 05 titled "Bring Me Back the One I Love" and 06 a handwritten copy titled "Sweet Willie." AC.113. Isaac Garfield Greer Papers, 1853-1978.

The Chorus (as it seems in LV 05) "Bring Me Back the One I Love" is a variant of "Bring Back My Blue-Eyed Boy."

R. Matteson 2017]


Sweet Willie- from I. G. Greer collection about 1915 (Sailor Boy, Lyric Variant 05 and 06).


1 Captain, captain, tell me true,
Does my sweet Willie sail with you?
No, he does not sail with me;
For he is drownded in the sea.

CHORUS: Go bring me back the one I love^[1],
Go brig him back to me.
They say he loves another girl,
But I hope he'll remember me.

2. Go father, and build me a little boat,
That I may down the river float,
And every ship that I pass by,
I'll listen for Sweet Willie's cry.

3. I wish I was a little bird,
A darling darling little bird
And to sweet Willie I would fly
And there I would lay me down to die.

4. Go, dig my grave both wide and deep.
Place a marble stone at my head and feet
Plant on my grave a willow tree,
That many my weep and mourn for me."

1. I've designated this as chorus.