The Constant Lover and her Sailor Boy- (IR) c.1880 Joyce
[No imprint. From Joyce's Ballad Sheet Scrapbook I: part IV, ITMA. From the Collection of Patrick Weston Joyce (1827- 1914) an Irish music collector. Dated c. 1880 by chronology presented. A few spelling corrections were made in brackets.
This version of A is much closer to oral tradition than the Irish broadsides by Goggin, "Sailor Boy," (c.1770) or P. Brereton, "A New Song call'd the Young Lady's Lamentation for the Loss of her True Love," 1867.
R. Matteson 2017]
The Constant Lover and her Sailor Boy.
1. Early, early all in the spring
When my love William went to serve the Queen,
All that grieved him and troubled his mind,
Was the leaving of his dear girl behind.
2. Come build a little boat
That on the Ocean I may float,
To watch the french fleet as the[y] pass by,
That I may inquire for my sailor boy.
3. She had not Sailed far on the deep
Till a french fleet she chanced to meet,
Come tell me you jolly crew
Does my sweet William sail on board with you.
4. Says the captain unto his lady fair
What sort of clothes does your Willey wear,
A short round jacket of the royal blue,
He's only known for his heart is true.
5. Your Willy dear he is not here,
For he is drowned we all do fear,
at yon green Island a[s] we passed by,
It is there we lost your sailor boy.
6. She wrung her hands and she tore her hair,
Just like a maid all in despair,
Her little boat against a rock did run,
Saying what shall I do when my Willy['s] gone.
7. She called for a pen and ink and paper too,
That she might write her last adieu,
At every letter she shed a tear,
At every line she cried Willy dear.
8. Dress twelve Captains all in black,
And twelve seamen much alike,
From the cabin boy on the mainmast high,
To m[o]urn the loss of my sailor boy.