Willie, The Bold Sailor Boy- Liz Jefferies (Wex) 1976 REC
[From a 1976 recording of Liz Jefferies in her own home in Bristol, recorded by Barry and Chris Morgan. On 1998 Topic anthology O'er His Grave the Grass Grew Green (The Voice of the People Series Volume 3)/TOPIC TSCD-653 1998 "Tragic Ballads." A cover was done by Norma Waterson with variations in text.
Jeffries, an unaccompanied singer, is from County Wexford and was born 1916 in Neamstown, near Kilmore Quy. Listen on Spotify or Youtube. This is an Irish text (Oikotype A) without "Early" opening.
R. Matteson 2017]
Willie, the Bold Sailor Boy- sung by Liz Jefferies, of Bristol, 1976.
The sailing trade is a weary life
It robs young maids of their heart's delight
It leaves them all for to sigh and mourn,
For to think their true lover will ne'er return.
“Oh father, father, come build me a boat
For it's o'er the ocean I'm bound to float.
And every sail ship that I'll pass by
I then inquire for Willie, my bold sailor boy.”
She was not sailing o'er the deep,
Till a fleet of Frenchmen she chanced to meet.
“Oh captain, captain, come tell me true,
Does my love Willie sail on board with you?”
“What sort of clothes did your Willie wear?
What colour being your true love's hair?”
“A blue silk jacket and his trousers white,
And his curly locks tied to his waistband tight.”
“Oh no, fair maid, your Willie is not here,
Your Willie is drowned I greatly fear.
It was e'er last night as the storm rolled by
We parted Willie from the topmast high.”
She wrung her hands and she tore her hair,
She cursed herself in her modest fair,
Her little boat against the rocks she's run.
Saying, “How can I live and my lover gone?”
With pen and paper she wrote a song,
She wrote it wide and she has wrote it long
At every line she would drop shed a tear
And at every verse she would cry, “Willie dear.”
“Come dig my grave both long wide and deep
And over me let true lovers weep
And on my breast place a turtle dove
To show the world that I died for love.”