ABSTRACT
This nineteenth-century broadside ballad has been widely reported from Great Britain and Ireland, Canada and the United States. Versions vary from fragments of one stanza to full-blown texts of ten quatrains. There are several stock openings: A Sailor’s life is a merry life, He’ll rob young girls of their heart’s delight; Then go and leave them to sigh and moan, No tongue can tell when he will return.
