> Martin Carthy > Songs > Peggy and the Soldier

Peggy and the Soldier

[ Roud 907 ; Laws P13 ; Ballad Index LP13 ; trad.]

Martin Carthy sang Peggy and the Soldier in 1966 on his Second Album. He commented in the record's sleeve notes:

The unfaithful wife going off to sea with her lover and deserting husband and child is a common enough subject for ballads: witness the House Carpenter; but the clarity with regard to the state of mind of the characters, missing in many variations on the theme, is crystal clear throughout this particular one. It is uncommon in this form, having been reported from tradition only a couple of times and printed in the Journal of the Folk Song Society in 1930 (no. 34).

Lyrics

Oh it's of an old soldier come from sea,
His musket all over his shoulder.
And it's on pretty Peggy he cast his eye,
And she cast her eye on the soldier.

Oh me gold, me silver, it shall be thine,
I'll give yez all the gold in me plunder,
If you'll leave all your land, leave your husband dear,
And you'll sail all o'er the sea with the soldier.

John, her husband, he mounted his high horse back,
Expecting for to meet her by the water,
But when he got there it was late in the day,
And she'd fled o'er the sea with the soldier.

But they hadn't been sailing a week or more,
When her love, oh, it turned to anger.
He beat her and he kicked her, he called her “whore,”
Sent her back to her John in the morning.

As Peggy walked up and as Peggy walked down,
People asked her where she was going.
She made not an answer, she couldn't tell where,
For she'd been o'er the sea with the soldier.

When Peggy got home, it was late in the night,
And she was ashamed to be seen.
It was under the window she listened a while
At her husband a-nursing the baby.

“Oh, rock-a-bye, little one, and don't you cry,
Your momma's gone and left you in sorrow.
And if she comes back, well, she can't stay here,
She can go back to sea with the soldier.”

“Oh, open the door, love, and let me in,
And I'll never prove false any longer.”
“You can go from me door, well, and leave me alone,
You can find you a home with your soldier.”

John, her husband, he mounted his high horse back,
He rode till he came to the water.
He abus-ed the wind and the waters clear,
Sent Peggy over sea with the soldier.

He abus-ed the man that builded the boat,
Abus-ed the captain that sailed her.
He abus-ed the wind and the waters clear,
Sent Peggy over sea with the soldier.

Links

Acknowledgements

Transcribed by Garry Gillard and Reinhard Zierke with help from the Mudcat Café lyrics of this song