> Norma Waterson > Songs > Willie the Bold Sailor Boy

Willie the Bold Sailor Boy

[ Roud 273 ; Laws K12 ; Ballad Index LK12 ; trad.]

Liz Jefferies sang Willie, the Bold Sailor Boy in September 1976 in her own home in Bristol, recorded by Barry and Chris Morgan. This was included on the 1998 Topic anthology O'er His Grave the Grass Grew Green (The Voice of the People Series Volume 3).

Norma Waterson sang Willie the Bold Sailor Boy in 2003 on the “English” CD of the Fellside anthology Song Links - A Celebration of English Traditional Songs and their Australian Variants. A very similar version was sung by Mike Waterson as Sweet William on the Watersons' 4CD anthology Mighty River of Song.

Edgar Waters commented in the Song Links sleeve notes:

This song exists in many versions and has been published under many names. Some versions are fragmentary, or contain verses that do not appear to belong to it, making the texts seem almost incomprehensible. In one form or another, it has been widely recorded from oral tradition all over the Brithis Isles and in North America. Norma Waterson's version was learnt from a singer called Liz Jefferies. Liz Jefferies' version may be heard on the third of the twenty CD collection called The Voice of the People, published by Topic Records.

Compare this to Cathie O'Sullivan singing The Lost Sailor on the “Australian” CD of the Song Links anthology, to A.L. Lloyd singing A Sailor's Life on his album England & Her Traditional Songs, to Martin Carthy's Sailor's Life on his Second Album and to Sandy Denny singing A Sailor's Life on Fairport Convention's third album, Unhalfbricking.

Lyrics

Norma Waterson sings Willie the Bold Sailor Boy	Sandy Denny sings A Sailor's Life
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 To think that true lovers will ne'er return.	A sailor's life, it is a merry life. He robs young girls of their hearts' delight. Leaving them behind to weep and mourn, They never know when they will return.
	“Well, there's four and twenty all in a row, My true love he makes the finest show. He's proper tall, genteel and all, And if I don't have him, I'll have none at all.”
“Oh father, father, build for me a boat And on the ocean I'm bound to float. And every sail ship that I pass by I will enquire for my sailor boy.”	“Oh father, build for me a bonny boat, That on the wide ocean I may float. And every Queen's ship that we pass by, There I'll enquire for my sailor boy.”
She was not sailing long upon the deep A fleet of Frenchmen she chanced to meet. “Oh captain, captain, come tell me true, Does my love William sail on board with you?”	Well, they had not sailed long on the deep When a Queen's ship they chanced to meet. “You sailors all, pray tell me true, Does my sweet William sail among your crew?”
“What sort of clothes does your true love wear What colour being your true love's hair?”' “His jacket's blue and his trousers white, His curly locks tied to his waistband tight.”
“Oh no, fair maid, William is not here He is drownded I greatly fear. It was last evening the storm rolled by And parted William from our topmast high.”	“Oh no, fair maiden, he is not here. For he's been drownded we greatly fear. On yon green island as we passed it by, There we lost sight of your sailor boy.”
She's wrung her hands and she tore her hair, She cursed herself in most modest fair, Her little boat against the rocks she's run. “How can I live now that my love has gone?”	Well, she wrung her hands and she tore her hair. She was like a young girl in great despair. And her little boat against a rock did run. “How can I live now my sweet William is gone?”
With pen and paper she's wrote a song, She's wrote it right and she has wrote it long At every line she did shed a tear And every verse she did cry, “William dear.”
“Come dig my grave long and dig it deep And over me let true lovers weep And on my breast place a small white dove To show the world oh that I died for love.”
(Copyright © 2003 Topic Records)	(Copyright © 1969 Warlock Music)