As a sailor was riding along
In height of his glory,
As a sailor was riding along
Telling a story,
He met with a pretty maid by the way
And those very very words to her did say:
Pretty maid will you go along with me?
For I'm going down to Portsmouth.

Kind sir, if I go along with thee,
I must be carried.
Kind sir, if I go along with thee
I must be married.
So she went along with him straightway
And she laid all in his arms till the day
And she leaved him all the reckoning to pay.

Now in the morning when he awoke
He found his love a-missing,
Now in the morning when he awoke
He paid dear for his kissing.
O she robbed him of his gold watch and purse
And she took to him was ten times worse.
Don't you think she lay under a curse
In riding down to Portsmouth?

Now landlord, what have I got to pay
That I may reward you?
Now landlord, what have I got to pay
That I may reward you?
For my horse I will leave it in pawn
Until from the seas I do return.
Such gallus, gallus girls I will shun
In riding down to Portsmouth

 


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Source: Cecil Sharp's Collection of English Folk Songs, Vol 2, p 117, No 227, ed Maud Karpeles , Oxford University Press, 1974

Notes:
Sung by Jack Barnard (45) at Bridgwater, Somerset, 16 April 1906

Roud: 1534 (Search Roud index at VWML) Take Six
Laws:
Child: