Come all my fair ones, Come, all my dear ones, Come and listen unto me. "Could you fancy a jolly sailor lad That has just come from sea? Could you fancy a jolly sailor lad That has just come from sea?" "No, I dislike them, No, I despise them, For they smell so much of tar! So begone, you sassy sailor lad, So begone, you Jack tar. So begone, you sassy sailor lad, So begone, you Jack tar." "I have ships on the ocean, love, I have money in my pocket, love, I have gold in great store. I would give to a poor country girl If she would wed Jack Tar. I would give to a poor country girl If she would wed Jack Tar." Soon as she heard him say, Down from her bending knees fell se, Saying, "Forgive me, my jolly sailor lad, For I love none but thee. Forgive me, my jolly sailor lad, For I love none but thee." "Do you think I'm foolish, love? Do you think I'm crazy, love? Do you think I'm going mad, For to wed with a poor country girl That's no fortune to be had? For to wed with a poor country girl That's no fortune to be had?"

This song, says Doerflinger, dates back to the eighteenth century, but the source of his version is Guy Morehouse, of Digby, Nova Scotia. Doerflinger offers the impressive bibliography:

This song, W. A. Berrett writes (English Folk-Songs, p. 55), was sold by English ballad printers as early as 1781. For British variants and references, see Barrett, p. 55; S. Baring-Gould and Cecil Sharp, Songs of the West, p. 42; Cecil Sharp, Folk-Songs from Somerset, Series IV, pp. 42, 82; Sharp, English Folk Songs, I, 68; Sharp, One Hundred English FolkSongs, p. 102; Sharp and Baring-Gould, English Folk-Songs for Schools, No. 37; JFSS, IV, 342-345; Davis and Tozer, p. 72 (words rewritten?). For American variants see Cox, p. 389; Flanders and Brown Vermont Folk-Songs and Ballads (Brattleboro, 1931), p. 151; Sharp, English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, II, 235. Cf. ‘Some Other Girl Shall Wear the Ring,’ Wehman’s Collection of Songs, No. 10, p. 3.

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