"A Brisk Young Sailor (Courted Me)" (variously known as "Bold Young Farmer", "The Alehouse", "Died For Love" and "I Wish My Baby Was Born" amongst other titles) is a traditional folk ballad (

Roud The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud (born 1949), a former librarian in the London ...

# 60,

Laws Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. ...

P25), which has been collected from all over Britain, Ireland and North America. The song originates in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in the early 1600s.

Synopsis

A young sailor courts a young girl and wins her heart. But now he visits an alehouse in another town and entertains another. He is false and this other girl has more gold than she but that will waste along with her beauty. But our heroine still loves him dearly and besides she's carrying his child. Oh, what a foolish girl she was to have given her heart to a sailor. In some versions she dies of a broken heart and in others he is not a sailor but a farmer or other unspecified young man.

Commentary

The Traditional Ballad Index states that one 1891 source claims the song was written by an F. J. Adams but the wide variety of different versions collected from a wide area not long after this would tend to contradict that theory.

Similar songs

There are several other traditional ballads which can easily be confused with "A Brisk Young Sailor". For example, " John Riley" (Roud #264/Laws N42) sometimes also goes by the same title but tells of a sailor returning to his lover after seven years to heal a broken tryst. Roud # 843 (Laws M22), "Jolly Young Sailor Boy" also tells the story of a girl falling for a sailor but in this case her father sends him away to sea, which itself has a similar plot to "Beam of Oak" (Roud 18830).

Lyrics

Recordings

Shirley Collins Shirley Elizabeth Collins MBE (born 5 July 1935) is an English folk singer who was a significant contributor to the English Folk Revival of the 1960s and 1970s. She often performed and recorded with her sister Dolly, whose accompaniment on ...

recorded "Died for Love" on ''False True Lovers'' (1959) *

Martin Carthy Martin Carthy MBE (born 21 May 1941) is an English folk singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in British traditional music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, and later artists such as ...

recorded "Died for Love" on ''Prince Heathen'' (with

Dave Swarbrick David Cyril Eric Swarbrick (5 April 1941 – 3 June 2016) was an English folk musician and singer-songwriter. His style has been copied or developed by almost every British and many world folk violin players who have followed him. He was ...

) (1969) *

Tim Eriksen Tim Eriksen is an American musician, musicologist, and professor. He is the leader of the band Cordelia's Dad, a solo artist, and was a performer and consultant for the award-winning soundtrack of the film '' Cold Mountain''. Cordelia's Dad C ...

Riley Baugus Riley Baugus is an American old-time guitarist, banjo player, fiddler, singer and instrument builder from North Carolina. Early life Baugus grew up in the Regular Baptist tradition, which gave him a solid foundation in unaccompanied singing. H ...

and Tim O'Brien performed a version called "I Wish My Baby Was Born" for the soundtrack to the film Cold Mountain (2003) *

The Be Good Tanyas The Be Good Tanyas are a Canadian folk music group formed in Vancouver in 1999. Their influences include folk music, folk, country music, country, and bluegrass music, bluegrass. The style of music they perform can be referred to as alt-country ...

included "I Wish My Baby Was Born" on the album ''

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...

'' (2003) *

Kate Rusby Kate Anna Rusby (born 4 December 1973) is an English English folk music, folk singer-songwriter from Penistone, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. Sometimes called the "Barnsley Nightingale", she has headlined various British folk festivals, an ...

recorded a version called "I Wish" on the album " Celtic Compass" (2003) *

Rachel Unthank and the Winterset Rachel () was a Bible, Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph (Genesis), Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban (Bible), Laban. Her older siste ...

recorded ''I Wish, I Wish'' on '' The Bairns'' (2007) *

Eva Cassidy Eva Marie Cassidy (February 2, 1963 – November 2, 1996) was an American singer and guitarist known for her interpretations of jazz, folk, and blues music, sung with a powerful, emotive soprano voice. In 1992, she released her first albu ...

posthumously released ''A Bold Young Farmer'' on '' Somewhere'' (2008)

References

External links

A broadside of the balladLyrics and musical score for piano and singer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brisk Young Sailor Courted Me, A Traditional ballads Songs about sailors English folk songs Year of song unknown