{"id":11867,"date":"2021-08-09T05:59:12","date_gmt":"2021-08-09T05:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=11867"},"modified":"2021-08-09T08:48:36","modified_gmt":"2021-08-09T08:48:36","slug":"shed-a-black-and-rolling-eye-sailor-version","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/shed-a-black-and-rolling-eye-sailor-version\/","title":{"rendered":"She’d a black and rolling eye (sailor version)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>The fireship
Black and rolling eye
Covent Garden ramble
Dark and roving eye<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>unknown<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>unknown<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN4841<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>na<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Fender, William; Wales ; Glamorganshire 1929-35
McBride, Owen; Canada : Ontario 1994
Hingston, Bill `Pop’; England : Devon 1979
Baxter, Ben; England : Norfolk 1955
Stickle, John; Scotland : Shetland Isles; 1948
H., F.; USA : Arkansas 1951

Modern performances<\/strong>
Cyril Tawney, Stan Hugill, Louis Killen, many more ..<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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From Bodleian Ballads<\/a> \n\nAs I walked out one morning. \nAll in the month of May,\nI met a pretty fair maid,\nMost beautiful and gay.\nHer shoes they were of Velvet,\nHer stockings they were silk,\nHer shift it was of Hollands fine\nAnd her breast as white as milk.\n\nShe had a black and rolling eye,\nTo my fal de lal ral laddy, O, \nShe is a nice little girl,\nAnd one of the rakish crew.\n<\/em>\nI took her to a tavern,\nAnd I called for cakes and wine,\nBut little did I drink,\nShe was of a rakish crew,\nI took her to a tavern,\nAs you shall understand,\nShe said kind sir I am a maid,\nBe easy as you can\n\nShe said kind sir excuse me,\nFor staying out so late,\nMy parents would be angry,\nAnd sad would be my fate,\nMy father is a preacher,\nA good and pious man,\nMy mother is a Methodist,\nAnd I'm a true Briton.\n\nCome all you able Seaman,\nThat plough the raging main,\nThat get a little money,\nI called wind and rain.\nI'd have you shunned those fiery ships,\nAll you will surely rue,\nOr else you'll get your cobbles sprung\nAnd set on fire too<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
This song, as far as I know, was not sung in the Halls  – I’ve included my notes on the site because I needed to distinguish it from a music hall song also given the title She’d a black and rolling eye<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
This older song is more commonly known in traditional singing as The Fireship<\/em>, and it warns of the danger of catching venereal disease. The version given above is not very explicit about it, others are more so \u2013 see for example the versions given at MainlyNorfolk<\/a> <\/em>. Stan Hugill describes it as “an old English ballad ….<\/em> [which] at sea was often sung at the pumps.”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n