{"id":3008,"date":"2020-05-21T19:57:37","date_gmt":"2020-05-21T19:57:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=3008"},"modified":"2023-08-25T14:19:55","modified_gmt":"2023-08-25T14:19:55","slug":"ill-go-and-enlist-for-a-sailor","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/ill-go-and-enlist-for-a-sailor\/","title":{"rendered":"I’ll go and enlist for a sailor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>I’ll go and list for a sailor
The Unfortunate Tailor
Oh List, Oh List, to My Sorrowful Lay<\/td><\/tr>
First published<\/td>1867<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Lyrics<\/strong><\/td>Harry Clifton<\/td>Music<\/strong><\/td>Harry Clifton <\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN1614<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Harry Clifton <\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Source Singers<\/strong>
Alfred Oliver, 1906, Hampshire, England
George Lovett, 1906, Hampshire, England
John Webley, ca 1900, Gloucestershire, England
Modern performances<\/strong>
Martin Carthy, John Kirkpatrick, June Tabor<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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From the Hopwood and Crew sheet music <\/strong>(via the Artful Codger, see below)\n\nI'LL GO AND ENLIST FOR A SAILOR.\nSong of the Unfortunate Tailor.<\/strong>\nWritten and sung by Harry Clifton\n\nList! oh list! to my sorrowful lay,\nAttention give to my song I pray,\nAnd when you've heard it all you'll say\n   That I'm \"an unfortunate tailor.\"\nI once was as happy as a bird on a tree,\nMy Sarah was all the world to me,\nBut I'm cut out by a \"son of the sea\",\n   She has left me here to bewail her.\n\nOh! why did my Sarah serve me so ?\nNo more will I stitch, no more will I sew,\nMy thimble and my needle to the winds I'll throw,\n   And go and enlist for a sailor.<\/em>\n\nMy Sarah was the daughter of a publican,\nA gen'rous, kind, good sort of a man,\nWho spoke very plain what he thought of a man,\n   But he never look'd cross at the tailor;\nMy Sarah was as tall as a \"poplar tree\",\nAs \"fair as a lily\" and as \"brisk as a bee\",\nAnd many were the smiles that she smil'd on me--\n   Oh, why am I left to bewail her?\n\nMy days were happy, and my nights the same,\nTill a man nam'd Cobb, from the ocean came,\nWith a \"big black beard\" and, a muskilar<\/em> frame--\n   A captain on board of a whaler,\nHe spent his money so frank and free,\nWith his \"tales of the land\" and his \"songs of the sea\",\nHe stole my Sarah's heart from me,\n   And blighted the hopes of the tailor.\n\nI went to plead, but she did refuse,\nShe lov'd another, so I must excuse\nHer candour, but it was no use,\n   She never could marry a tailor !\nWhen telling my love in came that \"Cobb\",\nWho cried, \"Avast there, you lubberly swab!\"\n\"If you don't belay, I'll scuttle your nob\"--\n   And Sarah smil'd at the sailor !\n\nAnd so I'll cross the raging sea,\nSince Sarah is untrue to me;\nMy heart's lock'd up and she's the key--\n   A very unfeeling jailor.\nFarewell, kind friends, a last a-doo<\/em>,\nNo more my woes shall trouble you;\nThe world I'll wander thro' and thro'--\n   I'll go and enlist for a sailor!<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Harry Clifton<\/a> wrote and performed this song, first published in 1867. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Mar. 31, 1867;  <\/strong>The Era<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The sheet music received this snooty review from the Ladies Own Paper <\/em>– a publication covering “Progress Taste and Art”<\/em> for  respectable middle-class ladies:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Lady’s Own Paper – Saturday 20 April 1867<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Within 12 months of publication the song was widely reported in the repertoire of amateur singers, the earliest example I found was at a Penny Reading at York Barracks (York Herald, 01 Feb 1868<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lyrics given here are those transcribed by the “Artful Codger” from the original Hopwood and Crew sheet music held in the Bodleian library, reproduced on the Mudcat website, where you will also find a midi file of the tune.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This song appears in a couple of English broadsides and several 19th century songbooks. It was collected from three different source singers by two collectors (Gardiner and Williams) at the turn of the century – it’s not clear whether they knew it was a 30 yr old tune from the Halls. The tune is a well-known Morris jig. In that context, Cecil Sharp collected a snatch of the words from a Norwich carpenter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The song features in the repertoire of several modern folk performers including Martin Carthy and John Kirkpatrick. Here’s a live version from Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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