Cecil Sharp's Note 43 (1916)

No. 43. The Rambling Sailor

For other versions with tunes, see the Journal of the Folk-Song Society (volume iii, p. 108; volume v, p. 61); and Songs of the West (No. 87, 2d ed.). The tune, like the one in the text, is nearly always in the Mixolydian mode, and usually in hornpipe rhythm. The words on the older broadsides were always about a soldier, not a sailor, but on more modern stall copies, the latter is given the preference. The singer could remember only the first two verses; the third has been “lifted” from the broadside.