A Sailors Life (https://open.spotify.com/track/6JdlFAoTDdspPVtTAUIe3t)
This song was collected by W.P. Merrick in 1899 from Henry Hills of Lodsworth, Sussex and published in The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs. A.L. Lloyd recorded it and wrote in the album's sleeve notes: "it is known to sundry tunes all over the British Isles and in America (a Wisconsin set, called The Pinery Boy, transforms the sailor into a lumberjack). Most versions end with the girl ordering her own funeral, and directing that a marble dove be set over her grave, but in fact this motif belongs more properly to the song Died for Love, and Mr Henry Hills, of Lodsworth, Sussex, who sang our version to W.P. Merrick in 1899, would have none of it. It has also been recorded by Martin Carthy who says often adapted to fit other occupations this is one of a group of songs which includes Early Early All in the Spring and the American song on the same theme, Sailor on the Deep Blue Sea. It was published in various broadsides in the 18th century, but often became confused with Died for Love."
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