(Trad, British and Canadian)
This is a song about the hardships of a sailor's life and the fears of their loved ones on shore.
We first heard this song on Canadian singer Matthew Byrne’s delightful album Horizon Lines. It is a song known in Newfoundland through the singing of Pamela Morgan and Richard Noseworthy. The Mainly Norfolk website records that this version is based on a song collected in September 1905 by Henry Hammond from Mr Joseph Elliott of Todber in Dorset. It was published soon after in the Journal of the Folk-Song Society, Vol. 3, No. 11 (1907), pp. 101-103, and is closely related to a song called Nancy from Yarmouth.
Appears on:
Oh Nancy from London, a clear purling stream
Was courted by Willy on board of the Fame
Courted by Willy, a long time ago
Now he’s on the sea sailing where stormy winds blow
Those cold stormy winds love cause my heart to ache
And my parlour window does tremble and shake
Who knows where my love lies, so far from the shore
I’ll pray for his welfare, what can I do more
A ship in distress love is a terrible sight
Like an army of soldiers all gone for to fight
A soldier can lay down his firearm and run
But a sailor must heel to whatever might come
Soldiers and sailors drink a health to their wives
Young men love their sweethearts as they love their lives
Let the punchbowl go round with a full glass in hand
Drink a health to lovely Nancy I left on dry land
Green grow the rushes and the tops of them small
Love is a flower that blooms o’er us all
But the green leaves will wither and the roots will decay
But the red rose will flourish when my love comes from sea