Tailors have a bad press in folklore and their trade is not considered manly enough to impress the fair sex.  In this song, the lady is far more attracted to a sailor “with a big black beard and a muscular frame” rather than to a “blubbering ” tailor.  This seems to me rather harsh but such is life.  It is surprising that this jaunty song is not wider spread throughout the tradition but the fact is that only 3 versions have ever been collected, 2 of those in Hampshire.  Curiosly, the tune turns up in the Cotswold Morris tradition as the dance Go and enlist for a sailor which is the last line of the song.  The collector H H Albino noted the tune as Why does my Sarah Serve me so, again linking the song to the Morris tradition.

Notes by Gwilym Davies 12 April 2016