Darling Johnny O (I)

DESCRIPTION: "My Johnny signed on board the Dragon, Bound for some place I don't know, But true it is I have had no letter." His color as been changed in a water grave. She will seek him. She steals away from home; her parents will never know if she finds him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1968 (Colquhoun-NZ-Folksongs-SongOfAYoungCountry)
KEYWORDS: love sailor separation father mother travel
FOUND IN: New Zealand
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Colquhoun-NZ-Folksongs-SongOfAYoungCountry, p. 28, "Darling Johnny O" (1 text, 1 tune) (p. 19 in the 1972 edition)
NOTES [110 words]: Colquhoun's notes connect this to "The Grey Cock, or, Saw You My Father" [Child 248]. If it is based on anything, it is rather "The Sailor Boy (I)" [Laws K12]; both are about a missing sailor, and it appears that one verse of this -- the "What colour is your Johny's hair" stanza -- floated in from Laws K12. But in this song, the girl steals away to seek Johnny, who is described as dead BEFORE she sets out. Possibly this is just a version of Laws K12 that is so badly scrambled that it has remade the plot; when I first indexed the song, I put it with Laws K12. But on reconsideration, I think it has drifted so far that I am listing it as a separate song. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.4
File: Col2028

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