Laddie Wi' the Tarry Trews, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer is a woman, probably a mill worker, who wants to be taken from the mill by a sailor. She describes him, "a sailor wi' a rolling eye," rowing on the ocean and sailing across the sea. He says he would take her from the mill.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (Greig/Duncan1)
KEYWORDS: love nonballad sailor technology
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Greig/Duncan1 56, "The Laddie Wi' the Tarry Trews" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Roud #5809
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "No More Shall I Work in the Factory" (theme)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Mill
A Sailor
NOTES [90 words]: The Greig/Duncan1 entries are all fragments. Two share the verse "He bade me aye cheer up my heart An' he bade me nae be dull He bade me aye cheer up my heart An' he'd tak me frae the mull." All three texts refer briefly to sailors: "And the laddie wi' the tarry trews, Is aye the lad for me," "A sailor wi' a rolling eye I'd lay my life to be his wife," and "And the sailor wi' the curly kep, Oh he's the lad for me."
Greig/Duncan1: .".. millgirls' song - usually sung as they marched home in groups after the day's work (about 1850)." - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD1056

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