I Was Just Sixteen

DESCRIPTION: "I was just sixteen when I first started roving" the sinful world. He meets and leaves a pretty girl. They agreed to be true but she thinks "on the vows she broke." She commits suicide. At her funeral a letter arrives; "Willie fell from the yardarm"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1921 (Greenleaf/Mansfield-BalladsAndSeaSongsOfNewfoundland)
KEYWORDS: courting love parting death funeral suicide lover mistress mother sailor separation
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Greenleaf/Mansfield-BalladsAndSeaSongsOfNewfoundland 102, "I Was Just Sixteen" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 720-721, "The Spanish Main" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-FolkSongsFromNewfoundland 40, "The Spanish Main" (1 text, 1 tune)
Guigné-ForgottenSongsOfTheNewfoundlandOutports, pp. 349-353, "The Spanish Main (I Was Just Sixteen)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2296
RECORDINGS:
Mrs. Ambrose Coombs, "The Spanish Main" (on MUNFLA/Leach)
File: GrMa102

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