Sailor Cut Down in His Prime, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer sees one of his shipmates "wrapped up in flannel yet colder than clay." He dies, and details of the burial are given. His headstone warns sailors, "Never go courting with the girls of the city; Flash girls in the city were the ruin of me."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1904 (Reeves/Sharp-TheIdiomOfThePeople)
KEYWORDS: death disease whore burial funeral
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "SAILOR CUT DOWN IN HIS PRIME"
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 201, "The Sailor Cut Down in His Prime" (1 text, 1 tune)
MacColl/Seeger-TravellersSongsFromEnglandAndScotland 117, "The Sailor Cut Down in His Prime" (1 text, 1 tune)
Reeves/Sharp-TheIdiomOfThePeople 86, "Sailor Cut Down in His Prime" (1 text)
Reeves-TheEverlastingCircle 114, "Sailor Cut Down in His Prime" (2 texts; the "A" text is "The Sailor Cut Down in his Prime"; "B" is "The Bad Girl's Lament, (St. James' Hospital; The Young Girl Cut Down in her Prime)" [Laws Q26])
Purslow-MarrowBones, p. 102, "The Young Sailor Cut Down in His Prime" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud/Bishop-NewPenguinBookOfEnglishFolkSongs #90, "Young Sailor Cut Down" (1 text, 1 tune)
Palmer-OxfordBookOfSeaSongs 132, "The Young Sailor Cut Down in his Prime" (1 text, 1 tune)
Browne-FolkSongsOfOldHampshire, pp. 124-126, "The Young Sailor Cut Down in his Prime" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, YNGMNPRM
Roud #2
RECORDINGS:
Johnny Doughty, "The Streets of Port Arthur" (on Voice12)
Harry Upton, "The Royal Albion" (on Voice02)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Streets of Laredo" [Laws B1] (tune & meter, plot) and references there
cf. "The Unfortunate Rake" (tune & meter, plot)
cf. "The Bad Girl's Lament (St. James' Hospital; The Young Girl Cut Down in her Prime)" [Laws Q26] (tune & meter, plot)
NOTES [72 words]: One of the large group of ballads ("The Bard of Armagh," "Saint James Hospital," "The Streets of Laredo") ultimately derived from "The Unfortunate Rake." All use the same or similar tunes and meter, and all involve a person dying as a result of a wild life, but the nature of the tragedy varies according to local circumstances.
For the treatment of syphilis prior to the twentieth century, see the notes to "The Unfortunate Rake." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: LoF201

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography