What Will You Do, Love

DESCRIPTION: He: What will you do when I sail away? She: I'll be true and pray for you. He: If I were untrue?" She: "I'd still be true but ... could not bear it!" He: If, near home, my ship were lost. She: If you were spared "I'd bless the morrow ... welcome thee"
AUTHOR: Samuel Lover (1797-1868)
EARLIEST DATE: 1842 (Samuel Lover's novel "Handy Andy")
KEYWORDS: love questions separation sea ship dialog
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (4 citations):
O'Conor-OldTimeSongsAndBalladOfIreland, p. 139, "What Will You Do, Love" (1 text)
Hylands-Mammoth-Hibernian-Songster, pp. 124-125, "What Will You Do, Love?" (1 text)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #2565, p. 173, "Wjat Will You Do, Love?" (2 references)
ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 407-408, "What Will You Do, Love?" (1 text)

Roud #23097
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(4223), "What Will You Do, Love?", A. Ryle and Co. (London) , 1845-1859 ; also Harding B 11(3584), "What Will You Do, Love"; Firth b.25(432), "What Will You Do, Love!"; Harding B 11(4222), "What Will You Do, Love?"
LOCSheet, sm1885 23659, "What Will You Do, Love", Grand Conservatory Pub. Co. (New York), 1885 (tune)
LOCSinging, sb40552a, "What Will You Do, Love?", H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878; also as103050, "What Will You Do, Love"

NOTES [56 words]: Just what we needed. A Riley ballad before the guy has even been gone for seven years to let the girl realize what a jerk he is. - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging sb40552a: H. De Marsan dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
Last updated in version 6.1
File: OCon139

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