Maggie's Secret

DESCRIPTION: "Oh! many a time I am sad at heart." Boys come to court Maggie "but I tell them they needn't come wooing to me." Her secret is that she loves a sailor: "my heart is over the sea." His mother guesses her secret and approves.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Dime-Song-Book #19)
KEYWORDS: courting love separation mother sailor
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (5 citations):
O'Conor-OldTimeSongsAndBalladOfIreland, pp. 143-144, "Maggie's Secret" (1 text)
Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Ox 292, "Maggie's Secret" (1 text)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #1356, p. 92, "Maggie's Secret" (2 references)
Dime-Song-Book #19, p. 13, "Maggie's Secret" (1 text)
Sweet-Genevieve-Songster, p. 45, "My Heart Is Over the Sea" (1 text)
Roud #12886
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 15(180a), "Maggie's Secret", H. Such (London), 1863-1885; also Harding B 11(1663), Firth b.26(257), "Maggie's Secret"
NOTES [33 words]: This seems to have two common forms, "Maggie's Secret," which mentions Maggie, and "My Heart Is Over the Sea," which doesn't. Both go back at least to the 1860s, so I don't know which is earlier. - RBW
Last updated in version 7.0
File: OCon143B

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