Porto Rico [Puerto Rico]

DESCRIPTION: Fragment: "Must I go to Porto Rico/Must I sail the dark blue sea?/Must I fight for you, my darling/Until death shall set me free?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians)
KEYWORDS: love travel fight war battle death lover soldier nonballad
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1898: Spanish-American War, in which the U. S. captures Puerto Rico and other territories from Spain
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 249, "Porto Rico" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #3659
NOTES [89 words]: Barely even a fragment, but I include it on the chance it may turn out to be part of a full song that we find some day. - PJS
Roud lumps this with a fragment in Brown, which mentions Virginia rather than Puerto Rico, and which otherwise looked to me like "East Virginia (Dark Hollow)." Which just shows how mysterious the thing is. As a wild guess, it's from the Spanish-American War, in which the United States invaded and took over Puerto Rico; it sounds like the sort of sentimental piece someone would have written at the time. - RBW
File: ShAp249

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