Johnny Todd

DESCRIPTION: Johnny Todd ships out, leaving his sweetheart in Liverpool. She meets another sailor, who offers to marry her. She accepts; Todd returns to find his love married. The moral: "Do not leave your love like Johnny/Marry her before you go"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1886 (Opie/Opie-TheSingingGame)
KEYWORDS: infidelity marriage warning travel return sailor
FOUND IN: US(NE) Ireland Britain(England(North),Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Greig/Duncan8 1583, "Johnny Johnstone" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Hammond-SongsOfBelfast, p. 9, "Johnny Todd" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kidson-TraditionalTunes, pp. 103-104, "Johnny Todd" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie/Opie-TheSingingGame 23, "Johnny the Sailor Boy" (5 texts, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 174, "Johnny Todd" (1 text)
Montgomerie/Montgomerie-ScottishNurseryRhymes 106, "(Johnnie Johnson's ta'en a notion)" (1 text)
DT, JOHNTODD*
Roud #1102
RECORDINGS:
Bob Roberts, "Johnny Todd" (on LastDays)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "John (George) Riley (I)" (lyrics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Sandy Murray
NOTES [74 words]: I include the cross-reference because the verses in which the rival sailor courts the lady seem to be lifted from a broken-token song such as "John Riley (I)". - PJS
Interestingly, the Montgomerie text also has this bit, so it appears to be genuinely traditional.
The group Ossian has recorded a version of this in which Johnny Todd returns to his girl. They admit, however, to having rewritten the ending. To my mind, it doesn't add much.... - RBW
Last updated in version 3.0
File: FSWB174A

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