Down by the Seaside

DESCRIPTION: Singer meets young woman and asks her to walk with him. She declines; she's searching for her true love. Looking through an opera glass, she spies his ship; hearing that he has been shot, she despairs; if he died for honor, she will die for love
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1956 (recorded from George Maynard)
KEYWORDS: grief virtue love separation death ship lover sailor
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
Roud #1712
RECORDINGS:
George Maynard, "Down By the Seaside" (on Maynard1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "John (George) Riley (I)" (part of plot, lyrics) and cross-references there
cf. "Susan Strayed on the Briny Beach [Laws K19]" (plot)
NOTES [48 words]: This is a conundrum; it starts out as a classic John-Riley-lover-in-disguise ballad, but halfway through does not take the usual sharp turn of revealing the stranger to be the lover returned. Instead, it proceeds in a straight line to the young man's death and the woman's bereavement. - PJS
File: RcDBTSS

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