Rambling Soldier (I), The

DESCRIPTION: Soldier (sailor) describes the joys of rambling the countryside (of England): "I once was a seaman stout and bold, Ofttimes I plowed the ocean... For honor and promotion." In some versions he brags that he has a license to ramble, granted by the king.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1839 (broadside, Bodleian Johnson Ballads 256); c. 1817 (Reeves-TheEverlastingCircle broadside transcription)
KEYWORDS: rambling nonballad sailor soldier injury
FOUND IN: US(SE) Britain(England(Lond,South,West),Scotland(Aber)) Australia
REFERENCES (23 citations):
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "RAMBLING SAILOR, THE"
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 367, "The Jolly Soldier" (1 fragment plus mention of 1 more)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 367, "The Jolly Soldier" (1 tune plus a text excerpt)
Morris-FolksongsOfFlorida, #235, "Billy, the Rambling Soldier" (1 text)
Sharp-OneHundredEnglishFolksongs 43, "The Rambling Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-TheCrystalSpring 85, "The Rambling Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Butterworth/Dawney-PloughboysGlory, p. 36, "The Rambling Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Mi 684, "Rambling Sailor" (1 text)
Reeves-TheEverlastingCircle 109, "The Rambling Sailor" (2 texts)
Purslow-MarrowBones, p. 72, "The Rambling Soldier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Browne-FolkSongsOfOldHampshire, pp. 63-65, "I'm a Bold and Rambling Soldier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Palmer-FolkSongsCollectedBy-Ralph-VaughanWilliams, #110, "The Rambling Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hamer-GarnersGay, pp. 12-13, "The Rambling Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Baring-Gould/Sheppard-SongsOfTheWest2ndEd, #87, "The Rambling Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud/Bishop-NewPenguinBookOfEnglishFolkSongs #16, "Rambling Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Meredith/Anderson-FolkSongsOfAustralia, pp. 174-175, "The Rambling Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greig/Duncan7 1477, "The Rovin' Sailor" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
Ord-BothySongsAndBallads, p. 326, "Dicky Johnston, or, The Roving Sailor" (1 short text)
Hamer-GarnersGay, "The Rambling Soldier" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Dallas-TheCruelWars-100SoldiersSongs, pp. 50-51, "The Rambling Soldier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Palmer-OxfordBookOfSeaSongs 92, "The Rambling Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Forget-Me-Not-Songster, pp. 110-111, "The Rambling Soldier" (1 text)
DT, RAMBSAIL* (RMBSAIL2*)
Roud #518
RECORDINGS:
Chris Willett, "The Rambling Sailor" (on Voice12)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 256, "The Rambling Sailor" ("I am a sailor stout and bold, long time I have ploughed the ocean"), J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Firth c.12(275), Johnson Ballads 1230, Harding B 11(1670), Firth b.25(378), Harding B 11(3226), Harding B 11(4288), Harding B 15(250b), Johnson Ballads 966, Johnson Ballads 559, Harding B 20(142), Firth b.34(302), "[The] Rambling Sailor"; Harding B 11(3228), "The Rambling Soldier" ("I am a soldier blithe and gay"), W. and T. Fordyce (Newcastle), 1832-1842; Firth b.26(329), Harding B 11(835), Harding B 16(221a), Harding B 11(3227), Harding B 15(251a), Harding B 15(251b), Harding B 15(252a), Harding B 20(143), Harding B 17(251a), "Rambling Soldier"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Rambling Comber"
NOTES [180 words]: Sharp notes that on the older broadsides, the rambler was a soldier; in the newer ones, he is a sailor. - PJS
Sharp may be right about which version is the older. The Bodleian broadsides give no clear-cut answer; however, Harding B 16(221a), "Rambling Soldier" lists the tune as "Rambling Sailor"; it also lists the author as John Morgan. - BS
In Brown's version (which is only two stanzas), it appears that he is a sailor who later enlists in the American Revolutionary army. This may be a rewrite, but the text it too short to be sure.
Ord-BothySongsAndBallads's text says that the sailor has been granted a license to beg *because he has lost a limb.* Ordinarily I would consider this a significant enough distinction to split the songs, but the rest is the same; the lost limb appears (or fails to appear, perhaps) in only a single line. Exactly the same is true of Hamer's hort text (which Roud files separately under the number #21266). Perhaps a mixture with something like "The Forfar Soldier," or even a case of an injured veteran adopting the piece to his own case? - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: ShH43

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