The Fair Sailor Lad
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Lesley Nelson
Information
Lyrics
The tune was originally a Gaelic tune from the Hebrides. Henry Whyte - a collector of Gaelic folktunes around the end of the 19th century - translated the lyrics. Whyte's works included The Celtic Lyre. The tune also appeared in Moffat's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Highlands (1907). O the fair sailor lad
He was handsome and free,
And he loved a gentle maid,
And his wife she would be:
"O my fair sailor lad,
Come and bide here wi' me!"
But the fair sailor lad
Sailed away, 'cross the sea.

O the fair sailor lad
He was wae and forlorn:
"I maun see yon gentle maid
From whose side I was torn.
Tho' he sailed that very tide
Her he saw not again,
For that fair sailor lad
Sleeps for aye 'neath the main.

O the fair sailor lad
He was handsome and free,
And he loved a gentle maid,
And his wife she would be:
"O my fair sailor lad,
Come and bide here wi'me!"
But the fair sailor lad
Sleeps alone 'neath the sea.
Related Links
From A Treasury of Old Scots Songs
See Bibliography for full information.