> The Albion Band > Songs > I’ll Go and List for a Sailor
> Martin Carthy > Songs > Unfortunate Tailor

The Unfortunate Tailor / I’ll Go and List for a Sailor

[ Roud 1614 ; Master title: The Unfortunate Tailor ; Ballad Index PuMB095 ; GlosTrad Roud 1614 ; Wiltshire 235 ; Mudcat 25049 ; Harry Clifton (1868)]

Frank Purslow: Marrow Bones Alan Helsdon: Vaughan Williams in Norfolk Volume 2

John Kirkpatrick sang the lament I’ll Go and List for a Sailor in 1972 on Ashley Hutchings and Friends’ first Morris dance album Morris On. Another version by the Albion Country Band recorded on 9 May 1973 for BBC’s Bob Harris Show was released on the CD The BBC Sessions.

Edward II sang List for a Sailor in 2004 on the “Folk on the Pier” anthology celebrating 200 years of Cromer’s lifeboats, Someone Was Calling.

Martin Carthy sang this song as the Unfortunate Tailor in 2006 on his and Dave Swarbrick’s album Straws in the Wind. He noted:

Unfortunate Tailor is the one song not from the Penguin collection. I learned it from John Kirkpatrick one day when he wasn’t looking and am very grateful to him for not turning round before the end. Don’t know why it is that tailors are so ridiculed in songs and story but they are, and this luckless sod is genuinely pathetic. Can’t imagine why he thinks he’ll have a better time in the navy either.

The Askew Sisters played The Unfortunate Tailor / The Shaalds of Foula in 2007 on their CD All in a Garden Green. They noted:

We used to dance to the A part of The Unfortunate Tailor as the Sherborne Morris jig I’ll Go and Enlist for a Sailor. We found this version complete with a B part in volume II of Dave Townsend’s English Dance Music. It can also be found as the tune to a song of the same name. We learnt the second tune as an English jig but we recently discovered that it’s actually from the Shetland Islands (we didn’t know the right name at the time!)

Jim Moray sang I’ll Go and List for a Sailor n his 2008 album Low Culture.

Andy Cutting and Tim Harries played I’ll Go and List for a Sailor as a Morris dance tune on June Tabor’s 2011 CD Ashore.

Eddy O’Dwyer sang Go and ’List for a Sailor as the title track of his 2012 CD Go and ’List for a Sailor.

Andy Turner learned The Unfortunate Tailor from John Kirkpatrick singing it on Morris On. He sang it as the 17 October 2020 entry of his project A Folk Song a Week.

Cambridge and Walker sang Unfortunate Tailor on their 2021 CD Wheel and Dive. They noted:

Great words and a new tune with a rather apt playground rhyme to finish.

Lyrics

John Kirkpatrick sings I’ll Go and List for a Sailor

Oh list, oh list to me sorrowful lay,
And attention give to me song, I pray,
When you’ve heard it all you’ll say
That I’m an unfortunate tailor.

For once I was happy as a bird in a tree,
My Sarah was all in the world to me,
Now I’m cut out by a son of the sea,
And she’s left me here to bewail her.

Why did Sarah serve me so?
No more will I stitch and no more will I sew;
Me thimble and me needle to the winds I’ll throw
And I’ll go and ’list for a sailor.

Now me days were honey and me nights were the same,
Till a man called Cobb from the ocean came
With his long black beard and his muscular frame,
A captain on board of a whaler.

Well he spent his money both frank and free,
With his tales of the land and his songs of the sea,
And he stole me Sarah’s heart from me,
And blighted the hopes of a tailor.

Well, once I was with her, when in came Cobb
“Avast!” he cried, “you blubbery swab.
If you don’t knock off I’ll scuttle your knob!”
And Sarah smiled at the sailor.

So now I’ll cross the raging sea,
For Sarah’s proved untrue to me.
Me heart’s locked up and she’s the key;
What a very unfeeling gaoler.

And so now, kind friends, I’ll bid you adieu,
No more me woes shall trouble you;
I’ll travel the country through and through,
And go and ’list for a sailor.

Martin Carthy sings Unfortunate Tailor

Oh list, oh list to me sorrowful lay,
And attention give to my song, I pray,
When you’ve heard it all you will say
There goes an unfortunate tailor.

Oh, once I was happy as a bird in a tree,
My Sarah was all in the world to me,
Now I’m cut out by a son of the sea,
She’s left me here to bewail her.

Why did Sarah serve me so?
No more will I stitch and no more will I sew;
Thimble and my needle to the winds I’ll throw
And I’ll go and ’list for a sailor.

Oh, my Sarah was the daughter of a publican,
A generous kind-hearted sort of a man,
Who spoke very plain what he thought of a man,
And he never looked bad on the tailor.

Oh, my days were honey and my nights were the same,
Till a man named Cobb from the ocean came
Great long beard and his mighty frame,
Captain on board of a whaler.

And he spent his money both frank and free,
With his tales of the land and his songs of the sea,
Stole me Sarah’s heart from me,
And he blighted the hopes of a tailor.

He come swaggering down, this Captain Cobb,
“Avast!” he cries, “you blubbery swab.
If you don’t knock off I’ll scuttle your knob!”
Sarah smiled at the sailor.

So now I’ll cross this raging sea,
For Sarah’s who proved untrue to me.
My heart’s locked up and she’s the key;
Such a very unfeeling gaoler.

Oh now, kind friends, I’ll bid you adieu,
No more my woes will trouble you;
Travel the country through and through,
I’ll go and ’list for a sailor.

Acknowledgements

Transcribed by Reinhard Zierke and Garry Gillard