"An extremely widespread song, in Britain and America. Its potential for bawdry means that it was popular in male-centred contexts such as rugby clubs, army barracks and particularly in the navy, where it can still be heard, but traditional versions were often collected from women as well as men."
An adaptation of the song is known as "Bell Bottom Trousers".
Synopsis
One variant of the song begins with the words: When I was in service in Rosemary Lane I won the good will of my master and dame Until a young sailor came there to stay And that was the beginning of my misery. The sailor seduces the servant and makes grand promises of money as he departs, but in fact he leaves her pregnant and alone to ponder her child's future: Now if it’s a boy, he’ll fight for the King, And if it’s a girl she’ll wear a gold ring; She’ll wear a gold ring and a dress all aflame And remember my service in Rosemary Lane.
Variants and adaptations
Variants
Variants of the song exist under titles including "Once When I Was a Servant", "Ambletown", "The Oak and the Ash", "Home, Dearie, Home", "The Lass that Loved a Sailor", and "When I was Young". The song first was attested in a broadside balladdating to between 1809 and 1815. The textual history is complex, and verses have been added freely to versions of this song or borrowed into songs circulated under other titles by oral tradition.
Some variants make the sailor a "bold sea captain".
The variants "Home, Dear Home" and "The Oak and the Ash" include an additional refrain, from which these versions take their name:
Although the variant "Ambletown" changes the song's perspective to a narration of a letter informing a sailor that he has fathered a child, many lyrics, including the verse "If he's a boy, he'll fight for the king", remain constant.
The song's lyrics are occasionally set to the tune of "Rock-a-bye Baby".
Adaptations
William E. Henley used portions of the text of this cluster of folksongs for his poem "O Falmouth Is a Fine Town":
:For it's home, dearie, home — it's home I want to be.
"Bell Bottom Trousers", a sea-shanty adaptation of the song, shares the basic plot, though the variant in question turns the tone from wistful regret to bawdiness:
