Oh, Fare thee well my own true love!
Fare thee well, my dear!
For the ship is waiting, the wind blows high,
And I am bound away for the sea, Mary Ann!
And I am bound away for the sea, Mary Ann!

Oh, yonder don't you see the dove
Sitting on the stile?
She's mourning the loss of her own true love,
As I do now for you, my sweetheart, Mary Ann!
As I do now for you, my sweetheart, Mary Ann!

A lobster boiling in the pot,
A blue fish in the brook,
They are suffering long, but it's nothing like
The ache I bear for you, my sweetheart, Mary Ann!
The ache I bear for you, my sweetheart, Mary Ann!

Oh, had I but a flask of gin,
Sugar here for two,
And a great big bowl to mix it in,
I'd pour a drink for you, my sweetheart, Mary Ann!
I'd pour a drink for you, my sweetheart, Mary Ann!


abc | midi | pdf

---

Source: The Penguin Book of Canadian Folk Songs.

Notes:
Notes from The Penguin Book.

This is a Canadian version of a British broadside ballad that was printed in W. Henderson's Victorian Street ballads as 'My Mary Ann.' Dr Barbeau heard it in Quebec from Edouard Hovington, a former Hudson Bay trapper, then about ninety. He learned it from an Irish sailor around 1850. The song is related to 'The True Lover's Farewell'

Roud: 4388 (Search Roud index at VWML)
Laws:
Child:

---

Related Songs:  Mary Ann (easily confused with)