Home Boys Home

from Of Love and Sailors by Roary Skaista

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The tale of one girl in one of a sailor's many ports. I learnt this song at Forest School Camps at the age of six, before I knew what it was really about! The most famous version is sung by The Dubliners in their album named after that track. The refrain can also be found in the song "The Oak and the Ash", which tells quite a different tale of a girl who has traveled to London missing the beauty of her Northern homeland.

lyrics

LYRICS:

Well, who wouldn't be a sailor lad a-sailing on the main?
To gain the good will of his captain is to blame.
For he went ashore one evening for to be
And that was the beginning of the whole calamity.

And it's home, boys, home!
Home I'd like to be,
Home for a while in me own country,
Where the oak and the ash and the bonny rowan tree
Are all a-blooming freely in the North Country.

Well I asked her for a handkerchief to tie around me head
And likewise for a candle for to light me up to bed.
She tended to me needs just like a young maid ought to do,
So then I says to her "Why don't you jump in with me too?"

And it's home, boys, home!
Home I'd like to be,
Home for a while in me own country,
Where the oak and the ash and the bonny rowan tree
Are all a-blooming freely in the North Country.

Well she jumped into bed now, taking no alarm,
Thinking a young sailor lad to her could do no harm.
I hugged her, I kissed her the whole night long,
Until she wished the short night had been seven years long.

And it's home, boys, home!
Home I'd like to be,
Home for a while in me own country,
Where the oak and the ash and the bonny rowan tree
Are all a-blooming freely in the North Country.

Well early next morning the sailor lad arose
And into Mary's apron poured a pocket-full of gold
Saying "Take this me dear for the mischief I have done,
For tonight I fear I've left you with a daughter or a son."

And it's home, boys, home!
Home I'd like to be,
Home for a while in me own country,
Where the oak and the ash and the bonny rowan tree
Are all a-blooming freely in the North Country.

Now if it be a girl child, we'll send her out to nurse,
With silver in her pocket and gold in her purse
And if it be a boy child, we'll give him the jacket blue
And send him up the rigging like his daddy used to do".

And it's home, boys, home!
Home I'd like to be,
Home for a while in me own country,
Where the oak and the ash and the bonny rowan tree
Are all a-blooming freely in the North Country.

So listen all ye fair maids, take this advice from me,
Never let a sailor lad an inch above your knee,
For I trusted one and he beguiled me,
And left me with a pair of twins to dangle on me knee.

And it's home, boys, home!
Home I'd like to be,
Home for a while in me own country,
Where the oak and the ash and the bonny rowan tree
Are all a-blooming freely in the North Country.

credits

from Of Love and Sailors, released August 1, 2015
Traditional

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Roary Skaista UK

Roary Skaista is a queer folk musician based in Oxford, performing traditional folk songs as well as their own material on the themes of love, nature and diversity.

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