Oh! It’s now that I am out at sea, and you are far behind,
Kind letters I will write to you of the secrets of my mind;
But still I live in hopes to see old Swansea Town once more.
Oh! Now the storm’s rising, I can see it coming on,
The night so dark as anything we cannot see the moon.
Our good old ship, she is toss’d aft, our rigging is all tore,
But still I live in hopes to see old Swansea Town once more.
Oh! It’s now the storm is over and we are safe on shore,
We’ll drink strong drinks and brandies too, to the girls that we adore,
And when our money is all gone, we’ll go to sea for more!
But what about dear sweet Nancy, the poor girl who always seems to be left behind
in these shanties? I Love My Love gives a more sobering account of one of the many
women who were left behind by their sea-faring sweethearts. Here we learn of a
maiden that has been sent away to Bedlam (an insane asylum) by her beloved’s
giving the impression that she sits alone, rocking back and forth. As if on cue, the
the story, but the tenors and baritones return to the gentle oscillations: though the
maiden is loved and now well tended, has she gone insane?
Abroad as I was walking, one evening in the spring,
I heard a maid in Bedlam so sweetly for to sing;
Her chains she rattled with her hands, and thus replied she:
“I love my love, because I know my love loves me!
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