This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen #139 (December 2008/January/February 2009).
The full article is in the magazine, available on newsstands, by subscription, and at the Dirty Linen webstore.

Unearthed

Treasures and Oddities from the American Folklife Center Archive at the Library of Congress

Patrick Tayluer's "The Leaving of Liverpool"

by Steve Winick

Richard Maitland's version, collected by W. M. Doerflinger:

Fare you well, the Prince's landing stage,
River Mersey fare you well.
I'm off to California,
A place I know right well.

Chorus:
So fare you well my own true love,
When I return united we will be.
It's not the leaving of Liverpool that grieves me
But my darling when I think of you.

I'm off to California,
By the way of the stormy Cape Horn,
And I will send to you a letter, love,
When I'm homeward bound.

Farewell to Lower Frederick Street,
Anson Terrace and Park Lane;
Farewell, it will be some long time
Before I see you again.

I've shipped on a Yankee clipper ship,
Davy Crockett is her name;
And Burgess is the captain of her,
And they say she's a floating hell.

It's my second trip with Burgess in the Crockett,
And I think I know him well.
If a man's a sailor, he can get along,
But if not, he's sure in hell.

The tug is waiting at the pierhead
To take us down the stream.
Our sails are loose and our anchor secure,
So I'll bid you good-bye once more.

I'm bound away to leave you,
Good-bye, my love, good-bye.
There's just one thing that grieves me,
That's leaving you behind.

"The Leaving of Liverpool," the lyric lament of a 19th-century mariner who leaves Liverpool and his sweetheart for San Francisco, has been recorded by many important folk revival groups in Britain, Ireland, and the United States. One might think that such widespread success in the revival reflected a similar popularity in the oral tradition. In fact, however, "The Leaving of Liverpool" was so rarely collected that there is only one place in the world where the public can hear a field recording of it: the American Folklife Center archive at the Library of Congress.

"The Leaving of Liverpool" was collected from oral tradition only twice, both times by collector William Main Doerflinger. The singers were Richard Maitland and Patrick Tayluer, both retired sailors in New York City. Doerflinger published Maitland's version in the 1952 book Shantymen and Shantyboys. A strange series of misfortunes has meanwhile kept Tayluer's version unpublished. Because of this, Maitland's version is the source of all the well-known revival versions. However, it is Tayluer's recording that is housed in the Archive.

This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen #139 (December 2008/January/February 2009).
The full article is in the magazine, available on newsstands, by subscription, and at the Dirty Linen webstore.

Copyright ©2008 Visionation, Ltd.