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According the a thread on mudcat, the song, If I Were A Blackbird was in Nova Scotia around 1950, but there is a claim that it was extant in the 1920s from the Sherbrooke area and that it appears to be Irish. It was known in New South Wales, Austrailia in the 1950s, and is found in the Helen Hartness Flanders Collection sung by Hanford Hayes of Stacyville, Maine in May 1942.
after Silly Wizard's "If I Were A Blackbird"
Blackbird, The
by trad
I [Dm] am a young [Am] sailor, my [C] story is [Bb] sad
though [Dm] once I was [Am] carefree and a [Dm] brave sailor [Am] lad
I [Dm] courted a [Am] lassie, by [Dm] night and by [Am] day
but [Dm] now she has [Am] left me and [C] sailed far [Bb] away
Chorus
Oh, if I was a blackbird, could whistle and sing
I’d follow the vessle my true love sails in
and in the top rigging, I would there build my nest
and I’d flutter my wings, oer her lilly white breast
Or if I was a scholar and could handle the pen
one secret love letter to my true love I’d send
and tell of my sorrow, my grief and my pain
since she’s gone and left me in yon floaty glen
Chorus
I sailed ‘oer the ocean, my fortune to seek
oh, I missed her caress and her hand on my cheek
I returned and I told her my love was still warm
but she turned away lightly, and great was her scorn
Chorus
I offered to take her to Donniebrook fair
and to buy her fine ribbons, to tie up her hair
I offered to marry and to stay by her side
but she says “In the mornin,” she “sails with the tide”
Chorus
My parents they chide me, Oh they will not agree
sayin that me and my false love, married will never be
Ah but let let them deprive me, oh let them say what they will
while theres breath in my body, shes the one that I love still.
Chorus
though [Dm] once I was [Am] carefree and a [Dm] brave sailor [Am] lad
I [Dm] courted a [Am] lassie, by [Dm] night and by [Am] day
but [Dm] now she has [Am] left me and [C] sailed far [Bb] away
Chorus
Oh, if I was a blackbird, could whistle and sing
I’d follow the vessle my true love sails in
and in the top rigging, I would there build my nest
and I’d flutter my wings, oer her lilly white breast
Or if I was a scholar and could handle the pen
one secret love letter to my true love I’d send
and tell of my sorrow, my grief and my pain
since she’s gone and left me in yon floaty glen
Chorus
I sailed ‘oer the ocean, my fortune to seek
oh, I missed her caress and her hand on my cheek
I returned and I told her my love was still warm
but she turned away lightly, and great was her scorn
Chorus
I offered to take her to Donniebrook fair
and to buy her fine ribbons, to tie up her hair
I offered to marry and to stay by her side
but she says “In the mornin,” she “sails with the tide”
Chorus
My parents they chide me, Oh they will not agree
sayin that me and my false love, married will never be
Ah but let let them deprive me, oh let them say what they will
while theres breath in my body, shes the one that I love still.
Chorus