Rosemary Lane (song)

Rosemary Lane "is an English folksong: a ballad ( Roud #269, Laws K43) that tells a story about the seduction of a domestic servant by a sailor.

Its potential for bawdry means that it was popular in male-centred contexts such as rugby clubs, army barracks and particularly in the navy, where it can still be heard, but traditional versions were often collected from women as well as men.

The sailor seduces the servant and makes grand promises of money as he departs, but in fact he leaves her pregnant and alone to ponder her child's future: Now if it’s a boy, he will fight for the King,And if it’s a girl she will wear a gold ring;She will wear a gold ring and a dress all of flameAnd remember my service in Rosemary Lane.

O, if it be a lass, she shall wear a golden ring; And if it be a lad, he shall fight for his king: With his dirk and his hat and his little jacket blue He shall walk the quarter-deck as his daddie used to do.

Performers who have recorded this song or one of its variants include Anne Briggs, Martin Carthy, Liam Clancy, Chris Willett,[3] Bert Jansch, Espers, Paul Wassif[9] and Rebecca Hall, Charlotte Greig and John Molineux.