Johnny Todd

1. Johnny Todd he went a-sailing
For to cross the ocean wide
But he left his true love behind him
Walking by the Liverpool tide.

2. For a week, she wept with sorrow
Tore her hair and wrung her hands
Till she met another handsome sailor
Walking by the Liverpool sands.

3. Fair young maid why are you weeping
For your Johnny gone to sea
If you’ll wed with me tomorrow
I will kind and constant be.

4. I will buy you sheets and blankets
I’ll buy you a wedding ring
You shall have a silver cradle
For to rock the baby in

5. Johnny Todd came home from sailing
Sailing on the ocean wide
And he’s found his fair and false one
Was another sailor’s bride

6. All young men who go a-sailing
For to fight the foreign foe
Do not leave your love like Johnny
Marry her before you go.


This children’s play (skipping) song appears in Frank Kidson’s “Traditional Tunes: A Collection of Ballad Airs” (1891). Kidson collected it in Liverpool, England “from a singer of deficient memory.”