The Roving Young Boatman by Jane Rouse Recorded by Jane Rouse and Tim Christian There was a young boatman from Banbury town He worked on a pair of coal boats carrying up and down He had a young lady in every place The roving young boatman with an eye for a pretty face Each night in a different place he would stop And each night to another young girl he would swap One in Oxford, one in Banbury and one in Napton And each of them thought that she was the only one To thoughts of his future the young boatman turned For a wife and companion in boating he yearned But which of his sweethearts would keep him so true? The love of young Nancy was the dearest he knew The young boatman held her close and he whispered his intent But Nancy she never could have granted her consent She knew many handsome boatmen who often passed through Like the young boatman she had been unfaithful too She answered I'll never be any man's wife For I love the sweet pleasure of a gay and single life And she planned to continue with her admiring roving eye I will not agree to marry you to the boatman she did cry The young boatman left his mooring with a sorry broken heart Further on up the Oxford with his boats he did start If he can't have lovely Nancy then another wife I'll seek And I venture that I can gain one by the end of the week So again the young boatman from Banbury town Went a-working on his coal boats carrying up and down He had a young lady in every place The roving young boatman with an eye for a pretty face Recorded on :