Lass of Coventry Recorded by The Boaters It was a lass of Coventry As fair as fair could be And on a Sunday evening She walked along with me I asked and she gave consent She was as good as gold How little did I ever think That she could grow so cold Now Jane fulfil your promises The promise you made to me Or I will turn a boating man And sail away from thee O Tom she said a-crying My heart will burst in two For I love Jim, the carpenter As once I did love you Now all you gay young boating men Whose hearts are broke in twain I pray you keep yourselves aboard And never come home again From stop to stop you'll meet with girls Who are both kind and free But the girls of this old England Will never get hold of me They'll never get hold of me In the sleeve notes to Straight from the Tunnel's Mouth David Blagrove writes : Several 19th century writers refer to the boatman's habit of enlivening the passage of long tunnels by singing sad ballads. William Black heard this version and mentions it in the 'Strange Adventures of a Houseboat'. This was a novel published in 1904. The full book can be read on-line via the Google Internet Archive and the page on which the song appears can be downloaded as a pdf. The Boatmen altered one or two words and phrases from the original to make the song canal- based rather than a sea song. As the song is part of a work of fiction perhaps its author was William Black? Recorded on :