The Sailor Cut Down In His Prime - Nelson Ridley by Caoimhín

From "Travellers' Songs from England and Scotland" (2015) MTCD254.
Recorded by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger in 1974 in Harlow New Town, Essex, from Nelson Ridley, a Traveller, originally from Kent.

This traditional version displays a rather curious phonetic corruption in verse 3 which begins at 01:00:

Now, beat the drum slowly and play the dead march now,
Beat the drum slowly as we carry him along;
That's sweet Billy Caution as I said to Marjorie,
I'm in a deep sitivation, I'm sure I will die.

The strange expression "sweet Billy Caution as I said to Marjorie" is a corruption of "pila cotia and salts of white mercury". The word "sitivation" is a misunderstanding of salivation, which was caused by mercury poisoning from the treatment of veneral disease.

Here's an article on the medical uses of mercury in the 1700's:
www.umich.edu/~ece/student_proje…edies/mercury.html

Here's the corresponding verse from "The Buck's Elegy", the earliest known full text of the "Unfortunate Lad" song family dating from the mid-nineteenth century:

Had I but known what his disorder was,
Had I but known it and took it in time,
I'd took pila cotia, all sorts of white mercury
But now I'm cut off in the height of my prime.

From Holloway & Black, "Later English Broadside Ballads Vol. 1" pp.48-49.

"Travellers' Songs from England and Scotland" can be bought here:
http://www.mtrecords.co.uk/index2.htm

See Harry Brazil's version for a longer text:
https://soundcloud.com/user-860765554/young-man-cut-down-in-his-prime-harry-brazil

Here's the full text as Nelson Ridley sang it:

Now, as I was a-walking down through the dark arches,
Dark was the morning and dark was the night;
Who should I spy then was one of my shipmates,
He was wrapped up in flannels, much colder than clay.

We will carry him to the churchyard, three valleys over,
Play the dead march as we carry him along;
Now, never go courting flash gels in the city,
Flash gels in the city are the ruin of me.

Now, beat the drum slowly and play the dead march now,
Beat the drum slowly as we carry him along;
That's sweet Billy Caution as I said to Marjorie,
I'm in a deep sitivation, I'm sure I will die.

It's yonder, round the corner there's three maids a-standing,
One to each other they whispered and said:
'Here comes the young sailor, what money he squandered -
He's the young sailor cut down in his prime.'

Now beat the drum slowly and play the dead march now,
Beat the drum slowly as we carry him along;
Never go courting flash gels in the city,
Flash gels in the city are the ruin of me.