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A Newfoundland sailor was walking the strand,
He met a pretty fair maid and took her by the hand,
Saying, "Will you come to Newfoundland along with me?" he cried.
And the answer that she made to him was, "Oh no, not I."
"To think that I would marry you and me to lay the blame,
Your friends and relations would scorn me to shame,
If you were born of noble blood and me of low degree,
Do you think that I would marry you?—'tis oh no, not me."
After six months being over and eight drawing nigh,
This pretty little young thing begin to look shy,
Her corsets would not touch, or her apron strings tie,
Made her think all on the time that she said, "Oh no, not I."
After eight months being over and nine come and gone,
This pretty little young thing she brought forth a son,
She wrote a letter to her love to come speedily,
But the answer that he made to her was, "Oh no, not me."
He said, "My pretty fair maid, the best thing you can do,
Is take your babe all on your back and begging you may go,
And when you get tired you may sit down and cry,
And think all on the time that you said, 'Oh no, not I'."
Come all you pretty fair maids a warning take by me,
Don't never put your trust in a green willow tree,
For the leaves they will wither and the roots they will die,
Don't you see what I am come to by saying, 'Oh no, not I'?
This variant was collected in 1958 from Everett Bennett of St. Paul's, NL, by Ken Peacock and published in Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 1, pp.304-305, by The National Museum Of Canada (1965) Crown Copyrights Reserved.
A variant was arranged and recorded as Oh No, Not I by Stan Rogers (Turnaround, 1978, © Fogarty's Cove Music).
A variant was also recorded as Marry? No, Not I! by Margaret Christl on the album The Barley Grain For Me (Folk Legacy 62) which was originally released in the 1970's. The recording, with Ian Robb and Grit Laskin, was re-released on CD in 1997 when the title of the song was published as Oh, No, Not I
