We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.
/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      €1 EUR  or more

     

about

A Sailor's Life seems to have started off as a Broadsheet ballad in the eighteenth century. On one level, it is a simple, tragic love-story with a prettily plaintive tune. From another perspective, it is arguably one of a class of songs that obliquely warn girls what they could be letting themselves in for if they marry a soldier, sailor, miner, old man,,,and so on. The attribution of the image on this page is John Sell Cotman [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

credits

from Lullabee: A sampler of a cappella songs from Elspeth Cowie, released August 7, 2023
Traditional, arranged Cowie

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Elspeth Cowie Spain

Elspeth Cowie is a leading singer of folk and traditional songs, notably from Scotland, but also Americana. Her life and musical journey has spanned many places, genres, and decades. This shows in the arrangements she produces across, and sometimes fusing, genres. "If a song's got soul, it's worth singing whatever the label on it," she says. "Why paint with just one colour?" ... more

contact / help

Contact Elspeth Cowie

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

Elspeth Cowie recommends:

If you like Elspeth Cowie, you may also like: