Henry's Songbook

Chorus:
Deep blue sea, honey, deep blue sea
Deep blue sea, honey, deep blue sea
Deep blue sea, honey, deep blue sea
It was Willie what got drownded in the deep blue sea

Dug his grave with an iron spade
Dug his grave with an iron spade
Dug his grave with an iron spade
It was Willie what got drownded in the deep blue sea

Lowered him down on a silver chain
Lowered him down on a silver chain
Lowered him down on a silver chain
It was Willie what got drownded in the deep blue sea

Marked his grave with a cross of gold
Marked his grave with a cross of gold
Marked his grave with a cross of gold
It was Willie what got drownded in the deep blue sea

As sung by The Spinners

[1961:] Like many an American song, this seems to have been built out of a fragment of an old British ballad or sea song. (Seeger, Ballads 76)

[1962:] Pete Seeger believes that this lovely American folk song has probably been influenced by or passed through West Indian musical idioms. (Reprint Sing Out 4, 197)

[1974:] [This] always seemed to us to have a strong Caribbean flavour about it, but Pete Seeger from whom we first learnt it gives it a probable British origin. Either way, it's a great song for mass singing. (Notes 'The Spinners at the London Palladium')