Enlist For A Sailor polka

I came across this tune as a Morris tune using only the first part; someone I know who plays and calls ceilidhs devised the second part. I’ve no idea where it originated and forget with which Morris tradition it’s been associated, but it fits in very well with the other 2/4 tunes pressed into service in ceilidhs in NE England.
I like it with low B’s, but it can very easily be adapted to avoid these.

You really know how to wind a fella up nicholas… I know this one, and not as a hybrid, as a tune that has been around for yonks. I’ve just tried searching this site with probably 16 measure in two different keys, but you know how bars can vary, but I haven’t found it yet. I may just have to add the it as I know it here, or if they are distinct enough and it really isn’t here, add it later… I’ve got to find the name/names though, to avoid another ‘gan ainm’… Your transcription is very much one possible take on it, definitely related… 😉

& I know I have it somewhere in this house, or suspect it, or that it might be here already at ‘TheSesh’, or online, but I just spent some time searching for it online without luck, but I haven’t given up. There are folks better able to suss this one out into the open, so I’m going to give the tune here with variations and hope for my sanity that either I’ll remember, or someone else will put this in its place ~

T: ? ? ?
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
R: polka
K: E Dorian ( & also playin in A Dorian )
D |
EE/F/ G/F/G/A/ | Be B>c | dA AF | FGAF D>B |
E/D/E/F/ G/F/G/A/ | Be BB/c/ | dF AG/F/ | E2 A/G/F/G/ |
E>F G>A | Be BB/c/ | dA AF | FGAF D2 |
EE/F/ GG/A/ | Be Bc | dF AF | E3 ||
G/A/ |
Be B>A | Be B>c | dA A/B/A/G/ | FGAF D2 |
BB/e/ BB/A/ | Be Bc | dF A/G/F/G/ | E2 EG/A/ |
Be B/c/B/A/ | Be B2 | dA A>G | FGAF D2 |
EE/F/ GG/A/ | Be Bc | dF AF | E3 ||

The Albion Band in ‘Morris On’ played ‘I’ll Go And ’List For A Sailor‘ combining it with a song ’A (The) Very Unfortunate Tailor‘. Both shared the same melody, although the song had a B part and the Morris Dance only augmented music for the ’slows’.

‘c’, is it this one you’re thinking of https://thesession.org/tunes/4543? 69th St or Galway Belle.

Yes, they got the key wrong too, and that is a very simple take on it. The name rings “belles” and that should make it easier for me to chase it up here and see what else I might have on it…

A single jig (danced by one man only and not to be confused with the term ‘single jig’ referring to the type of tune) from the village of Sherborne, in the Cotswolds. But it has a different ‘B’ music to the one here which, as already mentioned, was used for the ‘slows’

I have this tune from a workshop as “List for a Soldier”, The A part is pretty much the same as “Enlist for a Sailor” but the B part is different - perhaps closer to the Galway Belle Bpart, but again not the same.
X: 1
T: Enlist For A Soldier
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
R: polka
K: Edor
B,2|:E2 EF | GF GA | B2 e2 | B2 Bc | d2 d2 | d2 F2 | AG FE | D2 F2|
E2 EF | GF GA | B2 e2 | B2 Bc | d2 F2 | A2 GF | E4 |1 E2 B,2 :|2 E2 B2 ||
e2 e2 | e2 fe | d2 B2 | B2 c2 | d2 d2 | d2 F2 | AG FE | D2 F2| E2 EF |
GF GA | B2 e2 | B2 Bc | d2 F2 | A2 GF | E4 |1 E2 B2 :|2 E2 B,2 ||