“What Does the Deep Sea Say,” also known as “Where Is My Sailor Boy,” is a traditional ballad of the sea. It was sung in folk tradition long before it was recorded, and the Monroe Brothers helped carry it into the country and bluegrass repertoire.
The song is the lament of a woman whose sailor has been lost at sea. She turns to the deep sea itself with her questions — where her love now sleeps, whether he is at peace — and the sea answers only with its moan and groan and the roll of the waves.
The ballad has had a long life in folk and bluegrass singing.
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