"Just as the Tide Was Flowing" is an English air in 4/4 time and G Major. "Just as the Tide was Flowing" seems to have had some popularity in the 19th century as a song although published versions are relatively few. Printed versions were issued on broadsides from the first half of the 19th century. Closely related tunes are "The Deadly Wars", "Poor Soldier" and "The Mill, Mill Oh" from which "Just as the Tide was Flowing" may have derived. Other suggestions are that it is a derivation of the air used by Thomas D'Urfey for his song "Sawny will never be my love again" (written for his 1679 play The Virtuous Wife; or, Good Luck at Last) and by Alan Ramsay for "Corn Riggs are Bonny" (1729). Antiquarian William Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Time, vol. 2) believed it likely D'Ufey's tune was composed by Thomas Farmer, who contributed other pieces to The Virtuous Wife. Related airs are "The Parting Glass", the Irish tune "The Peacock" and the Morris dance tune "The Blue Eyed Stranger". Harry Cox sang "Just As the Tide Was A-Flowing" in a BBC recording supervised by E.J. Moeran in The Windmill, Sutton, Norfolk, on December 18, 1945. Peggy Seeger sang two verses of "Just As the Tide Was Flowing" on her and Tom Paley's album, Who's Going to Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot? (1964). It was also recorded by Peter Bellamy on Mainly Norfolk (1968). It is #1105 in the Roud Folk Song Index. It was printed in Kidson's Traditional Tunes (1891) and Peggy Seeger's Folk Songs of Peggy Seeger (1964). The lyrics given here are from Harry Cox and the melody is from Peggy Seeger.