287. The Titanic

 

287

The Titanic

On Sunday night, April 14-15, 1912, the Royal Mail Steamer
Titanic, making her maiden voyage from Southampton to New
York, with 2224 passengers and crew, struck at full speed an ice-
berg and went to the bottom of the Atlantic, with a loss of 1513
lives.

As swiftly as the other Muses, the Ballad Muse seized the event.
A. E. Perkins, in JAFL xxxv 223, wrote that one week after the
disaster he "saw on a train a blind preacher selling a ballad he
had composed on the disaster." There is one broadside in the Frank
C. Brown Collection dated April 13, 1912 ! In published collections
of American folk song the earliest dating of an orally current ballad
about the sinking of the Titanic is that in White ANFS 347, which
was reported from Alabama and Tennessee in 1915-16. In his head-
note to the text White stated, "It apparently belongs to the class
of songs . . . composed by and for a professional singer rather than
by and for a group." Henry, in JAFL xliv 111-12; Lomax, in
OSC 26-27; and Gardner and Chickering, in BSSM 295, have
printed versions of ballads on the Titanic. For North Carolina
pieces with music, see B and F below.

A
'Sinking of the Great Ship.' From Gaither Miller, a student at Trinity
College, November 15, 1914, copied from a broadside attached to type-
script. Broadside dated April 13, 1912. At bottom is printed: "Com-
posed and Sold by S. C. Martin, Granite Falls, N. C." A note from
Dr. Brown identifies Martin as "a white man, known as 'Coon' Martin."
Dr. Brown also notes that the refrain lines point to 'Golden Willow
Tree' (Child, No. 286) ; and it may be added that stanzas 4, 6, and 8
also borrow details from the old English ballad.

1 Long about the fifth of March,
When man and wife had to part,

They were sunk in the Lowland Lonesome Low,

Oh, they were sunk in the Lowland Lonesome Low.

2 Just as the Titanic sunk down in the sea.
They were singing 'Nearer My God to Thee.'
It struck the iceberg about half past two,
And tore that old Titanic middle in two ;
Then it sunk in the Lowland Lonesome Low.
Then it sunk in the Lowland Lonesome Low.

3 It was two thousand miles away from land,
And two miles deep to the bottom of the sea.
They sunk in the Lowland Lonesome Low,
They sunk in the Lowland Lonesome Low.

4 They had a little instrument purpose for the use.
Oh, how it drunk that salt water juice;

 

NORTH CAROLINA BALLADS 663

Then it sunk in the Lowland Lonesome Low,
Then it sunk in the Lowland Lonesome Low.

5 Standing in the door with a bar in his hand,
Demanding the women to come to land.

Or you will be sunk in the Lowland Lonesome Low,
You will be sunk in the Lowland Lonesome Low.

6 Now will you be good as your word,
Will you take me out on board?
Neither will I be as good as my word,
Nor I'll take you out on board,

But I'll sink you in the Lowland Lonesome Low.
Sink you in the Lowland Lonesome Low.

7 Wake up, little babies, get out of bed.
The Titanic is sinking, you'll soon be dead !

You will be sunk in the Lowland Lonesome Low,
You will be sunk in the Lowland Lonesome Low.

8 If it wasn't for the love I had for women,
I would do them like I done the men ;

I would sink them in the Lowland Lonesome Low,
I would sink them in the Lowland Lonesome Low.

9 Just as the Titanic went down in the sea,
They were singing 'Nearer My God to Thee,'
When they sunk in the Lowland Lonesome Low,
When they sunk in the Lowland Lonesome Low.

 

'Destruction of the Titanic' From W. O. ("Bill") Smith, Durham,
May 26, 1920. Three printed broadsides and a typescript ; with music.
Note by Dr. Brown; "Made by W. O. Smith & Irma Smith (da.).
Last stanza from Oxford, sung there, found in Oxford by W. O. Smith.
Tune motif of 'There Will Be a Hot Time.' Smith acknowledged that
he got part of the song from Henderson. Smith drove a horse cab in
Durham ca. 1912-1915." The broadside bears no printed date or printed
name — only at bottom, in heavy type : 'Price 5 cents — Smith.'

I Come all of you dear people, listen and hear me tell
How that great Titanic, that was in its great swell,
It went down on Sunday night in nineteen hundred and
twelve.

Chorus:

Wasn't it sad about the Titanic, how it got lost.
Wasn't it sad about the Titanic, how it got lost,
Women and children saved their lives.
Husbands parted with their wives,
Wasn't it sad about the Titanic, how it got lost?

 

664 NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE

2 It left the port of London, it was bound for New York

shore.
An iceberg struck the vessel, which caused a leaking hole.
The engineer said, 'Captain, no, we cannot reach the goal.'

3 It was more than a thousand people who did lose their

lives ;
There were fathers and mothers, husbands and their wives ;
Yet some of them were saved from their watery graves.

4 The officers were commanding, 'The women must be saved.'
It wasn't pleasing to male passengers, but yet it did prevail ;
Some men had to be shot down, that women might not

drown.

5 One husband said unto his wife, 'Go take the little boat.
To try and save your own self, for they will be on float.'
'No' (her eyes were filled with tears), 'we've been together

forty years.'

6 Upon her he insisted to do just as he said.

But still she lingered to him, waiting for their watery grave.
'I will not leave you for another, we will both go down
together.'

7 And yet some were hiding in the little boat ;

They laid down in the bottom, thinking their presence

would not be known ;
And as little as one would think, from their weight the boat

would sink.

8 Now as the boat was sinking, it was sadness to behold.
There was darkness all around them, and it was so very

cold;
The boat was sinking in the sea, the band played 'Nearer
My God to Thee.'

c
'The Destruction of the Titanic' Undated note by Dr. Brown : "This
is a copy of the song as it appeared in a broadside printed by The
Reformer Publishing Company, a Negro press. It was printed for the
'Rev. J. H. Brown,' who sold copies of the broadside at 5 cents each.
There is little probability that Brown had anything to do with the com-
position ; he may have collected fragments of the songs and arranged
them as they appear here. Cf. 'Hamlet Wreck.' No original broad-
side of this particular version has been found in the Collection.

With this version compare those in White ANFS 347 and Lomax OSC
26.

I It was in the month of April,
In 1912:
Will you listen to the story

 

NORTH CAROLINA BALLADS 665

As I begin to tell ?

How it happened on Sunday night,

When the ship went out of sight.

It was sad about the Titanic when it got lost.

Chorus:

It was sad about the Titanic when it got lost,
It was sad about the Titanic when it got lost.
Women and children saved their lives ;
Husbands parted from their wives.
It was sad about the Titanic when it got lost.

It was about two thousand people

Who have lost their lives.

There were fathers and daughters,

And some sons' wives ;

They are in their watery graves,

And I hope their souls are saved.

It was sad about the Titanic when it got lost.

They left the shore of London ;

To New York they tried to come.

An iceberg struck the vessel,

And she couldn't make the run.

Many have fallen asleep

In waters two thousand fathoms deep.

It was sad about the Titanic when she got lost.

It was commanded by the officers

To have the women and children saved.

It was not satisfactory to some,

Though it did prevail.

The men saw that they could not be saved ;

So they knelt and prayed.

It was sad about the Titanic when it got lost.

You have never read it

In the history of your lives,

How they separated

The husbands from their wives.

But some took their rathers^

And agreed to die together.

It was sad about the Titanic when it got lost.

There were the millionaires and captains
And mighty men of wealth
From all over the country
Who were on the ship that night.
Pronounced rut hers.

 

666 NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE

On there they had to stay ;

Money could not pay their way.

It was sad about the Titanic when it got lost.

7 Have you heard of such destruction,
How it happened on that night,
About three o'clock in the morning,
When the ship went out of sight?
How sad the band did play
'Nearer My God to Thee' !
It was sad about the Titanic when she got lost.

D
'The Great Titanic' Contributed by Miss Fanny Grogan, with a note
in her hand: "Written [i.e., written down?] By a friend Fanny Grogan,
Zionville, N. C. Written Nov. 30, 1920." With some changes in
mechanics as 'written' by Miss Grogan.

1 It was on one Monday morning about one o'clock
When the great Titanic began to reel and reck.

All the people began to cry saying lord I have to die.
It was sad when that great ship went down.

Chorus:

Oh it was sad when that great ship went down.

Their were husbands and their wives,

Little children lost their lives.

It was sad when that great ship went down.

2 When thay were building the ship thay said what thay

would do,
That thay said thay would build a ship that water would

not go through.
But God with the [power?] in his hand showd the wourld

it could not stand.
It was sad when that great ship went down.

3 When the ship left England a making for the shore,

The rich had declared that they would not ride with the

Poor;
So they put the poor below so they would be the first to go.
It was sad when that great ship went down.

4 You know it was ofel out on the sea.

The people were singing nearer my god to thee.

Some were homeward bound, sixteen hundered had to

dround.
It was sad when that great ship went down.

 

NORTH CAROLINA BALLADS 667

5 The people out on the water was along ways from home,
And their friends diden know that their time had come.
Death came ridding by, sixteen hundered had to die.

It was sad when that great ship went down.

6 When Paul was out on the water with his people all around
The lord said not one of them should drownd.

If you will trust and obey He will save you all today.
It was sad when that great ship went down.

E
'The Ship Titanic' Contributed by Miss Nancy Lineberger, Shelby,
Cleveland county, March 1940. Three stanzas and chorus. Corresponds
to 2 and 3 of D, above, with some differences in spelling — "Titantic"
and "Engle-land."'

3 Now they all got afraid, and they starter! io plee.

When the band struck out with 'Nearer My God to Thee.'
The Captain tried to wire, but the lines were all on fire.
It was sad when that great ship went down.

 

'The Sinking of the Titanic' From Macie Morgan, Stanly county ; un-
dated. With a number of verbal differences, this corresponds to D,
stanzas i, 2, 3, 5, and chorus. Line i of stanza 3 reads "When they
heard the sighing" for "When the ship left England" in D.

G
'The Sinking of the Titanic' From W. Amos Abrams, Boone ; un-
dated. One stanza and chorus, closely similar to D i and chorus.

H
'God Moved on the Waters.' Transcribed by Dr. Brown from the sing-
ing of Will ("Shorty") Love, Trinity College janitor, c. 1920. Recorded
by "Shorty" Dec. 9, 1939. Music.

Chorus:

God moved on de waters
On April the fifteenth day ;
He just moved on the waters,
And de people had to run and pray.

1 De rich dey had decided

Dat dey would not riduh wid de pore.
Dey placed de pore on de deck of de ship
And de pore was de first to go ; but

Chorus:

2 'Twas on one Monday morning
Just about one o'clock

When de iceberg struck de Titanic
And it began to reel and rock ; but . . .

 

668 NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE

3 Those people were enjoying themselves,
Of de trouble dey had no dream,
When de iceberg struck the boat,

Prayed 'Nearer My God to Thee'; [but] ...

4 When the large boat was in building.
They said what dey could do ;

They said that dey could build one boat

That the water wouldn't ever break through ; but

5 Women tried to save dey children.
Husbands tried to save dey wives.
But after all dey hard struggles

More than fifteen hundred died ; for . . .

6 My people, let me say to you,

It's nothing but a thing of naught

To say what you yourself will do

And never give God a thought ; [for] . . .

7 You read about that mighty ship,
In nineteen hundred and twelve,
That moved upon the mighty seas

And landed those people in hell ; [for] . . .

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287

The Titanic

B

'Destruction of the Titanic' Sung by W. O. Smith. Recorded as ms score at
Durham in 1920. As in numerous other cases, the printed version of the text
and music do not match. The chorus as printed in II 663 begins with "Wasn't
it sad about the Titanic." Unfortunately, from a musical standpoint based upon
the melodic structure of the stanza which constitutes the tune, this is definitely
incorrect. The first statement "Wasn't it sad about the Titanic, how it got lost"
belongs to the last phrase of the musical stanza, and its repetition marks the be-
ginning of the chorus.

Attention should be called to the ingenious use made of the first four meas-
ures of the stanza to supply the same for the chorus. Note the rhythmic shift
as well as that of the accents. The remainder of the chorus is but a slightly
altered repetition of the last part of the stanza.

 


Scale : Heptachordal, plagal. Tonal Center : e-flat. Structure : aa^bc (2,2,2,2)
= ab (4,4). Chorus: a-a^bc (2,2,2,2) = a^b^ (4,4)-

 

'The Great Titanic' Sung by Mrs. J. Church. Recorded at Heaton, Avery
county, in 1939. This melody offers interesting points with regard to the intui-
tive grasp of the process called composition by some untrained, but musical mind.
Note how measures 5-6 of the stanza represent a surprising combination of the
fourth plus the second measure of the stanza, most ingeniously refashioned.
The last two measures of the stanza are again formed from the second measure.
Besides this, the chorus begins with measures 3-5 astonishingly reshaped and
leading directly into a slightly altered restatement of the last three measures of
the stanza. To be sure, this is not strictly according to the textbooks, but is un-
questionably better for it.


Scale: Hexatonic (4), plagal. Tonal Center: e-flat. Structure: abbiaia2 (2,2,
1,1,2) ; Chorus b^b^a^a^ (2,1,1,2).

 

'The Ship Titanic' Sung by Miss Nancy Lineberger. Recorded at Shelby,
Cleveland county, March 1940.

 


For melodic relationship cf. ***TSFL 723-4.

Scale : Hexachordal, plagal. Tonal Center : e-flat. Structure : aba^c (4,4,4,4) ;
Chorus: dea^c (4,4,4,4).

 

H. 'God Moved on the Water.' Sung by Will ('Shorty') Love. Recorded at
Durham, about 1920. In OSC 26-7, the date of the tragedy is given as April
13 instead of the fifteenth.

 

Scale: Tetratonic (2). Tonal Center: e-flat. Structure: Chorus: aa^ (4,4);
Stanza: a^baa^ (4,4,4,4).