Ballads and Sea Songs 22-49
From: Ballads and Sea Songs of Newfoundland- Greenleaf and Mansfield 1933
[This is the next batch of ballads, of which two are part of the Child ballads. Raw text below, individual version attached to this page on the left hand column. Remember, the notes are by Kittredge, with Greenleaf occasionally contributing. No. 28 is related to Child 43, and it's listed in my collection under 43A (Appendix- The Maid on the Shore). No 34 is considered to be a version of Child 77, Sweet William's Ghost.
Not proofed or edited yet- proceed at your own risk!! haha
R. Matteson 2014]
CONTENTS:
22. WILLY TAYLOR.
23. POLLY OLIVER
24. DROWSY SLEEPER.
25. THE CASTAWAYS
26. ROGERS THE MILLER
27. WEXFORD CITY ....
28. THE MAIDEN WHO DWELT BY THE SHORE [Appendix to "The Broomfield Hill" (Child, No. 43)]
29· THE ROSE OF BRITAIN'S ISLE
30. THE GREEN BUSHES
31. As I ROVED OUT
32. THE BLIND BEGGAR.
33· NANCY FROM LONDON
34. THE GHOSTLY LOVER [Sweet William's Ghost (Child 77)]
35· THE BOLD "PRINCESS ROYAL"
36. THE DARK-EYED SAILOR.
37. JOHNSON; OR, THE THREE RIDERS.
38. HANDSOME JOHN
39· THE DUKE OF ARGYLE . . . .
40. THE FIRST COME IN IT WAS A RAT
41. THE TWELVE APOSTLES
42. TURKISH MEN-O'- WAR
43. KELLY THE PIRATE.
44. BOLD WOLFE . .
45. THE MAN-OF-WAR PIECE .
46. SHORT JACKET . . . . .
47. TARPAULIN JACKET .
48. BROKEN-DOWN SPORT. . .
49. ABRAM BROWN THE SAILOR
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22. WILLY TAYLOR
Sung by Daniel Endacott, Sally's Cove, 1929.
Recorded by E. 8. G.
[music]
1 Willy Taylor, a brisk young sailor,
Full of love and full of glee,
Went to church - they marched together
Dressed in light, so rich and gay.
2. . . . .
. . . .
In walked twenty brisk young sailors,
Marched young Willy off to sea.
3. Then his true love followed after,
Went by the name of Richard Kerr,[1]
With her lily-white bands and her slender fingers
To embrace the pitch and tar.
4 When she was out on the yardarm reefing,
Doing her work amongst the rest,
Then her waistcoat did blow open,
And she showed her lily-white breast.
5 When our captain came for to hear it,
"O, what wonders brought you here?"
"I'm in search of my own true lovyer,
Who was forced from me so dear."
6 "If you're in search of your true lovyer,
Pray tell me what his name may be."
"His name it is young Willy Taylor;
Seven long years been gone from me."
7 "You rise early the next morning,
All just by the break of day;
There you'll see your Willy Taylor
Walking with his lady gay."
8 She rose early the next morning,
All just by the break of day;
There she saw her Willy Taylor
Walking with his lady gay.
9 Then she called for two bright pistols,
Which were given at her command,
And she shot young Willy Taylor,
Standing at his bride's right hand.
10 When our captain came for to hear it,
"O, what wonders you have done!"
Then he shipped her as a first leftenant
On board of a ship nine hundred tun.
II Now she is out on the ocean sailing,
Long bright sword into her hand;
Every time as she gives orders,
Makes the men tremble at her command.
1 Pronounced Carr.
Of the later ballads, "Willy Taylor" is one of the most popular. See Mackenzie, No. 46; Campbell and Sharp, No. 51; Cox, No. 20 (with references); Flanders and Brown, pp. 152-154; Vance Randolph, Ozark Life, VI (1930), 12; Brady MS., Harvard College Library, pp. 167-168; Oed, pp. 315-316.
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23. POLLY OLIVER
A. Sung by Gordon Willis, Fogo, 1929.
[music]
I It was down in the Lowlands pretty Polly she did dwell,
In every degree, 0, she dressed like a man,
When to her father's stable then she viewed the horses round,
Till at length she found one that could travel the ground.
2 With a pair of bright pistols and a broadsword by her side,
On her father's great stallion like a great man did ride;
She rode till she came tn a part of London town,
When at length was held up by the sound of a drum.
The first man she met was a young Irish lord;
The next it was the captain, Polly Oliver's true love;
She says, II I have a letter here from Polly, your friend,
And under the sealing there's a guinea to be found,
o that you and your ship's company drink Polly's health around.
4 "Her health can't be drunk by one nor by two,
But her health it must be drunk by the joyful ship's crew."
For the fust flowing glass went around in their hand,
Sing a health to Polly Oliver, she's now on dry land.
5 Jack he felt drowsy and he hung down his head,
And called for a candle to light himself to bed,
When up speaks our captain, "There's a bed all at our ease.
You can lie all night beside of me, young man, if you please."
6 "To lie with the captain it is a dangerous thing,
For since he's enlisted to fight for his king,
To fight for his king on sea or on land;
But since you are the captain I will be at your command."
7 'Twas early next morning pretty Polly arose,
And dressing herself in her own suit of clothes,
While coming downstairs from her bedroom up above
Singing, "Here comes Polly Oliver, 0, the captain's true love."
8 0, the captain he smiled and he laughed at the fun
And greatly recommended her for whaten she had done,
"If I didn't please you last night, love, the fault it was not mine;
I'm in hopes to please you better so now is the time."
9 This couple they got married and they lived at their ease,
Goes out when they likes and comes in when they please;
She's leaved her old parents in sorrow to mourn,
Who'd give thousand of millions for Polly's return.
B. Sung by Tom White and Will White, Sandy Cove, 1929.
[music]
1 Down in some foreign counteree pretty Polly did dwell,
She was courted by a captain who loved her right well;
Soon as her cruel parents they should come for to know,
Soon separated pretty Polly from her Royal True Blue.[1]
2 O Polly sat a-musing all alone by herself,
Some comical fancy still runs in her mind;
"Neither father nor mother shall make me false-true.
For I still will prove faithful to my Royal True Blue."
3 O she viewed her father's stable, she viewed the horses round,
To sec which of them that will travel over the ground,
With a bright pair of pistols and a sword by her side,
Like a jolly young trooper all along Polly did ride.
4 She rode till she came to a place of renown;
It was there she sat down by the side of the ground,
The first to come in was the landlord so true,
And the next was the captain, Polly's Royal True Blue.
5 "Here's a letter, here's a letter, here's a letter of cheer;
Here's a letter, here's a letter, from Polly your dear."
In opening this letter ten guineas were found
For you and your fair boys to drink Polly's health around.
Her health shant he drinked by one or by two;
Her health shall he drinked by all of our ship's crew.
6 O, Polly she felt drowsy, she hung down her head,
She called for a candle tn light her to bed:
"I've a bed," said the captain, "I've a bed at my ease,
And you can sleep along with me, countryman, if you please."
"To sleep with the captain is a delicate thing,
For I'm an enlisted soldier come to fight for my king,
Come to fight for my king or by sea or by land;
Since you are the captain, I'll bear your command."
8 'Twas early next morning pretty Polly she rose,
She dressed herself in her own suit of clothes.
O, the captain he viewed her from her top to her toe,
Flying into her arms, crying "Polly dear, bow do you do?"
9 O now she is married, she lives at her ease,
Goes out when she's minded, comes back when she's pleased;
She've[2] left her cruel parents and the tear do remain;
They'd give hundreds and thousands to get Polly back again.
1. The last two lines of each stanza are "doubled," that is, repeated with the same time as at first.
2. not a typo= She's
"Polly Oliver" is one of the most widely distributed of the later ballads. For texts and references see Campbell and Sharp, 40- 44; Mackenzie, No. 55; Cox, No. 122; Shoemaker, pp. 185-186. Our twoainare not alike, except for a certain quality of running along trippingly which is especially noticeable in the third and fourth lines. Campbell and Sbarp found still another air. The history of the music for this ballad is still to be written.
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24. DROWSY SLEEPER
Sung by Mrs. Tom White, Jr., Sandy Cove. 1929.
1 "Arise, arise, you drowsy sleeper,
Arise and listen unto me;
Here is someone at your bedroom window,
Weeping, weeping, most bitterly.
2 "O Mary dear, go ask your father
If you will be my wedded bride;
If be says no, come quick and tell me,
And I will no more trouble you."
3. "I dare not go and ask my father,
For he is on his bed of rest,
And by his side a shining dagger
To pierce the one that I love best."
4 "O Mary dear, go ask your mother
If you will be my wedded bride;
If she says no, come quick and tell me,
And I will no more trouble you."
5 "I dare not go and ask my mother,
For she is born to set me free;
Please, Edward dear, go seek some other;
Your wedded bride I never shall be."
6 "O, I can climb the highest tree-top,
And I can rob the richest nest,
And I can court a fair young lady,
But not the one what I love best."
7. Edward drew a shining dagger
And pierced it through his aching heart:
"Here's adieu, here's adieu to all false lovers;
Fare you well, Mary, we must part."
For other records of this widely distributed song, see Mackenzie, No. 30; Cox, No. 108 (with references); Hudson, No. 27; Parsons, Folk-Lore of the Seastrands, p. 178 (South Carolina.); D. Ord, pp. 318-3I9; Belden MS., Harvard College
Library, XLII. The airs to which this ballad is sung are as related as the texts, apparently. All that I have heard are in three-two time, and most of them have the same general sequence of high and low notes (D. Campbell and Sharp, No. 47, C).
[Dates back to the early 1800s in England (broadsides) and Belden (as Bedroom Window?) dates it back to the mid-1800s Known also as Silver Dagger; Sharp EFSSA (Arise, Arise); O Molly Dear; O Mary Dear; including a number of recordings and my painting, The Silver Dagger- below.
R. Matteson 2014]
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25. THE CASTAWAYS
(THE SILK-MERCHANT'S DAUGHTER)
5ung by Stephen Mullins, of Green's Pond, Bonavista, S. S. Sagona, 1929.
music upcoming]
1 Our ship been all ready and fitted for sea;
The wind from the nor'west sprang up a strong breeze;
As we were a-sailing, our whole hearts content,
Our ship sprang a leak and to the bottom she went.
2 Twenty-four officers jumped into the boat,
And across this broad ocean they all had to float;
Provisions being short and death drawing nigh,
We had to cast lots for to see who first should die.
3 The lots they were made and put in a shoe,
And every man his own lot he drew.
This beautiful damsel, the short lot she drew,
She had to die first for to save the whole crew.
4 Her true lover was sat down by her side.
Soon had red colored the blush in his face,
Saying, "I'll die, love, and I'll take your place."
5 "O stop your hand, butcher," our captain he cries,
"Some ship or some harbor we seem to draw nigh."
As we were a-sailing with free wind and tide,
We came to some harbor down by the seaside.
6 This couple got married, you all understand;
The bells in the steeple how sweetly they ring,
The man he did dance and the bride she did sing.
For references to other variants of this dramatic ballad, see Cox, No. 90; Campbell and Sharp, No. 54. The texts vary a good deal, but the central dilemma of the lovers faced with the necessity of one killing the other and the happy solution of rescue are in all.
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26. ROGERS THE MILLER
Sung by George Coles, Sandy Cove, 1929.
I 0, Rogers the miller was a-courting a blade,
A rich merchant's daughter called beautiful Kate;
She had for a fortune some beautiful things,
She had for a fortune,
She had for a fortune fifty gold rings.
2 Now the wedding has been over, the money paid down,
A neat little wedding cost five thousand pound,
"O, now, then," says Rogers, "what comes to my share?
I won't have your daughter,
I won't have your daughter without her gray mare."
3 Up speaks the old father, give an answer and says,
. . .
. . .
"You won't get my daughter,
You won't get my daughter nor yet her gray mare,"
4 O, Rogers the miller was kicked out of door
And ordered to never come hack. any more,
Which made him to pull down his locks of long hair
And wish that he'd never
And wish that he'd never spoke of the gray mare.
5 O, Rogers were a-walking on a midsummer's day,
He met his own true love dressed in riches so gay;
"Good morning," says Rogers, "and don't you know me?"
"If 1'm not mistaken,
If I'm not mistaken, I know you," says she.
"I have a picture of your likeness with locks of long hair,
That once came a-courting,
That once came a-courting my father's gray mare."
"It was not the mare, love, a-courting I came,
It was you, lovely Katie,
It was you, lovely Katie, called Katie my dear."
W. W. Newell included a variant of this song from Massachusetts in Journal, XII, 251-252. It is a longer song without the repetition of the first part of the last lines. An early ninteenth-century broadside (N. Coverly, Jr., Printer, Milk Street, Boston) is in the Isaiah Thomas Collection (I, 37) in the library of the American Antiquarian Society. It is entitled "Tid the Gray Mare or, Young Johnny, the Miller" (Ford's list, No. 271, Procudings of the American Antiquarian Soddy, New Series, XXXIII, 97). For other references see Journal, xxxv, 372, Add Pound, America't Ballads Qnd Songs, No. 34; Rosa S. Allen, Family SO,tgs, rBw, pp. 2-3; Flanders and Brown, pp. 6 4.
27. WEXFORD CITY
Sung by Mrs. Tom White. Jr., Sandy Cove, 1929.
[music]
1 In Wexford City there dwelt a lady
With a gracie butcher all by her side,
With a gracie butcher all by her side,
She loved him dearly,
She loved him dearly,
To he his wife.
2 Early, early the next day
She dressed herself in some riches gay,
With a sword and pistol all by her side,
To meet her true love,
To meet her true love,
Away she drove.
3 She drove away all over the plain,
Till she came where her true love did remain.
"Stand and deliver, kind sir," says she,
"Deliver it to me,
Deliver it to me,
Or your life I'll have."
4 He delivered his watch, and all his store,
Still she keeps craving there's one thing more;
"There's a diamond ring what I saw you wear,
Deliver it to me,
Deliver it to me,
And your life I'll spare."
5 "That diamond ring is the pledge of love
And before I 'll part with it, my life I 'll lose,"
She got faint-hearted just like a dove,
And she drove away,
And she drove away,
From her own true love.
6 Early, early, they both were seen
Walking together in some garden green,
When he saw his watch hanging hy her clothes,
Which made him blush,
Which made him blush,
Like the morning rose.
7 "What makes you blush? Such a silly shame!
'Twas I that robbed you all on the plain,
'Twas I that wanted your diamond ring,
So here's your watch, love,
So here's your watch, love,
And gold again."
8 "What made you act such a silly plot?
If I'd had my pistols, 'tis you I'd have shot.
I would leave you bleeding all in your gore,
Sure I would mourn, love,
Sure I would mourn, love,
For my own true love."
Mackenzie prints this song as No. 129 (with references) under the title of "Zillah." The broadside title is "Sylvia's Request and William's Denial." For a Vermont copy see Flanders and Brown. pp. 133-134. Cf. Journal of the Folk-SungSociety, VIII, 225-227. Mrs. White called it "a cramped[1] song," and the imperfections in the lines show how bard it was for her to remember and sing it.
Note the lack of any regularly accented metre. The music follows the prose rhythm of the words. G. Y. M.
1 Newfoundlanders use "cramped" in much the some sense that we say "tonguetwister," i. e., something hard to speak.
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28. THE MAID WHO DWELT BY THE SHORE
Sung by Mrs. Annie Walters, Rocky Harbour, 1929. Recorded by E. B. G.
[music]
1 'Twas of a young maiden who lived all alone,
She lived all alone on the shore, O;
There was nothing she could find to comfort her mind,
But to roam all alone on the shore, shore, shore,
But to roam all alone on the shore.
2 It was of a young captain who sailed the salt sea,
Let the wind blow high or low, 0,
"I will die, I will die," the young captain did cry,
"If I don't get that maid on the shore, shore, shore,
If I don't get that maid on the shore.
3 "I have lots of silver, I have lots of gold,
I have lots of costly wear, O;
I'll divide, I'll divide with my jolly ship's crew,
If they'll row me that maid from the shore, shore, shore,
If they'll row me that maid from the shore."
4 After long persuadence they got her on board,
Let the winds blow high or low, O,
Where he placed her a chair in his cabin below;
"Here's adieu to all sorrows and care, care, care,
Here's adieu to all sorrows and care."
5 Where he placed her a chair in his cabin below,
Let the winds blow high or blow low, O,
She sung charming and sweet, she sung neat and complete,
She sung captain and sailors to sleep, sleep, sleep,
She sung captain and sailors to sleep.
6 She robbed him of silver, she robbed him of gold,
She robbed him of costly wear, O,
And she stole his broadsword, instead of an oar,
And she paddled her way to the shore, shore, shore,
And she paddled her way to the shore.
7 "My men must be crazy, my men must be mad,
My men must been deep in despair, O,
To let her go 'way, with her beauty so gay,
And paddle her way to the shore, shore, shore,
And paddle her way to the shore."
8 "Your men was not crazy, your men was not mad,
Your men was not deep in despair, O;
I deluded the sailors as well as yourself;
I'm a maiden again on the shore, shore, shore,
I'm a maiden again on the shore."
Mackenzie found this song in Nova Scotia (No. 19). Its theme is similar to "The Broomfield Hill" (Child, No. 43). Campbell and Sharp, No. 39, E, has a tune which begins like this one.
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29. THE ROSE OF BRITAIN 'S ISLE
Sung by Manuel Roberts, of Wesleyville, S. S. Sagona, 1929.
[music]
1 Come all ye people young and old,
And listen, you shall hear;
'Twas of a maiden meek and mild
That lived in Glosner Square.
Chorus (not sung after every stanza, hut irregularly):
Her cheeks were like the roses bright
Her lace appeared to smile;
This maiden's name was lovely Jane,
She's the rose of Britain's Isle.
2 She was a merchant's daughter bright,
Her lather's only child,
Till she fell in love with her father's prentice boy,
. . .
3 When her father came to bear
About his darling child,
Wringing his hands, tearing his hair
Most bitterly did sweat.
4 "Since you brought disgrace on me,
I will send you many a mile,
To a broken Spain across the main
From the rose of Britain's Isle."
Chorus.
5 'Twas down on board young Edwin went
To cross the briny tide,
'Twas down on board young Edwin went,
Left Jane with watery eyes.
Chorus
6 She dressed herself in men's attire;
'Twas down on board she strays;
'Twas down again across the main
Went the rose of Britain's Isle.
Chorus
7 We had not been three days at sea
When an enemy fired a ball;
'Twas by a ball young Jane did fall
And wounded her right arm.
8 The sailors ran to lend a hand
With no cause to complain;
The sailors swore by all was right
'Tis the rose of Britain's Isle.
Chorus.
9 And now they're on the coast of Spain;
Here Ed and Jane went home again,
Back home again across the main
Came the rose of Britain's Isle.
Chorus.
10 She was a merchant's daughter bright,
Her father's only child,
And by all above, he swore he'd love
The rose of Britain's Isle.
Chorus
Mackenzie has this as No. 37 and gives references to English broadsides.
30. THE GREEN BUSHES
Sung by Agatha Walsh, Fleur de Lys, 1929.
[music]
I As I was a-walking for pleasure one day,
For sweet recreation one evening in May;
I spied a fair damsel and sweeter sang she,
"Down by the green bushes where he thinks he'll meet me."
2 0, I stepped up to her and this did I say:
"How far do you wander going this way?"
"I am waiting for my true love," this damsel did cry,
"Down by the green bushes where he thinks he'll meet me."
"I'll buy you a nice beaver, a nice silky gown,
Buy you a nice underskirt right down to the ground,
If you will prove loyal and constant to me,
Forsake your own true love and marry to me."
"O, I don't want your beaver nor none of your clothes,
For I never was so poor as to marry for those;
But if you'll prove loyal and constant to me,
I'll forsake my own true love and marry to thee."
"O, come let us be going from yonder[1] those trees,
Come let us be going, kind sir, if you please;
For yonder my true love he is waiting for me,
Down by the green bushes where he thinks he'll meet me."
So when he returned there, he found she was gone;
He stood like a poor lamb that's lost and forgone;
H She's away with some other and forsaking me!
Here's adieu ye green bushes forever," said he.
"I'm like a poor schoolboy, we spend time in play,
And ever was so foolish to be led astray;
So now, you false woman, you will scorn me no more;
Here's adieu, you green bushes, it is time to look o'er."
See Sharp, One Hundred English Folksongs, No. 40 (with references); Davidson's Universal Melodist, 1, 25; Journal of the Folk-Song Society, VIII, 112-113. 209; Lloyd's Song Book, 1St Series [1846], p. 19; Ord, p. 147; The Pearl Songster, p. 105; Songs of Our Land (Boston, Donahue), p. 22j The Shamrock (New York, copyright 1862), p. 7j Andrews-deMarsan broadside, List 7, No, 30j Singer's Journal, I, 228; Flanders and Brown, pp. 246-247. The song is common in English broadsides (Catnachj Cadman, Manchester; Bebbington, Manchesler; Such, No. 345).
1. i.e. "under."
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31. AS I ROVED OUT
(TARRY TROWSERS)
Sung by Charles and Gordon Willis, Fogo, 1929.
MIXOLYDIAN MODE
[Music]
1 As I roved out one fine summer's evening
To view those flow'rs and to take the air,
'Twas there I spied a tender mother
Talking to her daughter dear;
2 Singing, "Daughter, 0 daughter, I'll have you to marry.
No longer to live a sweet single life."
"0 mother, O mother, I'd rather to tarry
To he some brave young sailor's wife."
3. "A sailor shy sits all for to wander;
To some foreign Counteree he go.
They will cause you to sigh and to murmur,
They will prove your overthrow."
4 "Or if you could get me to wed with a farmer,
To he your joy and heart's delight;
But give me the boy with the tarry, tarry trousers,
To shine in my eyes like the diamond bright."
5 She hung her head on the top of her shoulder,
Tears from her eyes like the fountains flowed:
"I'll stay at home and be true-hearted,
Whilst my love to the seas doth go."
6 "Hark, 0, hark, how the great guns are rattling,
Big and small they all make noise;
My true love's in the field of battle,
Now fight on, my gallant boys."
This song is reported from Essex by R. Vaughan Williams, Folk-Songs Journal Eastern Counties (Book II of Sharp, Folk-Songs of England) , pp. 6-8. The usual title is "Tarry Trowsers." See also Sharp and Marson, Folk Songs from Somerset, No. 41; Butterworth, Folk-Songs from Sussex, No. II; Journal of the Folk-Song Society, II, 153-154; III, 313-315; IV, 427-428; broadsides (e. g., Jackson & Son, Birmingham).
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32. THE BLIND BEGGAR
Recorded by Jane Quackenbush from the singing of John Henry Gueunuex, Barr'd Harbour, 1928.
1. A sad old blind beggar some time had been blind;
He had but one daughter, who was comely and fine;
She said to him, "Father, I must go and seek some clothes,"[1]
And the question soon granted to bonny Betsy.
2 The first came to court her was a merchant so bright;
He came to court Betsy so late in the night,
Saying, "My homes and my land I'll resign unto thee,
If you'll tell me your father, my bonny Betsy."
3 The next came to court her was a captain so gay;
He came to court Betsy so late in the night,
Saying, "My ships and fine cargoes I'll give unto thee,
If you'll tell me your father, my bonny Betsy."
4 The next came to court Betsy by day and by night,
. . . .
Saying, "My gold and rich apparels I will give unto thee,
If you'll tell me your father, my bonny Betsy."
5 "My father's a blind man; that's plain to be seen;
. . . .
He's called the Blind Beggar of Battlin' Green;
He's led by a dog with a chain and a bell."
6 "O, then," said the merchant, flit's her I'll not have."
"I'll go," said the captain, Hit's her I'll not crave."
"What ho!" said the squire. "Let beggars agree.
You're welcome unto me, my bonny Betsy."
7 Up speaks her old father, as he stood by the side:
"Don't neglect on my daughter because she's poor,
Because she's not dressed in her silks and fine satin;
On her I'll grow spangles, my bonny brave girl."
8 On her he grew spangles hung down to the ground;
The blind beggar laid down his ten thousand pound;
Then the young squire laid down all of his store,
And the blind beggar laid down his ten thousand more.
1 Miss Quackenbush suggests that "beaux" would make more sense. The regular text has "To seek out my fortune. whatever it be."
This is an imperfect copy or the favorite old broadside ballad, liThe Blind
Beggar's Daughter of Bednall Green.JJ See Bishop Pacy's Folio Manuscript,
ed. Hales and Fumivall, D, 271)-289 ("Bessie 00' Bednall"); Roxburghe Ballads,
ed. Chappell, 1,37-46 (d. Ebsworth, Bagford Ballads,l, 310); A CollulicnojOld
Ballads, n (1723), 202-211; Percy, Rdiques, 1765, n, ISS-I6g; Child, English
and Scottish Ballads, rv (18S7), 161-173; Chappell, Popular Music of the Olden
Time, pp. 159-l60; Dixon, Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Pwsaltry
of England (percy Society, xvn), pp. 60-71; Davidson's Universal Melodist,
(1848), 274-275; Sharp, English Folk Songs, No. 16, 0, 37-39 (note, p. xiv) j
Joumal oj lite Folk-Song Society, I, 202-203; A. Williams, Folk-So1lgs of the
Upper Thames, pp. 255-256; The Forget Me Not Sougster (N. Y., Nafis &
Cornish). pp. 128-130. Cf. Joumal, xxxv. 357j Halliwell, Descriptive Notices of
English Popular Histories (Percy Society, xxm), pp. 35-36. Sharp found the
ballad in North Carolina (Sharp MS. Harvard College Library, p. 1005).
Miss Jean Thomas collected the first stanza in Ashland, Kentucky - used as a "play-party" song.
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33. NANCY FROM LONDON
A. Sung by Daniel Endacott, Sally's Cove, 1920.
Recorded by E. B. G.
DORlAN MODE
[music]
1 O, 'twas Nancy from London, from fair London town;
She was courted by Henry a long time ago,
On the banks of the Nile a long time ago,
Now he's on the ocean sailing, where the stormy winds do blow.
2 O, the cold stormy winds, me love, makes my poor heart ache;
It causes my bedroom window to shiver and shake.
God knows where my love lies so far from the shore;
I will pray for his welfare; what can I do more?
3 O, a ship in distress, me love, is a wonderful sight
Like a reg'ment of soldiers just going to fight,
Where a soldier can heave down his firearms and run,
But a sailor he must yield to whatsomever may come.
4 O, to sailors and soldiers, let the punch go around,
. . . .
Let the punch go around, b'ys, with a flowing glass in hand;
Drink a health to lovely Nancy whom we leaved on dry land.[1]
0, it's green grows the laurel on the tops of them tall,
For beauty's[2] a flower that reigns o'er us all,
Where the green leaves will wither and the roots will decay,
And the red rose will flourish in the sweet month of May.
1 In this stanza the second line is simply omitted, and the tune goes on to the third.
2 Aunt Fanny Jane Endacott thought this word should be dilly, but I am afraid the men won't agree with her
LOVELY NANCY FROM ENGLAND
Sung by Manuel Roberts of Wesleyville, and Stephen Mullins of Bonavista, S. S. Sagona, 1929.
[music]
1. Lovely Nancy from England, what a grand smiling stream
. . . .
Was courted by Willy a long time ago,
Who was on the sea sailing where the stormy winds do blow.
2 When the stormy winds blow, love, it makes my poor heart ache,
It makes my room window to shiver and shake.
God knows where my love lies so far from the shore,
I can pray for his welfare. What can I do more?
A ship in distress, me love, what a wonderful sight!
Like a regiment of soldiers just going to fight,
Where a soldier can lay down his firearms and run,
But a poor sailor he must yield to a watery tomb.
4 O sailors and soldiers, drink a health to your wife;
Young men, love your sweethearts as you love your life;
As the old toss goes round, b'ys, with a full glass in hand,
Drink a health to lovely Nancy whom we leaved on dry land.
5. O, it's green grows the laurel on the tops of them small,
Once I had a sweetheart both slender and tall;
Green roses will wither and sweet lilies decay,
And the red rose mil bloom in the sweet month of May.
"Nancy from London" is popular on both the East and West coasts of Newfoundland. See also Sharp MS. (Appalachian), Harvard College Library, p. 453. For the English version see Hammond, Folk-Songs from Dorset (Book I of Sharp, Folk-Songs of England). pp. 20-21; Journal of the Folk-Song Society, III, 101-103, 272; VI, 37. The fifth stanza (above) does not belong to this song. Cf. "The Rejected Lover," Campbell and Sharp, No. 56, B, st. 6:
The green leaves they will wither,
And the roots they will decay,
And the beauty or a fair young girl
Will soon fade away.
Almost the same words occur in O'Conor, Irish Com-all-ye's, p. 52. With the first line of the stanza cf. "Then green grows the laurel, and so does the rue" (Cox, p. 417).
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34. THE GHOSTLY LOVER
Sung by Mildred White and Laura May White, Sandy Cove, 1929.
[music]
1 " Over hills and lofty mountains
Oh dear! oh deal! I'm forced to go,
If I might he guided without one stumble
Into the arms of you, my love."
2 He went till he came to his love's room window,
And kneeling down upon a stone,
Through the pane of glass he whispered slowly,
"Say, lovely Betsy, are you at home?"
"O, who is this under my room window,
Disturbing me from my long night's rest?"
" 'Tis your own true love, he is come to see you.
I pray get up, love, let me in."
4 She rose her head from her soft down pillow,
Her lily breast like a snowy light,
When they kissed, shook hands, and both embraced,
Till this long night was to an end.
They kissed, shook hands, and in sorrow parted
Just as the cock began to crow.
6 "Had I the ink of the darkest color,
And had I a paper of the lily white,
And had I a pen of the pennsylvania,
My true love's praises I would write."
Although the words do not seem to bear out the title. the White girls insist this is a song about a lover who was drowned, but rose from his watery grave to see his sweetheart once again. Miss White remembered from her father's singing, a few lines evidently of another song,
"This very night I will lie with you,
Although you're so many miles away."
"Is there any room at your feet for me?'"
"I'm come from my watery grave."
In Folk-Songs of the South, No. 147, Cox prints a version of the same theme ("Mary's Dream"), but the metre and treatment are so different that I do not think the songs are related. This is one of the folk·songs in which words and music seem wonderfully matched. The tune expresses grief, resignation, and passion, just as the lines do, and from my experience with Newfoundlanders, I should say the song represents quite accurately the attitude of the women toward the loss of their men.
The present song, though it has been applied to a tragic theme, is really a version of a quite different piece, as may be seen from the full text in Ord, p. 89.
1 A line of "Sweet William's Ghost" (see No. 9, stanza 7).
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35. THE BOLD PRINCESS ROYAL
Sung by Manuel Roberts of Wesleyville, S. S. Sagona, 1929.
[music]
I Bright Monday morning
We had sailed from the strand,
In the bold Prince of Royal
Bound to Newfoundland;
Sixteen jolly seamen
Was our ship's company,
And the wind from the eastward,
To the westward steered we.
2 We had not been sailing
Past a night and a day
When a bold-hearted pirate
To the windward us lay.
'Tis a bold-hearted pirate
And she seems to draw nigh,
On the peak o[ her mainsail
Black colors did fly.
3 "0," says our second mate,
"0, what shall we do?
For if this is a pirate
He will soon round us to."
Then up speaks our captain;
"For it cannot be so;
We'll loose our main topsail
And from them we'll go."
4 Early next morning,
When she ranged up 'longside,
With the loud-speaking trumpet
"Where're you bound to?" he cried.
For our captain been witty
And he answered him so;
"We're out from Cape Faroe,
Bound down to Cairo."
5 Clew your main topsail
And round your ship to,
For I've letters in my cabin
To send down by you."
"Wen I clews my main topsail
And rounds my ship to,
We'll be in some snug harbor,
Not 'longside of you."
6 They chased us to windward
For a night and a day;
They chased us to leeward,
But gained no headway;
They fired shots across us,
But 'twas all no avail,
For the bold Prince of Royal
Soon showed them her tail.
7 Now, my brave b'ys,
Since the pirate is gone,
Come aft in my cabin,
Come aft everyone,
Come aft in my cabin
And drink of good cheer,
While you have searoom,
Brave b'ys, never fear."
Manuel sang "The Bold Princess of Royal" just as he learned it from an old man while out on a sealing voyage. Grace Yarrow showed him the song in Folk-Songs of England (Sharp and Williams), Bk. II, pp. 40-4', and told him of Queen Victoria's
daughter, the Princess Royal; so he decided the ship was probably named Princess Royal. The men on the Salom read this English version of a song familiar to them, and discussed it with considerable interest. It opened to them some of the broader aspects of folk song. For an excellent version see Eckstorm and Smyth. Minstrelsy of Maine, pp. 256-257. Cf. Journal of the FolkSong Society, I, 62, 103; n, J45-146, 170; R. V. Williams, Folk-Songs from the Eastern Counties, (Sharp, Folk-Song, of England, Book II), pp. 40-41. A variant in the Brady MS., Harvard College library, p. 189, calls the ship "the Royal
Apprentice from St. John's, Newfoundland."
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36. THE DARK-EYED SAILOR
Sung by Mrs. Rosie White, Sandy Cove, 1929.
I As I roved out one evening fair,
To view the fields and to take the air,
I meet a maiden all on my way,
And I paid attention,
And I paid attention to what I heard her say.
2 I said, "Fair maid, do you rove alone
When the day is gone and the night coming on?"
She cried, while tears down her cheeks did fall,
"For me dark-eyed sailor,
For me dark-eyed sailor, so manly, true, and bold."
3 "Go banish sailors out of your mind.
Some other young man so good you'll find.
Throw him aside whilst your love is away,
For a cloudy morning,
For a cloudy morning brings forth a pleasant day."
4 These fond words put her heart in flame;
She says, "On me you won't play no game,"
She drew a dagger and then she cried,
"For me dark-eyed sailor,
For me dark-eyed sailor, a maid I'll live and die."
5 O, half the ring young Willy showed;
She seemed to be acted with joy as of old:
"You're welcome, Willy; I have land and gold,
For me dark-eyed sailor,
For me dark-eyed sailor, so manly, true, and bold."
6 'Twas in the cottage near the sea
They were joined in wedlock, in unity.
Young girls be true while your love is away,
For a cloudy morning,
For a cloudy morning brings forth a pleasant day.
This English broadside song is common in American songbooks and has been found in West Virginia (Cox, No. 93) and in Nova Scotia (Mackenzie, No. 64).
See also Ord, PP.323-S24; Wehman Bros.' Good Old-Time Songs No.2, pp. 7-8;
B.ra.dy MS., Harvard College Library, pp. 131-132 ("William and Phebe "). The
aJ.r IS almost identical with one which Finger collected (Frontier Ballads, p. 18).
37. JOHNSON; OR, THE THREE RIDERS
(TRE TREEE BUTCHERS)
Sung by Dennis Walsb and Michael Walsh, Jr., Fleur de Lys, 1929.
With swinging rhythm
[music]
I Three boys wele driving along [one day]
As fast as they could drive: [1]
"0 hark, 0 hark," cried Johnson, "for
I heard a woman cry."
2 "0, I won't stop," cried Wilson;
"OJ I won't stop," cried Brown;
"I'll boldly stop," cried Johnson,
" For I heard a woman cry."
3 0, he alighted his horse back
To search those fields all round,
And there he saw a woman
With her hair pinned to the ground.
4 As he stepped up to her saying,
"What brings you here this way?"
"'Tis by those cursed robbers,
They brought me here to-day.
5 "They ripped me and they stripped me,
My hands and feet they bound,
And they laid me here a-dying
With my hair pinned to the ground."
6 He took her up on his horse's back
And belted her on behind;
He tore his coat orr from his back
To shield her from the wind.
As they were driving along
As fast as he could drive,
She put her finger to her lips
And gave three mournful cries,
8 When out jumps ten brave robbers
With weapons in their hand;
They boldly stepped up to Johnson
And ordered him to stand.
9 "0, I will stand," cried Johnson,
"Stand with all my glee;
I never yet was a coward or
Afraid of any man."
10 Of the ten, there's nine knocked down;
Tbis woman he did not mind;
She drawed a knife out from his belt
And pierced him through behind.
II "O, I must fall," cried Johnson,
"And fall unto the ground.
'Tis by this cursed woman,
I am given my deadly wound."
12 Now this woman was taken up
And placed in oil and strong,'
For murdering one of the finest men
That ever the sun shined on.
1 Dennis thought the three boys were carrying money to do charity to some poor people.
2 For" irons strong."
THE JOLLY BUTCHERMEN
Sung by Will White, Sandy Cove, 1929.
took five hun - dred pounds in gold All on one mar-ket day.
music]
I 'Tis of three jolly butchermen,
As I beard people say;
Tbey took five hundred pounds in gold
All on one market day.
2 As they were riding the road along
So hard as they could drive,
"I'll boldly stop," says Johnson,
HFar I heard a woman cry.1I
3 "0, I won't stop," says Wilsonj
UNeither will I," says Reillj
"I'll boldly stop," says Johnson,
aFor I heard a woman cry."
4 0, Johnson throwed his borse all round
And viewed the woods all round;
'Twas there he saw that woman stark naked
With her hair pinned to the ground.
"Is you any treacherous woman?"
0, Johnson he did say.
"0, no! 0, Dol H this woman said,
Such things can never be."
6 0, Johnson been a valiant man,
A man of courage bold;
He took the great coat from his back
To keep ber from the cold,
To keep her from the cold winds
And the cold weather too;
He takes her up behind him
And made no more to do.
8 As he were riding the road along
So hard as he could ride,
She whips her fingers in her ears
And she made a dismal noise;
9 And up then jumped those swaggering blades
With weapons in tbeir bands,
And boarded up to Johnson
And bid him for to stand.
10 "I'll stand, I'll stand," says Johnson,
"So long as I can stand,
And never all in my life
Was I afeared of any man!"
11 0, Johnson been a valiant man;
His bullets he let By;
He killed eight of those bold swaggering blades
And bleeding in their gore;
12 And up then jumps the other two:
u It's time for us to flee. J1
" Give me a spear," this woman says,
"I'll gain the victory!"
13 0, Johnson riding the road along,
This woman he did not mind;
be took a long knife from his side
And runned him through behind.
14 "I'll fall, I'll fall," says Johnson,
"I'll fall unto the ground,
For this accursed woman,
She's give me my deathly wound."
15 For this accursed woman
Shall be hung on iron strong,
For killing so good and kind bulchennan
As ever the sun shined on.
~ Co.I:. No. 86; Campbell and Slwp, No. 50. Derived from a seventeenth century
English broadside (see details in Cox) i J ourl'Ull DJ1M Foli.sMlI Soddy,
vm, 2-3. Campbell and Sharp's No. 50 has a totally dissimilar tune, but their
No. 20, D (a version of "Lillie Musgrave and Lady Barnard," Child, o.8t)
begins with two lines like Dennis's tune for "Johnson." The modern version of
thiJ tale runs something like this: - A JlW1 was driving along the open road one
day, when a woman signaled him, and asked (or a ride into the town. He took
ber in, but as they came into the busy part of town, she c:ooUy aid, IfGh,e me
twmty-fi,""t: dollars or I'll scream," After considering the implications of the
situation, he gave her the money. and proceeded on his way more cynically.