Bold Trinity- Beckett (VA) 1918 Sharp K
[From English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians; Vol. 2, 1932. My title replacing the generic Golden Vanity.
One of the few "Trinity" titles collected in the US.]
R. Matteson 2014]
Sharp's Notes No. 41. The Golden Vanity:
Texts without tunes: Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads, No. 286. A. Williams's Folk Songs of the Upper Thames, p. 199. Gavin Greig's Folk-Song of the North-East, ii, arts. 116 and 119. Cox's Folk Songs of the South, p. 169 (see also further references). Journal of American Folk-Lore, xxiii. 429; XXX. 330.
Texts with tunes:—Gavin Greig's Last Leaves, No. 101. Kidson's Garland of English Folk Songs, p. 72. Tozer's Fifty Sailors' Songs, p. 30. English Folk Songs (Selected Edition), I. 36 (also published in One Hundred English Folk-Songs, p. 36). Christie's Traditional Ballad Airs, i. 238. English County Songs, p. 182. Songs of the West, 2nd ed., No. 64. Journal of the Folk-Song Society, I. 104; II. 244. Ford's Vagabond Songs of Scotland, p. 103. Journal of American Folk-Lore, xviii. 125. Wyman and Brockway's Lonesome Tunes, p. 72. British Ballads from Maine, p. 339. Davis's Traditional Ballads of Virginia, pp. 516 and 602. McGill's Folk Songs of the Kentucky Mountains, p. 97.
K. [Bold Trinity]- Sung by Mrs. LAURA BECKETT at St. Peter's School, Callaway, Va., Aug. 16, 1918
1. There was a ship in the North, in the North country,
It went by the name of the Bold Trinitee,
That's now a - sail - ing on the Low-lands, low down be-low,
That's now a sail-ing on the lone - some sea.
2 He had a little auger just fit for the work,
He bored nine holes in the bottom of the Turk
That's now a-sailing, etc.
3 Out on his back and away swam he,
He swam till he came to the Bold Trinity.
4 Captain, O captain, take me on board
And be unto me just as good as your word
As we're now a-sailing, etc.
5 O no, cried the captain, can't take you on board
Nor neither can I be unto you as good as my word,
But I'll leave you in the Lowlands, etc.
6 If it wasn't for your daughter and the sake of your men
I'd do unto you as I did unto them,
For I'd sink you in the Lowlands low down below,
For I'd sink you on the lonesome sea,