Captain Ward and the Rainbow- Lewis (ME) 1947 Flanders B; Olney
[From Flanders; Ancient Ballads. This partially remembered version is considerably older than 1947. It is based or similar to the Forget-Me-Not Songster versions.
R. Matteson 2014]
B. As sung by Ralph Lewis, Agamenticus Section, York, Maine. Learned from his grandfather. Printed in Ballads Migrant
in New England, 204, M. Olney, Collector September 22, 1947; Structure: A Ba1 B2 Ba1 (4,4,4,4); Rhythm B; Contour: undulating; Scale: Mixolydian t.c. B flat. For mel. rel. see BES, 348 B (distant).
Captain Ward and the Rainbow
Come, all you jolly sailors bold
Who lives by tuck of drum,
I'll tell you of a rank robber
That on the seas has come.
His name it is called Captain Ward.
Right well it doth appear
There has not been a rank robber
Found out ten thousand year.
He wrote a letter to a king,
On the first of January,
To see if he could accept of him
And all his jolly company.
And for a ransom he would pay
Ten thousand pounds in gold.
"Oh no, oh no," then said the King,
"For no such thing can be,
For you have been a rank robber,
A rover on the sea.
"For you deceived the King of France
And then the King of Spain.
For how can you prove true to us
When you proved false to them?"
Then says Captain Ward, "My boys,
We put to sea again
To see what prizes we can find
On the coast of France and Spain."
They sailed East, they sailed West
(can't think)
They espied a lofty ship
A-sailing from the West
Loaded with silks and satins
And cambrics of the best.
Then they bore down on her,
A-thinking of no such thing.
They robbed them of their merchandise
And bid them tell the King.
And when the King did hear of this
His heart was grief full sore
To think his ships would not get pass
And as they had done before.
The King caused the old
. . . . .
And a worthy ship of fame.
The Rainbow she was called
And The Rainbow was her home. [1]
He rigged her and he freighted her
And sent her to the sea,
With fully five hundred brave mariners
To bear her company.
They sailed East and they sailed West
But nothing did they spy
Till they came to the very spot
Where Captain Ward did lie.
"Who is the owner of that ship?"
The Rainbow then did cry.
That the gallant Rainbow shot our on either side.
"Fire on, fire on," said Captain Ward,
"We value not a pin.
If you be brass on the outside
We are good steel within!"
We shot and shot in the morning
Shot and shot in vain . . .
1. name