House Carpenter- Bennett (NC) 1918 Sharp M
[My title. Full version with music from: English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, II; collected by Olive Dame Campbell and Cecil J. Sharp, ed. Karpeles, published 1932 (notes follow). Sharp's No. 29. is titled, The Daemon Lover. I've changed it to the more appropriate title- House Carpenter.
R. Matteson 2013]
Notes: No. 29. The Daemon Lover.
Texts without tunes:—Child, No. 243.
Texts with tunes:—Journal of the Folk-Song Society, iii., 84. Motherwell's Minstrelsy, Appendix xv., tune 1. Songs of the West, 2nd ed., No. 76. American variants: —Journal of American Folk-Lore, xviii., 207; xix., 295; xx., 257; xxvi., 360; xxv., 274 (with tune). Broadside by H. De Marsan, New York. Musical Quarterly, January, 1916, p. 18.
M. [House Carpenter]- Sung by Mrs. VIRGINIA BENNETT at Burnsville, N. C , Sept. 13, 1918.
Hexatonic (no 3rd),
1. Well met, well met, my own true love,
Well met, well met, said he.
I've just returned from the salt, salt sea,
And it's all for the sake of thee,
It's all for the sake of thee.
I've just returned from the salt, salt sea,
And it's all for the sake of thee.
2 I could have married a king's daughter fair,
I'm sure she would have married me,
But I refused those golden crowns,
And it's all for the sake of thee.
3 If you could have married a king's daughter fair,
I'm sure you are to blame,
For I am married to a house-carpenter,
And I think he's a nice young man.
4 I pray you leave your house-carpenter
And go away with me;
Til take you down where the grass grows green
On the banks of the Aloe Dee.
5 Have you anything to support me on
To keep me from slavery?
Have you anything to supply my wants
To keep me from slavery?
6 I have three ships on the ocean wide,
Sailing towards dry land;
Three hundred and sixty sailor men
Shall be at your command.
7 She took her babe up in her arms,
And kisses gave it three,
Saying: Stay at home with your papa dear,
And keep him company.
8 She dressed herself in silk so fine,
Most beautiful to behold.
As she marched down by the brine water side,
Bright shined those glittering golds.
9 She had not been on the sea two weeks,
I'm sure it was not three,
Till she lay on deck of her true lover's boat
And wept most bitterly.
10 Are you weeping for your silver and gold,
Or is it for your store,
Or is it for your house-carpenter
You never shall see any more?
11 I'm not weeping for my silver and gold,
Neither for my store;
'Tis all for the love of my darling little babe
I never shall see any more.
12 She had not been on sea but three weeks,
I'm sure it was not four,
Till a leak sprung in her true lover's boat,
And sank it to rise no more.
13 Accursed, accursed be all sea-men,
Accursed for ever more.
They've robbed me of my darling little babe,
I never shall see any more.