House Carpenter- Cole (VA) 1962 Foss /Bronson 31
[From Bronson TTCB, 1966 taken from AAFS, rec. No. 12,006 (B3). Collected by George Foss.
The last stanza is a floater from songs similar to Sharp's "False Young Man." See SharpK 1932. See also the other version collected by Foss- Shifflett.
R. Matteson 2013]
[George Foss: If I am allowed a personal favorite of the many wonderful old ballads sung in the Southern mountains, it is this one. It is called "The House Carpenter" commonly, but is also known to ballad scholars as "James Harris, the Demon Lover". The story is homiletic parable of the inescapable punishment that follows deep moral error. The supernatural element of a former love who 'returns' from the sea to tempt a young woman into fatal error gives a dimension to the ballad seldom found in moralistic tales. This ballad has its roots in the same ancient myth that inspired Richard Wagner's operatic masterpiece, "The Flying Dutchman" in which a young woman may sail endlessly with an other-worldly mariner until she shows remorse and breaks the magical spell.]
House Carpenter- Sung by Viola Cole, Fancy Gap, Va., July 10, 1962. Collected by George Foss. Bronson: VII degree sometimes sharp
1. Well met, well met, my own true love,
Well met, well met, cried he,
I've just returned from the deep blue sea
And it's all for the sake of thee.
2. I could have married a king's daughter fair,
I'm sure she'd have married me,
But I refused her crown of gold
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 now I am a house carpenter's wife,
And I think he's a nice young man.
4. If you'll forsake your house carpenter,
And go and live with me,
I'll take you where the grass grows green
On the banks of the deep blue sea.
5. It I forsake my house carpenter
And go and live with thee,
What have you there to support me on
To keep me from slavery?
6. I have six ships sailing on the ocean,
Who will sail up to your door.
I have a wealthy store,
I have one hundred and sixty sailor men,
7. Then picking up her sweet little babe
And kisses she gave it three,
Saying, Stay at home with your papa dear
To keep him company.
8. We hadn't been on ship more than two weeks,
I'm sure it was not three,
Till that young lady began to weep,
And she wept most bitterly.
9. O is it for my gold you weep,
Or is it for my store?
Or is it for the house carpenter
His (whose) face you'll see no more?
10. It is not for your gold I weep,
It is not for your store.
It's all for the sake of the sweet little babe
Which I left on the other shore.
11. We hadn't been on ship more than three weeks,
I'm sure it was not four,
Till there came a break in the bottom of the boat,
And it sank to rise no more.
12. I wish to the Lord I'd never been born,
Or died when I was young,
I'd never seen your red rosy cheeks,
Or heard your lying tongue.