House Carpenter- Johnson (NC) 1935 McNeil B
[From Southern Folk Ballads II, McNeil 1988.
R. Matteson 2016]
The House Carpenter- collected by Mercedes Steely from Mrs. Nora Johnson, Ebenezer, North Carolina. April 1935.
"Well met, well met, well met," says he,
"Well met, true-lovers again.
For I am just from the salt-water sea,
And it's all for the sake of thee."
"Wunst I could've married a king's daughter dear,
And she would've married me,
But I refused her pairoom[1] of gold;
It was all for the sake of thee."
"Well, if you could've married a king's daughter dear,
I surely think you to blame,
For I have married a house carpenter,
And I think he's a nice young man."
"Will you forsake your house carpenter
And go away with me?
I'll carry you where the grass grows green
On the banks of the sweet ivory."
She dressed all in her rich array,
She looked almost behold;
And every city that she went through,
She shined the same as gold.
She pickit[1] up her lonesome little baby
And kissed it twicet or three:
"Lie here, lie here, my lonesome little baby,
And keep your papa comp'ny."
'Are you grieving for your silver or your gold,
Are you grieving for your store,
Are you grieving for your house carpenter
That you never shall see no mo'?"
"I'm neither grieving for my silver or my gold,
Nor I'm neither grieving for my store,
But I'm a grieving for my house carpenter,
And my sweetest little baby, too."
She hadn't been on deck more than two weeks or three,
I'm sure it was not four,
Before she began to weep and mourn
And wish she was back at home.
She walked them decks both night and day;
She cursed the sailors blue
For robbing her of her house carpenter
And her sweetest little baby, too.
1. crown?
2. pick-ed