House Carpenter- Snead (VA) 1936 Wilkinson MS
[From Wilkinson MSS, 1936-37, p.24(A). Also Bronson TTCB, 1966, no. 33.
Winston Wilkinson worked with Arthur Kyle Davis, Jr. collecting and transcribing ballads, fiddle tunes and songs in the 1930s. "In March of 1934 Davis was able to obtain some funding from the Civil Works Administration, one of the Depression-generated New Deal programs. With that assistance he hired John Stone to collect folksongs and Winston Wilkinson to transcribe music." Wilkinson also contributed his article “Virginia Dance Tunes” to Southern Folklore Quarterly in March 1942. Davis also published More Traditional Ballads of Virginia in 1960 with Winston Wilkinson's transcriptions. Wilkinson also illustrated "Virginia Fiddle Tunes."
R. Matteson 2013]
From: The Virginia Folklore Society: A Retrospective
The Arthur Kyle Davis, Jr. Years: Meetings of the Society were held intermittently between 1924 and 1967, with both the purpose and organization of the Society becoming less clearly defined and apparent. There were periods of intensive collecting, recording and publishing, alternating with intervals of relative inactivity with regard to folklore.
In 1929, Arthur Kyle Davis, Jr. completed his initial work as editor and published 51 ballads collected under the auspices of the Society in Traditional Ballads in Virginia.
In March of 1934 Davis was able to obtain some funding from the Civil Works Administration, one of the Depression-generated New Deal programs. With that assistance he hired John Stone to collect folksongs and Winston Wilkinson to transcribe music. The project only lasted three weeks, but in that short time Stone managed to add another 89 songs to the Society's archive.
House Carpenter [The Daemon Lover]- Sung by T. M. Snead, Montebello, Va., September 24, 1936. Bronson- Mode: D (III sometimes natural)
1. Well met, well met, my old true love,
Well met, well met, says he;
I've lately returned from the salt sea,
And it's all for the love of you.
I've lately returned, &c.
2. If you will forsaken your house carpenter
And go along with me,
I'll take you away where the grass grows green,
On the banks of sweet Italy.
I'll take you &c.
3. She took her babe from her breast,
And kisses gave it three,
Says, stay at home, my sweet little babe,
Bear your father's company.
Says, stay at home, &c.
4. I could have married a king's daughter,
And faith she would have married me;
But I refused the crown of gold,
And it's all for the sake of thee.
But I refused, &c.
5. If you could have married the king's daughter,
I'm sure you are to blame;
For I am married to a house carpenter,
And they say he's a nice young man.
For I am married, &c.
6. She dressed herself in glittering gold,
Her waist was trimmed in green;
As she went marching down the street
She was taken to be some queen.
As she went, &c.
7. They had not been on sea two weeks,
I'm sure it was not three,
Till she began to mourn and to weep,
And she wept most bitterly.
Till she began, &c.
8. What are you weeping for, my dear,
My silver or my gold?
Or is it for your house carpenter
You never will see anymore?
Or is it, &c.
9. They had not been on sea three weeks,
I'm sure it was not four,
Before the ship sprang a leak in the bottom,
And it sank for to rise no more.
Before the ship, &c.