In Seaport Town- Alfred H. Norton (TN) 1916 Sharp MS
[My title. Single stanza with music from Sharp's MS. The 1932 notes English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians follow. Alfred H. Norton was born August 17, 1876 in Spillcorn, NC, Madison Co., and died February 16, 1959 in Flag Pond, Unicoi Co., TN and may be related to Dellie Chandler Norton.
R. Matteson 2016]
No. 48. In Seaport Town.
Texts without tunes :—Journal of American Folk-Lore, xx. 259; xxix 168. Cox's Folk Songs of the South, p. 305 (see also further references).
Texts with tunes:—Journal of the Folk-Song Society, i. 160; ii. 42; v. 123. Miss Broadwood's Traditional Songs and Carols, p. 28. Folk Songs from Somerset, No. 12 (also published in English Folk-Songs, Selected Edition, i. 4, and One Hundred
English Folk-Songs, p. 4). Journal of American Folk-Lore, xxxv. 359.
Mike Yates: On the morning of 31st August, 1916, Sharp called on another Flag Pond farmer, Alfred Herbert Norton, who sang two songs, Harm Link (a version of The Lazy Farmer Boy or The Young man Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn) and Barbara Allen, as well as a tune for In Seaport Town. Later that day Sharp was introduced by a schoolteacher to three of Alfred Norton's younger children, Harry Banner Norton (5.4.1905 - 24.11.1966), Ralph Moore Norton (5.11.1906 - 31.8.1963) and Dayton Webb Norton (5.1.1909 - 8.7.1980) who sang him a version of the song The Old Grey Mare. [Lewis/Louis Blankenship. Photo by Cecil Sharp] Two other brothers, David Lamons Norton (17.12.1897 - 1988) and Dana Harmon Norton (b. 16.11.1891) also sang to Sharp that day. David gave Sharp a good version of the ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard, along with a tune for The Sheffield Apprentice and Dana Norton sang The Three Butchers and a version of the ballad Giles Collins.
In Seaport Town- Sung by Alfred H. Norton, of Flag Pond, TN on 31 August, 1916.
In Seaport Town there lived a merchant,
He had three sons and a daughter dear
And the princes [1] boy was bound unto him,
They lived alone the very same.
1. 'prentice