Moment's River Side- Lucretia Collins (WV) 1917 Cox A
[From Folk Songs of the South, Cox 1925. Cox's notes follow. This has several archaic stanzas. Stanza 1 begins similarly to the Pitts broadside, It has the "thousands in a room" stanza found in "Sailing Trade" and it has a variant of the "Black is the colour" stanza which more resembles the Niles' version.
R. Matteson 2017]
SWEET WILLIAM (THE SAILOR BOY)
The majority of the nine variants found in West Virginia are more or less incomplete. There is little variation in story but a good deal in phraseology.
Of this favorite English song texts have been printed or reported from Georgia (Journal, xxix, 199), Tennessee (xxx, 363), Ohio (xxxv, 410), North Carolina (Campbell and Sharp, No. 106; cf. F. C. Brown, p. 10), Missouri (Belden, No. 20), Nebraska (Pound, pp. 42, 69), Canada (Journal, xxxi, 170). An interesting copy from the MS. of a Confederate soldier is printed by Frank
Moore, Anecdotes, Poetry, and Incidents of the War (New York, 1866), p. 180. For references see Journal, xxx, 363; xxxv, 410; Campbell and Sharp, p. 334. Add Greig, Folk-Song of the North-East, LXIV; Journal of the Irish Folk-Song Society, XVII, 18; broadside ("The Sailor Boy and his Faithful Mary"), Harkness, Preston, No. 317.
A. "Moment's River Side." Communicated by Mr. Fred Smith, Glenville, Gilmer County, 1917; obtained from Miss Lucretia Collins.
1 Way down on Moment's river side
The wind blew fair with gentle guide;
A pretty maid that sat and mourned:
"What shall I do? My true love's gone.
2. His rosy cheeks, his coal-black hair,
Has drawn my heart all in a snare;
His ruby lips so soft and fine,
Ten thousand times I've thrust in mine.
"And if ten thousand were in a row,
My love would make the brightest show,
The brightest show of every one;
I'll have my love or I'll have none.
"I'll build myself a little boat,
And on the ocean I will float,
And every ship that I pass by,
I'll inquire for my sweet sailor boy."
She had not sailed far on the deep,
Until a ship she chanced to meet:
"O captain, captain, tell me true,
Does my sweet Willie sail with you?"
6 "0 no, kind miss, he is not here;
He lies in yonder deep, I fear."
She [w]rang her hands, she tore her hair,
Just like a lady in despair.
7 The wind did blow and the waves did roll,
Which washed his body to the shore;
She view[ed] him well in every part,
With melting tears and bleeding heart.
8 With pen and ink she wrote a song,
She wrote it large, she wrote it long;
On every line she dropped a tear,
And every verse cried, "O my dear!"
9 Six weeks from then this maid was dead,
And on her breast this letter laid:
"Go dig my grave both wide and deep,
And strew it well with roses sweet.
10 "Plant by my side a willow tree,
To many years wave over me,
And on my breast a turtle dove,
To tell the world I died for love."