Papa, Papa, Build Me a Boat- Dock Boggs (VA) 1965 REC
[Dock Boggs, Volume 2 (Folkways LP FA 2392, published 1965). A composite version with two stanzas from the True Lover's Farewell Family (Ten Thousand Miles).
R. Matteson 2017]
Papa, Papa, Build Me a Boat- sung by Dock Boggs of Norton, Virginia on June 3, 1964, recorded by Mike Seeger. Learned from Charlie Powers, who played banjo and also recorded with his father's string band, Fiddling Powers & Family.
"Papa, papa, build me a boat,
So on this river I can float.
Every ship I chance to see
I'll inquire of Sweet Willie."
"Captain, Captain, tell me true,
Does Sweet Willie sail with you?"
"No, oh no, he don't sail with me,
He got drownded in the deep blue sea."
"I'm a-goin' away, little darlin' girl,
I'm a-goin' away for awhile.
But I will return to you, sweetheart,
Should I go ten thousand mile."
"Stars may rule the oceans, sweetheart,
And heavens may cease to be,
This earth will lose its motion, sweetheart,
Should I prove false to thee."