Stormy Winds- Tillett (NC) 1922 Brown C; Chappell
[From the The Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore; the folklore of North Carolina, collected by Dr. Frank C. Brown during the years 1912 to 1943. There are actually three versions, one in Volume 4 by Tink Tillett (my version Brown C), which was also collected in 1924 by Chappell (published in 1939).
The Brown Collection does not give the full text as found in Chappell p. 46-47, which makes me wonder. This text (chorus and verse) do not have the "pretty fair maid" (instead of fair mermaid or mermaid fair). Compare to Davis F. I've added the text from Chappell's Folk Songs of the Roanoke and the Abermerle, 1939.
C.K. "Tink" Tillett was collected by Chappell (probably first), The Brown Collection and circa 1940, Frank Warner. Warner wrote: From the Outer Banks of North Carolina were C. K. Tillett and his family (wife, Eleazar Tillett, their son Cliff, and nephew Hub Tillett) of Wanchese. Mr. Tillett's nickname was "Tink." These people live north of Cape Hatteras, on Roanoke Island.
R. Matteson 2014]
48.The Mermaid (Child 289)
Though this ballad is not old — the earliest record of it that Child found is in a Newcastle garland tentatively dated 1765 — the belief that the sight of a mermaid means disaster for seamen is very old. For the vogue of 'The Mermaid' in songbooks and stall print, see Kittredge's note in JAFL XXX 333; for its occurrence as traditional song in recent times, see BSM 101i and add to the references there given North Carolina (FSRA 46-7), Florida (FSF 328-9), Arkansas (OFS I 203), Missouri (OFS i 202, 204), and Illinois (JAFL LX 232-8). Our two texts, only one of which is from North Carolina tradition, are peculiar in not using the familiar "landlubbers lie down below" refrain.
48. The Mermaid Volume 4; [Collected also by Chappell in 1924]
(Child 289)
C. "Stormy Winds.' Sung by C. K. Tillett. Recorded at Wanchese, Roanoke Island, December 29, 1922. Other titles given are 'Mermaid' and 'The Wreck.' There is another version by the same singer printed in FSRA 46, which is a considerably later recording. The more surprising is it to find the latter almost identical in the general outline.
[Chorus text not added here. Music upcoming- see text below]
For melodic relationship cf. ***FSRA 46; *SharpK i 291, No. 42A, measures 1-5 and 293, version D, measures 1-4.
Scale: Heptachordal. Tonal Center: c. Structure: abca1a2 (2,2,2,2,2) = ab
(4,6).
2 Oh, up spoke the captain of our gallant ship,
A well spoken man was he,
Saying-, 'I have a family in fair New York town,
And this night they'll be looking for me, for me,
And this night they'll be looking for me.'
23. The Mermaid from Chappell- Folk Songs of the Roanoke and the Abermerle, 1939. The title in Chappell should be perhaps "Pretty Fair Miss" since Tillett never sings "mermaid."
(Tillett, 1924, 1935)
Oh last Monday morning as we set sail,
Not being very far from the land.
There we espied pretty fair maid
With a comb and a glass in her hand, her hand,
With a comb and a glass in her hand.
Chorus:
For the stormy winds they do blow
And the raging seas do roar.
While we poor seamen go reefing to the top,
While the landsmen are lurking on the shore, the shore, the shore,
While the landsmen are lying down below.
Up stepped the captain of our gallant litt1e ship,
And a very well spoken man was he:
I have a family in fair New York town,
And this night they all orphans will be, will be, will be,
And this night they all orphans will be'
Up stepped the mate of our gallant little ship,
And a very well spoken man was he:
I have a wife in fair New York town,
And this night she a widow will be, will be, will be,
And this night she a widow will be.
Up stepped the man of our gallant little ship,
And a very well spoken man was he:
I have a mother in fair New York town,
And this night she'll be looking for me, for me, for me,
And this night she'll be looking for me.
She may look, she may cry with a watery weeping eye, [1]
She may look to the bottom of the sea, the sea, the sea,
She may look to the bottom of the sea.
Up stepped the cook of our gallant little ship,
And a smutty little fellow was he,
Says, I care more for my pots and my kettles
Than I do for the raging sea, the sea, the sea,
Than I do for the raging sea.
Three times around went our gallant little ship,
And three times around went she;
Three times around went our gallant little ship,
And she sunk to the bottom of the sea, the sea, the sea,
And she sunk to the bottom of the sea.
1. Chappell's stanza breaks. Although it seems that the first two lines are missing, it's more likely an added part of the previous measure.