Six Pretty Fair Maids- Sprague (NJ) 1937 Halpert
[My title. Text from: Toward the Indexing of Ballad Texts by George List; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 81, No. 319 (Jan. - Mar., 1968), pp. 44-61.
The fourth verse is evidently fro ma second recording made by Halpert.
R. Matteson 2014]
Six Pretty Fair Maids- ATL 586.2-3. No title. Sung by Allen Sprague, Pemberton, New Jersey, August 20, 1937. Recorded by Herbert Halpert.
1. "Lie there, lie you there,
Lie you there you false-hearted young man,
Lie there, lie there," cried she.
"If it's six pretty fair maids you've drownded here
Lie there in the place of me, of me,
Lie there in the place of me."
2. He splashed and dashed from side to side,
"O, give me your hand," cried he.
"If six pretty fair maids I've drownded here
I'll wed ...."
(pause)
2. "Your silken robe you must take off,
Deliver it unto me.
It's far too costly a thing...
To rot in the salt, salt sea."
(pause)
4. (2.) He splashed and dashed from side to side.
"O, give me your hand," cried he.
"If six pretty fair maids I've drownded here
I'll wed with none but thee."