The Cambrick Shirt- Decker (NL) 1959 Peacock A
[Originally titled "Cambrick Shirt" as in the 1783, Gammer Gurton's Garland; Or, the Nursery Parnassus, published again by Joseph Ritson in 1810.
THE CAMBRICK SHIRT
CAN you make me a cambrick shirt,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Without any seam or needle work?
And you shall be a true lover of mine.
This variant was collected in 1959 from George Decker of Rocky Harbour, NL, by Kenneth Peacock and published in Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 1, p.6, by The National Museum Of Canada (1965). Decker is a descendant of the early settlers in that area.
Kenneth Peacock noted that the devil is not found in any of the variants given by Professor Child. The opening Stanza is taken from "Farmer's Curst Wife:"
1. There was an old man who lived under the hill,
Fi fi diddle alli day,
If he's not dead he's living there still,
Fi fi diddle alli day. [Lunsford]
The chorus is similar to "Blow ye winds, blow" taken from a pamphlet entitled "Family Songs," compiled by Rosa S. Allen, which is documented to have been known as early as c. 1870 in MA.
1. You must make me a fine Holland shirt:
Blow, blow, blow, ye winds blow.
And not have in it a stitch of needle-work:
Blow, ye winds that arise, blow, blow.
This is the only supernatural version so far reported from the US or Canada.
R. Matteson 2014]
Kenneth Peacock's Songs of the Newfoundland Outports (Excerpts)
David Gregory. Athabasca University
The largest and most varied of the various collections of Newfoundland vernacular songs, Kenneth Peacock's three-volume Songs of the Newfoundland Outports, was first published in book form in 1965.
It was presumably from James and Charlotte that Peacock heard about their relatives Mr. and Mrs. George Decker of Rocky Harbour, whom he visited in July 1959. He had not discovered them the previous year, but the couple gave him over twenty songs, the majority of them sung by George.
To judge from his repertoire, George Decker had been a sailor or had a very keen interest in the sea and ships. He knew a good number of local ballads about shipwrecks, including "The Loss of the 'Jewel"', "The Loss of the 'Shamrock''', "The Loss of the 'Sailors' Home"', and "George's Banks". Other maritime songs were the love lament "Willie", an account of the rescue of two lost fishermen ("The Felings of Torbay"), and two pirate ballads, "William Craig and Bold Manone" and "The Bold 'Princess Royal"'. George sang one lumbering ballad, "The Woods of Michigan", a murder ballad ("The Murder of Alfreda Pike"), and a song he had composed himself about a local disaster, "The Sally's Cove Tragedy". He was fond of such comic songs as the mildly salacious "Kate's Big Shirt" and Child # 278 "The Farmer's Curst Wife", but he also knew a few traditional ballads, including "The Cambrick Shirt" (Child # 2 "The Elfin Knight") and a beautiful version of "The Unquiet Grave" (Child # 78) which he called "Cold Falling Drops of Dew".
The Cambrick Shirt - George Decker Variant A (Collected by Kenneth Peacock)
There was an old woman lived under a hill,
Blow, blow, blow the winds blow,
If she isn't gone, she's a-living there still,
While the winds do blow my flood o' woe.
The devil came to her one night in bed,
Blow, blow, blow the winds blow,
And these very words unto her he said,
While the winds do blow my flood o' woe..
"You must make me a cambrick shirt,
Blow, blow, blow the winds blow,
Without any seam or any needle work.
While the winds do blow my flood o' woe.
"You must wash it in yonder well,
Blow, blow, blow the winds blow,
Where neither the dew nor the rain-water fell.
While the winds do blow my flood o' woe.
"You must spread it on yonder thorn,
Blow, blow, blow the winds blow,
That never bore a bud since Adam was born."
While the winds do blow my flood o' woe.
"Oh, now you've asked me questions three,
Blow, blow, blow the winds blow,
And I have the same to ask of thee.
While the winds do blow my flood o' woe.
"You must plough me an acre of land,
Blow, blow, blow the winds blow,
Beneath the sea and the salt-water strand.
While the winds do blow my flood o' woe.
"You must harrow it with a pig's horn,
Blow, blow, blow the winds blow,
And sow it all over with one grain of corn.
While the winds do blow my flood o' woe.
"Then when you have a-done your work,
Blow, blow, blow the winds blow,
Come back to me and you'll have your shirt!"
While the winds do blow my flood o' woe.