The Coast of Barbaree- Richards (NH) 1941 Flanders C
[There is a resemblance in the last line (partially forgotten) to the 1700s American Songster broadside. Otherwise the first stnaza resembles the Deming/Forget-Me-Not Songster versions.
Flanders has 7 versions in her Ancient Ballads books published in 1966 with notes by Coffin. Coffin (and Laws before him)apparently took Frank Shay's word that Charles Dibden (actually Dibdin) wrote a similar ballad based on the "George Aloe" which developed into "Coast of Barbary/High barbaree" songs. So far none has been found and apparently it's a mix-up because one of Didbin's songs is titled "Blow High Blow Low" - which is a completely different song.
I'm also wondering what rare US or Canadian ballad has the "George Aloe" in it- since none have been found.
R. Matteson 2014]
The Coast of Barbary
(Laws K33, related to Child 285)
"George Aloe and the sweepstake" (Child 285), which the jailer's daughter sings in The Two Noble Kinsmen, is extremely rare in America and is not found in the Flanders Collection at all. However, the common sea ballad "The Coast of Barbary" telling a similal stoly is known widely in the States and to some extent in England. This song places back to a piece written for the British Navy by Charles Dibden (1745-1814). Dibden based his composition on "George Aloe and. the Sweepstake" but retained little of his model beyond the plot outline and the "Barbary" refrain. In songs based on Dibden's original, the man-of-war defeats a pirate or privateer, although the merchantman, George Aloe, originally conquered a French naval vessel. The Flanders texts follow the usual songster versions known in New England. Flanders A, very close to the A text in Phillips Barry's Britislt Ballads from Maine, 413, is also like The American Songster (New York) version, as are the Flanders E and F fragments. Flanders B and C follow The Forget-me-not Songster (Turner and Fisher, Philadelphia) text, which in turn is like an old American broadside now in the Massachusetts Historical Society library and given as Barry D.
See Coffin, 152-3, for American bibliography to "George Aloe" and to the "Coast of Barbary." Laws, ABBB, 157-8, and Dean-Smith, 58, list the latter song. The tunes for Child 285 are related, but not closely, with the exception of the Kneeland and Delano tunes. Tunes for this ballad are exceedingly rare in the standard American collections.
C. sung by Mrs. Belle Richards of Colebrook, New Hampshire.
M. Olney, Collector; November 21, 1941
Structure: A B C (6,6,4); Rhythm B; Contour: arc; Scale: hexatonic; t. c. E.
The Coast of Barbaree
'Twas of two lofty vessels came sailing o'er the sea;
Blow high, blow low, for so sailed we.
One was the Prince of Luther and the other, the Prince of Wales,
As we sailed along the coast of Barbaree.
"I'll speak her, I'll speak her," this gallant captain cries;
Blow high, blow low, for so sailed we.
"Are you a man-o'-war or a privateer?" cried he,
As we sailed along the coast of Barbaree.
"I am not a man-o'-war, nor a privateer," cried he;
Blow high, blow low, for so sailed we,
"But I am a jolly a pirate as ever sailed the sea,"
As we sailed along the coast of Barbaree.
"If you're not a man-o'-war or a privateer," cried he,
Blow high, blow low, for so sailed we;
"If you are a jolly pirate, I will sink you in the sea,"
As we sailed along the coast of Barbaree.
Then broadside to broadside his gallant ships did pay;
Blow high, blow low, for so sailed we;
And soon the Prince of Luther shot the pirate's mast away,
As we sailed along the coast of Barbaree.
. . . . .[1]
Blow high, blow low, for so sailed we;
The ship it was a scalpin[2] and his grave was in the sea,
As we sailed along the coast of Barbaree.
1. American Songster: For better than two hours this battle lasted as you see,
2. probably "coffin"