The House Carpenter- Hawkins (WV) 1957 Musick B
[From: Ballads and Folksongs from West Virginia by Ruth Ann Musick; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 70, No. 277 (Jul. - Sep., 1957), pp. 247-261. Her notes follow.
R. Matteson 2013]
13.2. Contributed by Mrs. Hawkins, who learned it from her mother, and was not sure what "Omat" meant but thought it might be the girl's name. As the ballad usually begins, "Well met, well met, my own true love," the derivation of "Omat" would seem reasonable. Randolph's version K, p. 172 of his Ozark Folksongs (see n. 2) gives a similar beginning from Lillian Short, who explained that the girl's name was Matt, perhaps short for Mattie.
(1) "Omat, Omat," said the sailor boy,
"Omat, Omat," said he;
"I've just returned from the salt, salt sea
And it's all for the sake of thee.
(2) "If you will leave your house carpenter,
And go along with me,
I will take you where the grass grows green,
On the banks of the sweet Belvedree."
(3) "If I leave my house carpenter,
And go along with you,
What will become of my sweet little sea, babe,
That I leave on the other shore?"
(4) "Oh, is it for my gold you weep,
Or is it for my store?
Or is it for the house carpenter,
That you left on the other shore?"
(5) "Oh no, it's not for your gold I weep,
Nor neither for your store;
It's all for the sake of the sweet little babe
That I left on the other shore."