The House Carpenter- Johnson (NC) 1929 Henry A
[From: Folk Songs from the Southern Highlands- Mellinger Henry, 1938. His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2013]
JAMES HARRIS (THE DAEMON LOVER) (Child, No. 243) Campbell and Sharp, No. 29, give eleven variants and tunes. Cox, No. 25, states that twenty-one variants have been found in West Virginia. Davis, No. 40, says that fifty-two texts and seven melodies have been found in Virginia. See also Barry, No. 11; Barry-Eckstorm-Smyth, p. 304; Belden, No. 11; Hudson, No. 19; Pound, No. 17; Pound, Syllabus, p. 10; Sandburg, p. 66; Shearin, Sewanee Review, July, 1911; Shearin and Combs, p. 8; C. Alphonso Smith, Musical Quarterly, January, 1916; Reed Smith, The Traditional Ballad and Its South Carolina Survivals, No. 11; Reed Smith, South Carolina Ballads, No. 12. Note also the following in the Journal: Belden, XIX, 295; Kittredge, XX, 257; Barry, XXV, 274; Kittredge, XXX, 325; Tolman and Eddy, XXXV, 346; Pound, XXVI, 360; Henry, XLII, 274. Add Thomas, pp. 63, 172; Brown, p. 29; PTFLS, No. 10, pp. 159—162.
A. "The House Carpenter." Recorded by Mrs. Henry from the singing of Miss Ronie Johnson, Crossnore, Avery Country, North Carolina, July, 1929.
1. "Well met, well met, my own true love;
Well met, well met," said he.
"I'm just returning from the salt, salt sea,
And all for the love of thee."
2. "1 will come in but I won't sit down,
For I haven't a moment's time;
I heard you were engaged to another young man
And your heart is no longer mine." [1]
3. "Yes, come in and sit down
And stay a while if you can;
I am married to a house carpenter,
And I think he is a nice young man."
4. "If you will leave the house carpenter
And come along with me,
We will go where the grass grows green
On the banks of the deep blue sea in the land of sweet Willie." [2]
5. She dressed herself in silk so fine,
Most glorious to behold,
And she marched up and down the street;
She shone like glittering gold.
6. She picked up her sweet little babe;
Kisses she gave it one, two, three,
Saying, "You stay at home with your poor old dad,
And keep him company."
7. She hadn't been gone but about two weeks,
I'm sure it were not three,
Till she fell down a-weeping on her true lover's lap,
And she wept most bitterly.
8. "Darling, are you weeping for my silver or gold?
Or weeping for my store?
Or weeping for your house carpenter
Whose face you shall see no more?"
9. "I'm neither weeping for silver or gold,
Or weeping for your store;
I'm just a-weeping for my sweet little babe,
That I'll never get to see any more.
10. "Oh, what are the white banks that I see?
They are white as any snow."
"They are the banks of heaven, my dear,
Where your sweet little babe shall go."
11. "Oh, what are the black banks that I see?
They are blacker than any crow."
"They are the banks of hell, my dear,
Where you and I must go."
12. She dressed herself in silk so fine,
Put on her blue and green,
And marched right out in front of him,
They took her to be some queen. [3]
13. They hadn't been gone but about three weeks,
I'm sure it was not four,
Till her true lover's ship took a leak in it,
And sank for to rise no more.
14. Well, my house carpenter is still at home,
And living very well,
While my poor body is drowning in the sea,
And my soul is bound for hell.
Matteson footnotes:
1. from The False Young Man. This verse appears frequently in the opening stanzas.
2. This is really two lines: On the banks of the deep blue sea/ in the land of sweet Willie." It would be impossible to sing as one line.
3. From "The Brown Girl"