The House Carpenter- Ritchie (KY) 1961 REC Bronson No. 44
[From: Child Ballads in America, Folkways F-2301, 1961 (Ritchie writes, she got it from her father). She sings a different version on Jean Ritchie and Doc Watson at Folk City, 1963, Smithsonian Folkways SF 40005. There's also a recording of Ritchie singing this ballad on Digital Appalachia.
I believe that Jean's parents were not ballad singers although they may have had an interest in ballads. Her Uncle Jason also knew ballads and collectors and local informants. Many of Jean's older siblings learned ballads at the Pine Mountain Settlement School and from other local sources. It's likely that Jean "improved" or added to many of her local versions. Of her 1963 version with Doc Watson Jean writes, "my mother sang a different version, a sweeter tune. This one I heard most from Uncle Jason Ritchie and from my older sister Una." Her father is not mentioned as a source for the 1963 version.
The version sung and played on dulcimer by Jean Ritchie at the Berea College Celebration of Traditional Music on 10-30-82 is also different.
R. Matteson 2013, 2016]
"The House Carpenter"- Sung by Jean Ritchie. Folkways LP rec. No. FA 2301 (A5) ed. K. S. Goldstein. mode: Dorian
Listen Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT2G-OuRxVE
1. Well met, well met, my own true love,
Well met, well met, said he,
I've come from far across the sea
And it's all for the sake of thee,
2. I could have married the King's daughter fair,
And she would've married me,
But I have forsaken the crowns of gold
And it's all for the sake of thee.
3. If you could've married a king's daughter fair,
I'm sure I'm not to blame,
For I have married me a house carpenter
And I'm sure he's a fine young man.
4. Oh will you leave your house carpenter
And sail away with me
I'll take you where the grass grows green
Down in sweet Italy.
5. Oh if I leave my house carpenter,
And sail away with ye,
What will ye have to maintain me upon
When we are far away.
6. Oh I have seven ships upon the sea
Seven ships upon the land
Four hundred and fifty bold sailor men
To be at your command.
7. She turned herself three times around
She kissed her babies three,
Farewell, farewell you sweet little babes
Keep your father sweet company.
8. They hadn't been sailin' but about two weeks,
I'm sure it was not three,
When this fair lady begin for to weep
And she wept most bitterly.
9. Are you weepin' for your house carpenter
Are you weepin' for your store?
Or are you weepin' for your sweet little babes,
That you never shall see any more?
10. Not a-weepin' for my house carpenter
Not a-weepin' for my store
Yes, I'm weepin' for my sweet little babes
That I never will see any more.
11. They hadn't been sailin' but about three weeks,
I'm sure it was not four,
When the ship spring a leak and down she sank
And she sank to rise no more.
12. What hills, what hills so fair and so bright,
What hills so white and fair?
Oh those are the hills of heaven, my dear,
But you won't never go there.
13. What hills, what hills down in yonder sea,
What hills so black as coal?
Oh those be the hills of hell, my dear,
Where we must surely go.