The Little Ship- McCloud (GA) 1980 Rosenbaum
[From: Folk Visions & Voices TRADITIONAL MUSIC AND SONG IN NORTHERN GEORGIA; Early Mountain Songs, Ballads.
Very close to Bascom Lamar Lunsford's 1956 recording which was based on a 1925 version by Ada Moss. The Moss version was published circa 1925 in Adventure Magazine by Gordon and reprinted in 1978. Rosenbaum's notes follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
This is one of the classic British ballads sung in the southern mountains, and Mrs. McCloud learned her version from her father, Grady Eller, who "single-noted" it on the organ, that is, played the melody in unison with his singing. The use of the first person in the fourth verse lends special immediacy to this text. There is an interesting Kentucky performance to banjo by Justus Begley on Library of Congress recording L7. See FVV, p. 10, also Francis Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Reprint, New York: Dover, 1965, Vol. V, pp. 136-142; H. M. Belden, Ballads and Songs Collected by the Missouri Folklore Society, Columbia: University of Missouri Press, p. 9; Brown, op. cit., Vol. II, p . 191j Vance Randolph, Ozark Folk Songs, Columbia, University of Missouri Press, 1946- 50, p. 195; Almeda Riddle, A Singer and Her Songs, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1970 , p.143.
SIDE ONE, Band 2 THE LITTLE SHIP
("The Golden Vanity", Child, No. 286)
Sung by Paralee McCloud, Upper Hightower, Towns County,August 21, 1980.
1. There was a little ship went sailing o'er the sea,
And the name of the ship was the Merry Golden Ship,
As she sailed on the lonesome lowland low,
As she sailed on the lonesome sea.
2. Hadn't been on board but about three weeks,
Till he came in sight of the Revatrukalee,
As they sailed, etc.
3. Says, "I have money and plenty to eat,
And I have a loving daughter I will give unto thee,
If you sink 'em in the lonesome lowland low,
If you sink 'em in the lonesome sea."
4. Had a little tool all for the use,
And I bored nine holes in the old hull at once,
And I sunk 'er ... etc.
5. (not sung on this cut)
["Captain, oh captain, take me on board,
For if you don't you have falsified your word,
For I'm sinking ... " etc.]
6. If it wasn't for the love I had for your men
I would do unto you as you [I] done unto them,
I would sink you in the low and lonesome low,
I would sink you in the lonesome sea.
7. There was a little ship went sailing o'er the sea,
And the name of the ship was the Merry Golden Ship;
But they sunk 'em in the lonesome salt water sea,
And they sunk 'em in the lonesome sea.