The Mermaid- Patterson (VA) 1916 Davis E; Otey
[From Davis, Traditional Ballads From Virginia, 1929. The repetitive extended chorus usually found in the Virginia versions is missing here. Footnotes by Davis follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
48. THE MERMAID
(Child, No. 289)
Thirteen texts, whole or fragmentary and two tunes are the contribution of this ballad to the Virginia archives, under the titles,"The Stormy Winds Do Blow," "The Stormy Winds How Do They Blow," "The Stormy Winds" and "The Wreck," as well as "The Mermaid." Only one reĀpetitive fragment is here excluded. The twelve remaining variants are quite similar and in
the main follow the Child sequence B-C-D. But the speech of the cook which appears in Virginia A, D, K, L, is more tike child E and F. Virginia A shows the impress of another "section" of the country (see the footnote). Virginia B and C come from the same singer but show certain variations; They are place in juxtaposition for comparison. An interesting feature of
the fuller variants is the use made of the "stormy winds" stanza usually it is the chorus, sometimes the first stanza and chorus, sometimes first and last stanza, sometimes (once) it is omitted.
The ship sets sail as in Child B, C, D, on Friday, a day of ill omen. The appearance of a mermaid is a signal despair to seamen in this ballad as in certain versions of Sir Patrick Spens (Child, No. 52, J, L, P, Q). As Child there (II, 19) remarks, "If nothing worse, mermaids at least bode rough weather, and sailors do not like them. . . They have a reputation for treachery; there is a Danish ballad one who has betrayed seven ships."
The popularity of this ballad in college and other songbooks has often been pointed out (see Cox and Mackenzie, head-notes). For other traditional American texts, see Barry, No. 7; Bulletin, Nos. 2-5, 8-10; Cox No. 33; Heart Songs, p. 360, Hudson No. 23 (Mississippi); Journal, XVIII, 136 (Barry, Vermont, text and melody); XXII 78 (Barry, Vermont, melody only): XXV, 176 (Belden Missouri); XXVI, (Kittredge, Massachusetts); McGill p. 46; Mackenzie Ballads, No. 16; Pound, Syllabus, p. 10 (fragment); Pound Ballads No. 11; Spaeth, Read 'em and Weep, 1927, p. 81. For additional references, see Cox, p. 172; Journal, XXX, 333.
E. "The Mermaid." Collected by Mrs. James A. Otey, of Blacksburg, Va. Sung by Mr. Robert M. Patterson, of Walnut Spring, Va. Montgomery County, February 21, 1916.
1 'T was Friday night when we set sail,
And we were not very far from land,
When the captain spied a pretty mermaid
With a comb and brush in her hand.
Chorus: The stormy winds may blow, blow, blow,
And the raging seas how they go,
While poor sailors are running up aloft
And the landlubbers lying down below.
2 Up spoke the captain of our gallant ship,
And a brave looking man was he:
"I've a wife and five children in my far native land
Whom I fear that I never more will see."
3 Up spoke the little cabin boy,
And a smart little lad was he:
"I've a poor old mother in my far native land
Whom I fear that I never more will see."
Up spoke in turn any officer of the crew as the singer
can think them up.
4 Three times around spun our gallant ship,
And three times around spun she;
And as she was spinning the third time around,
She sank to the bottom of the sea.