The Merry Golden Tree- Ritchie (KY) 1907 Sharp J
[From English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians; Vol. 2, 1932. My title replacing the generic Golden Vanity. The Merry Golden Tree, Version J, came from May Ritchie, Jean's oldest sister. Jean Ritchie's version, learned from her mother, is probably the same version, so I'm providing Jean's text. May Ritchie's version (music only) was collected in 1907 not by Sharp but probably by someone from the Pine Mountain Settlement School.
May Ritchie of Viper, Kentucky, married a native Belgian, Leon Deschamps and remained in the mountains, first as a teacher at Pine Mountain and later at the John C. Campbell Folk School and Warren Wilson College. Here is an excerpt from Cecil Sharp, by Dr. John M. Ramsay showing May's encounters with Sharp.
While at the Pine Mountain Settlement School in the mountains of eastern Kentucky, he (Sharp) was treated to a set of dances. One of my friends and associates, May Ritchie Deschamps, was one of the student dancers. Here is her description of the event (from a letter she wrote to Peter Rogers, son of a Director of the School):
". . . Mr Sharp stayed at Farm House with Mr Zande. As I remember going to that house to sing for him my version of Pretty Polly, Sourwood Mountain, John Riley, Jackarow, etc.
Their evenings were spent on the porch where he discussed ballads & dances of the Old English kind and he was a very interesting person & so full (of) enthusiasm about publishing his ballad books. When Jean, my sister [May was the oldest of 14 children and Jean was the youngest], was making a study in England she found my name mentioned in one of his books.
One evening, Miss de Long invited our best set running people to come by Farm House to run sets for Mr Sharp. He was quite surprised and very delighted. We did them on the front porch as I can remember Mr Sharp sitting in the door to the living room looking out on us as we ran the set for him. ...we had only someone clapping hands & no music. It was a beautiful moon light night and only dim oil lamps burning in the living room -- that was before we got electricity. He raved and raved over the dances and thanked all many times for a wonderful delightful evening.
In those days we never spoke of them as dances -- always the running of sets. I wish I could name all the people who ran the sets that night. Emily Hill Creech, Bertha Sizemore, Maude and Maggie Baker from Wooten Creek. Burchel & Chester Wooten to name a few."
R. Matteson 2014]
Sharp's Notes No. 41. The Golden Vanity:
Texts without tunes: Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads, No. 286. A. Williams's Folk Songs of the Upper Thames, p. 199. Gavin Greig's Folk-Song of the North-East, ii, arts. 116 and 119. Cox's Folk Songs of the South, p. 169 (see also further references). Journal of American Folk-Lore, xxiii. 429; XXX. 330.
Texts with tunes:—Gavin Greig's Last Leaves, No. 101. Kidson's Garland of English Folk Songs, p. 72. Tozer's Fifty Sailors' Songs, p. 30. English Folk Songs (Selected Edition), I. 36 (also published in One Hundred English Folk-Songs, p. 36). Christie's Traditional Ballad Airs, i. 238. English County Songs, p. 182. Songs of the West, 2nd ed., No. 64. Journal of the Folk-Song Society, I. 104; II. 244. Ford's Vagabond Songs of Scotland, p. 103. Journal of American Folk-Lore, xviii. 125. Wyman and Brockway's Lonesome Tunes, p. 72. British Ballads from Maine, p. 339. Davis's Traditional Ballads of Virginia, pp. 516 and 602. McGill's Folk Songs of the Kentucky Mountains, p. 97.
Jean Ritchie's version, learned from her mother,
corresponds to Coffin's story type A, certainly the
most common form for the ballad in American tradition.
J. [The Merry Golden Tree]- May Ritchie (family text from Jean Ritchie, Child Ballads in America, Volume 1, Folkways Records F-2301, 1961.)
There was a little ship and she sailed upon the sea
And she went by the name of The Merry Golden Tree
As she sailed upon the low and the lonesome low
As she sailed upon the lonesome sea
There was another ship and she sailed upon the sea
And she went by the name of The Turkish Robbery
As she sailed upon the low and the lonesome low
As she sailed upon the lonesome sea
There was a little cabin boy upon the Golden Tree
Said - Captain, oh Captain, what will you give to me
If I sink then in the low and the lonesome low
If I sink them in the lonesome sea?
Oh a half of my ship shall be made unto thee
And my youngest daughter shall be wed unto thee
If you sink them in the low and the lonesome low
If you sink them in the lonesome sea
He bowed upon his breast and away swum he
Till he come to the ship called The Turkish Robbery
Gonna sink you in the low and the lonesome low
Gonna sink you in the lonesome sea
Then out of his pocket an instrument he drew
And he bored nine holes for to let that water through
For to sink them in the low and the lonesome low
For to sink them in the lonesome sea
Oh some had hats and some had caps
And they tried for to stop these ferverish [1] water gaps
But he sunk them in the low and the lonesome low
But he sunk them in the lonesome sea
He bowed upon his breast and back swum he
Till he come to the ship called The Merry Golden Tree
As she sailed upon the low and the lonesome low
As she sailed on the lonesome sea
Oh captain, oh captain, pray draw me up on board
Oh captain, oh captain, pray give me my reward
For I've sunk them in the low and the lonesome low
For I've sunk them in the lonesome sea
I'll never draw you up on board
No I've never known a cabinboy to gain such reward
Though you sunk them in the low and the lonesome low
Though you sunk them in the lonesome sea
If it weren't for the love of your daughter and your men
I would do unto you what I've done unto them
I would sink you in the low and the lonesome low
I would sink you in the lonesome sea
He bowed upon his breast and down sunk he
Farewell, farewell to The Merry Golden Tree
For I'm sinkin' in the low and the lonesome low
For I'm sinkin' in the lonesome sea.
1. Wells version in 1916 from Pine Mountain Settlement children and other versions have "awful" instead of "feverish." The text here (feverish) is confirmed in Folk Songs of the Southern Appalachians as Sung by Jean Ritchie.