The Ship Carpenter- Walters (KY) 1937 REC Lomax
[From: CHILD BALLADS TRADITIONAL IN THE UNITED STATES. Edited by Bertrand H. Bronson; his notes follow. Recorded by Alan Lomax 1937.
This version has the title and rare last two lines that comes directly from Child B:
O cursed be these mariners
For they do lead a wicked life
They ruined me, a ship carpenter
By deluding away my wife.
It also has the fairly rare "What hills" stanzas found in Child E and F.
R. Matteson 2013]
AMES HARRIS or THE DAEMON LOVER (Child No. 243)
The version of Mr. Walters, which follows, has unusual touches. There is a suggestion of magic in the splendor of the ship and the sweet music; just as in the earlier copies "the sails were o the taffetie, the masts o the beaten gold," and the ship was run by no visible human agency.
[(e) " 'The Ship Carpenter':" Sung by Mr. Clay Walters at Salyersville, Kentucky, 1937. Recorded by Alan and Elizabeth Lomax.
1. Well met, well met, my own true love
Long I've been searching for thee
I've been all across the salt roaring sea
And it's all for the sake of thee.
2. Oh, I could have married the king's daughter fair
She all the same would have had me
But I refused that rich crown of gold
And it's all for the sake of thee.
3. If you could have married the king's daughter dear
I'm sure that you are to blame
For I wouldn't have my husband to hear tell of thee
For ten thousand pounds of gold.
4. Oh, I am married to a ship carpenter
And a ship carpenter I obey
And by him I have a little son
Or I would go along with thee.
5. What have you to maintain me on
Is it houses, land, gold, and fee?
I've seven loaded ships a-sailing on the sea
Besides the one that brought me to land.
6. She picked up her baby all in her arms
And kissed it sweetlie embraced
And laid it down on a soft bed of down
And bid it to go to sleep.
7. As they walked down by the seashore
The water is set running so bold
The sides was lined with silver so bright
And the top was the purest of gold.
8. As they sailed all on the sea
The music did seem so sweet
She thought of her babe she had left behind
And set herself down to weep.
9. Are you weeping for my gold, said he?
Are you. weeping for fee?
Or are you weeping for some other man
That you love far better than me?
10. I'm not a-weeping for your gold
Neither am I a-weeping for fee
But I'm weeping to return to dry land again
My poor little babe to see.
11. If you had ten thousand pounds of gold
And would give it all unto me
You never should return to dry land again
Your babe you never will see.
12. What hills, what hills, my own true love,
That look so white like snow?
It's the hills of Heaven, my own true love
Where all righteous people go.
13. What hills, what hills, my own true love,
That look so dark and low?
It's the hills of Hell, my own true love,
Where you and I must go.
14. Straight news, straight news to the ship carpenter
Straight news come back to the land
The ship that his own dear wife sailed in
Went sinking to the sand.
15. Sailors may be the worst of men
That lead poor women astray
The sailor has ruined the ship carpenter
By deluding his poor wife away.