Weeping Willow Tree- Gentry (NC) 1916 Sharp A
[From English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians; Vol. 1, 1917. My title replacing the generic Golden Vanity.
Of the 260 songs and ballads Cecil Sharp collected in Madison County, NC around 70 songs came from Jane Gentry.
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.
A. [Weeping Willow Tree] Mrs. Jane Gentry NC 1916
1. There was a little ship in the North Amerikee,
That went by the name of the Weeping Willow Tree,
As she sailed upon the low-de-lands deep.
2 There was another ship in the North Amerikee,
She went by the name of the Golden Silveree,
As she sailed upon the low-de-lands deep.
3 O captain, O captain, what'll you give to me,
If I'll go and sink the ship of the Weeping Willow Tree,
As she sailed upon the low-de-lands deep?
4 I will give you gold and I'll give to you a fee,
Give to you my daughter and married you shall be,
As we sailed upon the low-de-lands deep.
5 He bent to his breast and away swum he,
He swum and he sunk the ship of the Weeping Willow Tree,
As they sailed upon the low-de-lands deep.
6 He bent to his breast and back swum he,
Back to the ship of the Golden Silveree,
As they sailed upon the low-de-lands deep.
7 O captain, O captain, pray take me on my board,
For I have been just as good as my word,
I sunk her in the low-de-lands deep.
8 I know that you've been just as good as your word,
But never more will I take you on board,
As we sailed upon the low-de-lands deep.
9 If it wasn't for the love that I have for your girl,
I'd do unto you as I did unto them,
I'd sink you in the low-de-lands deep.
10 But he turned upon his back and down went he,
Down, down, down to the bottom of the sea,
As they sailed upon the low-de-lands deep.
* If A be tonic — Mode 1, a -+- b (nilxolydian ).