33. The Mermaid (Folk-Songs of the South- 1925; Footnotes moved to the end of each version.)
33. THE MERMAID (Child, No. 289)
One variant has been recovered in West Virginia, under the title: "The Sinking Ship."
This is a reduced version of "The Mermaid." See Journal, xvin, 136, and xxii, 78 (Barry; Vermont); xxv, 176 (Belden; Missouri); Focus, in, 447, and iv, 97 (Tennessee); Shoemaker, p. 157 (Pennsylvania); McGill, p. 45 (Kentucky); Luce, Naval Songs, 2d ed., 1902, p. 118. It is common in American songbooks and broadsides: as, The Forget Me Not Songster (New York, Nans & Cornish), p. 79; the same (D. & J. Sadlier & Co.), p. 46; Uncle Sam's Naval and Patriotic Songster, p. 40; Singer's Journal, 1, 301; Deming broadside (Boston, ca. 1838) ; De Marsan broadside, List 14, No. 56. It has long been popular as a
college song: see Waite, Carmina Colligensia (Boston, cop. 1868), p. 19; The American College Songster (Ann Arbor, 1876), p. 56; Waite, Student Life in Song (Boston, cop. 1879), p. 47; W. H. Hills, Students' Songs, p. 27: Noble, Songs of Harvard (cop. 1913), p. 82. For a broadly burlesque version see The "We Won't Go Home till Morning" Songster (cop. 1869), p. 8; The "Slap-Bang" Songster (cop. 1870), p. 8.
For Great Britain see Ebsworth, Roxburghe Ballads, vin, 446; Callcott, The Child's Own Singing Book (London, 1843), reprinted in part in Journal of the Folk-Song Society. 111, 48; the same Journal, in, 47, 139; v, 227; Baring-Gould, English Minstrelsie, vi, 74 (cf. p. vi); Ashton, Real Sailor-Songs, 41, 42; Stone; Sea Songs and Ballads, p. 17; Buck, The Oxford Song Book, 1916, p. 136; Duncan, The Minstrelsy of England, 1, 266; The Scottish Students' Song Book, p. 122. The ballad is common in modern broadsides (as, Pitts; Catnach; Such, No. 53; Harkness, Preston, No. 146; Gilbert, Newcastle, No. 77; Ross, Newcastle, No.
77; J. Arthur, Carlisle; slip, J. & H. Baird). A part of the song is used in a children's game: see Gomme, Traditional Games, 11, 143, 422.
"The Sinking Ship." Contributed by Miss Sallie Dice Jones, Franklin, Pendleton County, September 23, 19 16.
1 Up stepped the captain of our gallant ship,
A fine looking man was he:
" I've a wife and a child in my own native land,
Who this night are looking out for me, for me,
Who this night are looking out for me."
Chorus: O the stormy winds do blow,
And the raging seas o'er they flow,
While we poor sailors are toiling in the tower below,
And the landsmen are lying down below,
And the landsmen are lying down below.
Up stepped a youth of our gallant ship,
A brave looking lad was he:
"I've a father and a mother in my own native land,
Who this night are looking for me,
Who this night are looking for me."
Three times around sailed our gallant ship,
Three times around sailed she,
And when she was going the fourth time around,
She sank to the bottom of the sea, the sea,
She sank to the bottom of the sea.