Captain Glen- Tillett (NC) 1924 Chappell
[From: Chappell's Folk Songs of the Roanoke and the Albemarle; 1939. This is sung to old minor tune resembling "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" used in the Three Crows (Bronson).
"Tink" Tillett was one of Chappell's best informants and in the early 1920s Tillett also gave ballads to the Brown Collection. Around 1940 Frank and Anne Warner began collecting songs from him. They write in a CD liner notes: ". . .we learned this song from Mr. C.K. Tillett in the town of Wanchese on Roanoke Island. On that part of the coast live a group of people known as bankers, because they live on the sand banks. A couple of generations ago, they were completely isolated from the world by the Albemarle, Currituck, and Pamlico Sounds which separate their strip of land from the mainland. Tink Tillett knew fishing (it was his trade) and the sea and its ways. He also knew many a fine song which he had learned as a young man from people whose memories stretched back to the 1840's, so he sang his songs with the pioneer flavor which is so interesting and, now, so rare."
The informant Charles Kitchen Tillett Sr. (b. August, 19, 1873 in Wanchese, Dare, North Carolina-- d. April 6, 1941 in Wanchese, Dare, North Carolina) was a musician and fisherman on Roanoke Island, NC. His father was Thomas Tillett (1831 – 1897 Nag's Head, NC) and mother, Sophia Frances Daniels (1832 – 1882). He was married in 1896 to Eleazor G. Gallop (1874- 1968) who also contributed songs and ballads to teh Warners and the Brown Collection. His sons Charles Ketchum (aka-Cliff) Tillett Jr. (1902 – 1985) and Richard (Dick) W. Tillett (1909 – ) also sang the family ballads and songs.
R. Matteson 2014]
Captain Glen- Charles Tillett (Wanchese, NC) 1924 text; 1935 tune; Chappell; Bronson comments: With this rather vestigial tune cf. "Three Old Crows" (No. 26, in Sharp and Karpeles, 193:, I, p. 6f).
1. O Captain Glen's our skipper's name;
He was a brisk and lively man,
As bold a sailor as ever crossed the sea,
For he was bound to New Barbaree.
2. It being at the third watch of the night
Our captain called in the most horrible fright;
Unto the boatswain he did call
And told to him his secrets all.
3. It was in fair England I did remain,
The holy Sabbath I did inflame,
And in drunkenness I took delight,
Which does my trembling soul afright.
4. A squire I slew in Sanford's chair,
It was all for the sake of a lady fair;
Although the king he has pardoned me,
Though I fear it's his ghost I now do see.
O captain, if this you tell me be so
No mortal on earth shall ever know,
So keep the secret within your breast
And pray to God to give you rest.
The sea overwhelmed us both fore and aft
Till not many men on deck was left;
Our sails were spread, our rigging tore,
The like had never been before.
7. And then our boatswain did declare:
Our captain is a murderer.
And then our whole ship's jolly crew
Our captain overboard did threw.
8. Our honorable captain being gone
Immediately the sea was calm;
The wind becalm and the raging sea
And we sailed to New Barbaree.