House Carpenter- Hatcher (VA) c. 1902 Halpert REC
[From Digital Library of Appalachia. Recorded by Herbert Halpert sponsored by a joint committee of the W.P.A. The original recordings are maintained in the Library of Congress Archive of Folk Culture: AFS 2740-41.
This version is identical to a version sung by H. L. Maxey also at Ferrum, Va. that was collected by Halpert in 1939. Obviously they are from the same source.
R. Matteson 2016]
House Carpenter- Sung by J.W. 'Peg' Hatcher for Herbert Halpert and his recording machine at Ferrum, Virginia (Franklin County) in 1939. Raymond Sloan organized this meeting, as a fellow musician of Peg, and employee of the WPA writer's project. Listen: http://dla.acaweb.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/Ferrum/id/1667/rec/5 Hatcher: "I learned this piece from my older brother about 35 or 40 years ago."
1. Curs-ed be thou salt sea man,
Curs-ed be his life;
For the robbing of the house carpenter,
And taking away his wife.
2. Come in, come in, my own true love
And sit right here by me;
For it's been three quarters of a year or more,
Since I spoke one word to thee.
3. If you will forsake your house carpenter,
And go along with me;
I'll carry you to where the grass grows green,
On the banks of Sweet Ulley."
4. If I should forsake my house carpenter
And go along with you,
What have you there to support me on,
And keep me from slavery?
5 Six ships was out on the ocean dear
And they all lined with gold
Before you should suffer my darling girl
I would have them anchored and sold
6. She hadn't been there a week or two,
I'm sure it couldn't been three,
Before that ship she sprang a leak,
And she wept most bitterly.