House Carpenter- Nye (KY) c.1937 REC Lomax
[From: Library of Congress: Captain Pearl R. Nye Collection online; recording AFS 1001 A1.
The House Carpenter by Captain Pearl R. Nye has a very unusual concluding stanza. He got many of his songs on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River, not sure the exact location he learned this ballad, so I put KY. Following is some information on Captain Pearl R. Nye Collection from the LOC.
R .Matteson 2013]
Captain Pearl R. Nye: Life on the Ohio and Erie Canal captures the culture and music of the men, women, and children who worked and lived along the Ohio and Erie Canal. Nye, who was born and raised on a canal boat, never lost his love of the "Big Ditch." After the canal closed permanently in 1913, he devoted considerable time and energy to preserving its songs and stories.
This presentation contains recordings of 75 songs, sung by Nye. The recordings were made by John, Alan, and Elizabeth Lomax, and Ivan Walton between June 1937 and September 1938. Lyrics for the recorded songs have been transcribed by Library staff and are available on the Web site as are song transcriptions, photographs, and personal letters Nye sent to the Library from July 1937 to October 1944.
An Informant in Search of a Collector: Captain Pearl R. Nye of Ohio:
Captain Nye demonstrates, as perhaps no other informant yet studied does, these factors in the survival and transmission of traditional oral literature. His family constituted a homogeneous group in itself. Born on the boat, "Reform," on February 5, 1872, he was one of eighteen children, the 15th child, the 9th boy. His father's boat, he reports, was known up and down the Canal as "Bill Nye's Circus" or "Bill Nye's Orphan Home," and it was a boat on which singing was a common pastime, both within the family group and at Canal gatherings.
Listen: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/afcnyebib:@field(DOCID+@lit(afcnye000146))
House Carpenter (AFS 1001 A1) sung by Captain Pearl R. Nye; 1937
Well met, well met, my own true love,
Well met well met says he.
I just returned from the saltwater sea,
And it's all for the love of thee.
And it's all for the love of thee.
I might have married a king's daughter fair,
If she would have married me.
But I have forsaken all the crowns of gold,
And it's all for the love of thee.
And it's all for the love of thee.
If you could have married a king's daughter fair,
I am sure you are much for to blame.
For I have married a house carpenter,
And I think he's a nice young man.
And I think he's a nice young man.
If you will leave your house carpenter,
And go along with me.
I'll take you where the grass grows, grows green,
On the shores of Italy.
On the shores of Italy.
I have seven ships a lying in port,
And seven more out on sea.
One hundred forty bay sailor men,
And all for the love of thee.
And all for the love of thee.
Oh, then she called her little babe,
And kisses gave it three.
Saying stay at home my little dear,
Keep your father's company.
Keep your father's company.
Then she prepared for the trip,
She dressed in the richest attire.
And as she walked the streets alone,
Everyone did her admire.
Everyone did her admire.
She had not been at sea three weeks,
I'm sure it was not four.
Until she began to weep alas,
And wept most bitter and sore.
And wept most bitter and sore.
Is it for my gold you weep,
Or is it for my friend.
Or is it for your house carpenter,
You'll never see anymore.
You'll never see anymore.
It's neither for your gold I weep,
Or neither for my friends.
It is for my dear little babe,
That I never can see anymore.
That I never can see anymore.
The gallant ship she sprang a leak,
As she sailed those urging sea.
And sank beneath the stormy waves,
And never more to be.
And never more to be.
No matter how high a bird may fly,
It must come down for to drink.
The deeds we sow into harvest grow,
Lord help us to stop and think.
Lord help us to stop and think.