House Carpenter- (PA) Broadside circa 1857
[Below is one of the US broadsides, the "Philadelphia" broadside, published in the late 1850s- early 1860s. It can be viewed at Bodleian Broadside collection, with the imprint: J. H. Johnson, Song Publisher, Stationer And Printer, No. 7 N. Tenth Street, 3 doors above Market, Philadelphia, Pa., dated ca1860. It has the same text as the other broadside (DeMarsan) except - the version at the Bodleian has House Carpenter at the end of the very last line, while the DeMarsan broadside has House Carpenters (plural).
The third stanza concludes with "On the banks of old Tennessee."
In his article "The Ballad of the Demon Lover" in Modern Language Notes, Vol. 19, No. 8 (Dec., 1904), Phillips Barry gives Child's information, showing the date of this broadside ballad to be 1857 or thereabout.
R. Matteson 2013]
(Barry) THE BALLAD OF THE DEMON LOVER. A lost version of this ballad, recently recovered by me from a rare broadside, may now be added to the eight versions in Professor Child's collection (vol. IIII, p. 361). In his introduction Professor Child says: " An Americanized version of this ballad was printed not very long ago at Philadelphia, under the title of The House Carpenter. I have been able to secure only two stanzas, which were cited in Graham's Illustrated Magazine for September, 1858:
"I might have married the king's daughter, dear,"
" You might have married her," cried she,
"For I'm married to a house-carpenter,
And a fine young man is he."
"Oh dry up your tears, my own true love,
And cease your weeping," cried he,
"For soon you'll see your own happy home
On the banks of old Tennessee."
These stanzas correspond to stanzas 2 and 10 of the ballad as printed. The broadside, printed by H. De Marsan, New York, is to be found in a miscellaneous collection of American street songs and ballads in the possession of the American Antiquarian Society, at Worcester, Mass.
Original text from Graham's Illustrated Magazine for September, 1858:
The Demon Lover, originally first printed in Minstrelsy of the Border, and Motherwell's Minstrelsy, is also reprinted in Philadelphia in a penny "broadside," but in a greatly corrupted form, it being here called The House Carpenter. If the reader has the best edition of Percy's Relics—that published by F. Bell, (over Thomas & Sons auction store, Phila.,) be will find the original. Some of the chunges from it in the American penny version are very strange. The following verse is from the original:
"I might have had a king's daughter,
Far, far beyond the sea;
I might have had a king's daughter,
Had it not been for love o' thee."
Compare the following from the American version.
"I might have married the king's daughter, dear,"
"You might have married her,'' cried she,
"For I am married to a House Carpenter,
And a fine young man is he."
Original version. 14 stanza.
"Oh hold your tongne of your weeping," says he.
"Of your weeping now let me be;
I will show you how tin- lilies grow
On the banks of Italy."
American version;
"Oh dry up your tears, my own true love,
And cease your weeping," cried he;
"For soon you'll see your own happy home,
On the banks of old Tennessee."
Notwithstanding the great deviations from the text in these American Old English penny hallads, we are certain that they contain fragments of the original versions which have escaped English editors.
HOUSE CARPENTER
"Well met, well met, my own true love,
Well met, well met," cried he--
"For I've just returned from the Salt Sea,
All for the love of thee."
"I might have married the King's daughter, dear,"
"You might have married her," cried she--
"For I am married to a House Carpenter.
And a fine young man is he."
"If you will forsake your House Carpenter,
And go along with me,
I will take you where the grass grows high.
On the banks of old Tennessee."
"If I forsake my House Carpenter,
And go long with thee,
What have you go to keep me upon,
And keep me from misery?"
Says he, "I've got six ships at sea,
All sailing to dry land,
One hundred and ten of your own countrymen,
Love, they shall be at your command."
She took her babe upon her knee,
And kissed it one, two, or three,
Saying, "stay at home, my darling sweet babe,
And keep your father's company."
They had not sailed four weeks or more,
Four weeks or scarcely three,
When she thought of her darling sweet babe at home,
And she wept most bitterly.
Says he, "are you weeping for gold my love,
Or are you weeping for fear,
Or are you weeping for your House Carpenter,
That you left and followed me."
"I am not weeping for gold," she replied,
"Nor am I weeping for fear,
But I am weeping alone for my sweet little babe,
That I left with my House Carpenter."
"Oh, dry up your tears my own true love,
And cease your weeping," cried he,
"For soon you'll see your own happy home.
On the banks of old Tennessee."
They had not sailed five weeks or more,
Five weeks, or scarcely four,
When the ship struck a rock and sprung a leak,
And they were never seen any more.
A curse be on the sea-faring men,
Oh, cursed be their lives,
For while they are robbing the House Carpenter,
And coaxing away their wives.