One Ship Lined In Gold- Brewer (AR) 1964 Parler
[From: Ozark Folk Song Collection- Reel 431 Item 10.
Listen: http://digitalcollections.uark.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/OzarkFolkSong/id/2327/rec/18
Collected by Sue Jackson for M.C. Parler. Transcribed by Linda Humphrey. This version starts off with text from the folk song, "Ten Thousand Miles" which is then skillfully connected to the story
R. Matteson 2016]
One Ship Lined In Gold -- Sung by Mrs. Pearl Brewer Ravenden Springs, Ark. Feb. 1, 1964
One morning in May he told his true love
I must sail away for a while,
But I'm not a-going so far but what I'll come back again
If I go ten thousand miles.
For many long years she waited for him,
And many a tear she shed,
Not one word from him did she hear,
So she thought he must be dead.
Many moons had passed when he rode into town,
Called on his bride-to-be;
When he found she had married another man,
And him she would not see.
Though he came back from time to time,
Said he had to see her once more;
At last one day with her babe in her arms,
She met him at the door.
He said, My dearest own true love,
Come sail away with me;
I have one ship all lined with gold,
And seven more at sea.
She held close her tender little babe
And kisses gave it three,
Saying, Stay here, stay here, my tender little babe
To keep your father company.
They hadn't been on ship but about three days
Till she wished to be at home;
She would not eat! she grew very pale;
She would only weep and mourn.
What are you weeping for? Your house carpenter?
Are you weeping for your store?
Are you weeping for you tender little babe
That you left on yonders shore?
I'm neither weeping for my house carpenter
Nor neither for my store;
I'm weeping for my tender little babe
That I never shall see anymore.
They hadn't been on ship but about three weeks,
I'm sure it wasn't four,
When the boat sprang a leak in the bottom of the deck,
And her mourning[1] was heard no more.
1. "moaning" but "mourning" is a standard