Pretty Mermaidens- Sullivan (VT) 1932 Flanders A
[My title, no title supplied. Using this as a case in point, if the informant calls them "mermaidens" then the title can't be "mermaids." Most informants unless they study the ballad, do not know the proper Child name-- and certainly they would not call a ballad 'The Mermaid" if there wasn't even a mention of a "mermaid" in the text anywhere (unless the person they got it from told them the title). Too often titles are assigned by collectors because they know the name of the ballad.
From Flanders; Ancient Ballads; 1966; Her E version dated 1904 was already printed by Barry in the JAFL. Notes are by Coffin although they may be by Flanders in this case. She refers to Sharp 1 (as in first edition) but it should be Sharp 2 (the 1932 edition).
R. Matteson Jr. 2014]
The Mermaid
(Child 289)
It is an established belief among sailors that it is unhappy to sail on Friday and that mermaids both bode bad weather and lead ships to destruction. The ship in "The Mermaid" is therefore doomed. It goes down, carrying the crew to Davy Jones's locker. In Child's A text, the tragedy of the voyage is retained, though a bit sentimentally; however, in the Child B-D series the mood lightens and nobody seems to care very much. American versions, with their "stormy winds" refrain, follow this B-D tradition and are generally close to print and full of spirit. This is undoubtedly because of the popularity of the ballad in college songbooks and in the music halls of Britain and America during the last 150 years. See Coffin, 158, for a start on the extensive bibliography to such material. He also gives references to the game-song and play-party uses to which the ballad has been put. Dean Smith, 88, and Belden, 101 (English), and Greig and Keith, 242, and Ord , 333-4 (Scottish) include British citations. Coffin, 157, gives a list of texts from oral tradition in America. The Flanders material and all but one of the versions referred to there are much alike.
The three tunes for Child 289 are related, but fairly distantly.
A. [Pretty Mermaidens] Mrs. Ellen A. Sullivan, of Springfield, Vermont, remembered this song. H. H. F., Collector; August 15, 1932.
Structure: A B c D (4,4,4,4); Rhythm C and D but divergent; Contour: undulating; Scale: major t.c. A flat. For mel. rel. see DV, 602, No. 48 B; Sharp 1, 293 C and D.
One Friday morning as we set sail,
For Lisbon we were bound--
The hills and dales were lost to view,
With pretty mermaidens 'round.
Refrain: And the stormy winds do blow,
And the raging seas do roar
And we poor sailors are bound for the top
While the landsmen do lie down below down
Then out spoke the capting [1] of our gallant ship,
No braver man could be,
Saying, "I have a wife in Dublintown
Who this night a widow will be."
(Repeat refrain after each stanza)
Then out spoke a boy of our gallant ship,
And a gallant lad was he,
Saying, "I've got a mother in Dublintown
Who this night will look for me."
Out spoke the cook of our gallant ship,
And a very good cook was he;
Saying, "I care more for my kettles and my pans
Than all of the depths of the sea."
Then out spoke the mate of our gallant ship,
And a gallant man was he,
Saving, "I have a sweetheart in Dublintown
Who tonight will weep for me."
And three times around went our gallant ship,
And three times around went she;
Then three times around went our gallant ship
And she sank to the depths of the sea.