The House Carpenter- (New England) pre1945 Flanders C
[From Ancient Ballads III, Flanders; 1963. The Flanders/Coffin notes follow.
This was sent in by an unknown informant, I assume from New England, no date given (pre1963 when Ancient Ballads was printed) and is Flanders C version.
R. Matteson 2013, 2016]
James Harris, or the Daemon Lover
(Child 243)
Behind the sentimental Child A version of this song lies the legend of Jane Reynolds of Plymouth and a sailor, James Harris; who exchanged marriage vows. He was pressed into the service and after three years reported dead. Jane then married a ship carpenter. They lived happily for four years and had children. One night when the carpenter was out, Jane heard a rapping at the window. It was the ghost of Harris come to claim his love. She explained to him what had happened but was willing to follow him off when he promised her great wealth. On shipboard, she began to repent her infidelity, but too late. The ship sank, or at least she was never heard of again. Her bereaved husband later hanged himself.
In America, the supernatural element of the song and the names of the lead characters are not retained. Usually, though not always (see Flanders E1 and E2), the husband is a house, not a ship, carpenter. The action before the arrival of the lover and the suicide of the husband are invariably omitted. This form of the song, which is quite standard throughout the states, can no doubt be laid to the popularity of the song in print, perhaps to the broadside published by De Marsan (see Phillips Barry, British Ballads from Maine, 308-309) about 1860. Most of the texts follow De Marsan's song, which is similar to Child B, rather faithfully, but he probably took his version from established oral tradition. See JAF, XXXV, 347; Belden, 79-80; J. Harrington Cox, Folk Songs of the South (Cambridge, Mass., 1925), 139; and Arthur K. Davis, Traditional Ballads of Virginia (Cambridge, Mass., 1929), 439, tor discussion along this line.
The Flanders A-L texts are of a normal American sort, close to but not exactly like the De Marsan broadside. M, with its retention of the ghostly title, can be compared to Scottish Child D and F. The N1 and N2 "Banks of Claudy" versions represent an unusual line of development. They retain the name of the lover, as well as his ghostly nature, and with the one recorded in Greig and Keith, 196, represent two of the few surviving texts that are not of "The House Carpenter" sort. See Child A, B, C, and F for the miraculous gilded ship.
The song, once common, is now rare in Scotland. However, it survives in England, with a ship carpenter instead of a house carpenter, in a form much like the American. See Dean-Smith, 80, and Belden, 79-80, for references. There are no European analogues to the story, though the motif is not unusual. A Danish tale of a deceitful woman is somewhat like "James Harris." In America, it borrows heavily from many other ballads. See Flanders G; also note the references in Coffin, 140.
The eleven tunes for Child 243 consists of one large group of related tunes and three single, evidently unrelated ones: Wales, Price, and Sullivan. The large group can be subdivided into closely related subgroups as follows: 1) Moses, Richards; 2) Merrill, George; 3); Fish, Degreenia, Mancour; 4) Reynolds. The Wales tune may be related to the large group rather than being independent.
The House Carpenter- Unknown informant (New England) No date given pre1963 Flanders C. Sent anonymously with the comment: "I do not think this has ever been in any book." Copied literatim et punctatim. February, 1945.
"We've met again, my love,
We've met again," said he.
"I'm just across from the salt, salt sea,
And it's all for the love of thee,
And it's all for the love of thee."
"I once could have married a King's daughter fair
I'm sure she'd of married me;
But I have forsaken those crown of gold
And it's all for the love of thee."
"Oh, if you could've married a King's daughter fair
I'm sure you are to blame;
For I have married a house carpenter
And I think he's a nice young man."
"If you will leave your house carpenter
And go along with me
I will take you where the grass grows green
On the banks of the sweet Willee."
"If I would leave my house carpenter
And go along with thee;
What have you got to maintain me on
Or to keep me from slavery?"
"I have three ships all on the sea
A sailing for dry land
Besides twenty boatsmen on each ship
That shall be at your command."
She picked up her sweet little Babe
And gave it kisses three
Saying, "Stay at home, you sweet little Babe
And keep your papa company."
She dressed herself in scarlet red,
And trimmed it off with green
And every station she went through
They took her for some queen.
They had not been sailing more than two weeks
I'm sure it was not three;
Till this fair lady began to weep
And she wept most bitterly.
"Is it for my silver and gold that you weep
Or is it for my store
Or are you weeping for your house carpenter
That you left on the other shore?"
'It is not for your silver and gold that I weep
Neither is it for your store
But I'm weeping for my sweet little Babe
That I never shall see any more."
They hadn't been sailing more than three weeks
I'm sure it was not four
Till there came a leak in the bottom of the ship
And sank to rise no more.
"A curse, a curse, to all mankind
A curse, a curse," said she
"You've taken me from my house carpenter
And now you're drowning me."