The Mermaid- Dusenbury (AR) 1936 Randolph B
[From Randolph's Ozark Folk Songs 1938 and recorded by LOC (Child Ballads- Bronson editor) in 1936. Bronson's notes are below. The contention that this is a comic ballad came from Gummere in 1907 and has been perpetuated in several books (Bronson comments on this). The title may have been assigned of perhaps Dusenbury knew it but she does not sing Mermaid in the ballad.
The first stanza should be changed into four lines, I'm leaving it.
1. As I sailed out one Friday night,
Was not far from land,
When I spied a pretty girl a-combing up her hair
With a comb and a glass in her hand.
Randolph has
1. As I sailed out one Friday night,
I was not far from land,
When I spied a pretty girl a-combing up her hair
With a comb and a glass in her hand.
There have been several other versions that sing, "landlord" in the last line of the chorus. It's a corruption of landsmen. "Mask" is of course, "mast."
R. Matteson 2014]
THE MERMAID (Child No. 289) Sung by Mrs. Emma Dusenbury near Mena, Arkansas, 1936. Recorded by Sidney Robertson Cowell and Laurence Powell.
At the age of 17, the late Mrs. Emma Dusenbury had set out to learn all the songs in the world. Discovering that "people keeps a-makin' songs," she was finally obliged to abandon the project, but not before amassing a remarkably large repertoire. Through the efforts of collectors Laurence Powell and Sidney Robertson Cowell, the old blind lady in a small Ozark village enriched the Archive of Folk Song by 125 valuable songs and ballads. Child found no source for "The Mermaid" earlier than the mid-eighteenth century Glasgow Lasses Garland, although sailors' superstitions regarding the sighting of a mermaid and setting sail on a Friday are ancient. Much of the song's American perpetuation has been in comic and other popular printed forms. A list of some songsters and collegiate songbooks in which it appeared during the last century is given. on page 172 of John Harrington Cox's Folk-Songs of the South (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1925). "Mask" and "landlord" are not unreasonable substitutes for the nautical terms intended when Mrs. Dusenbury's landlocked environment is taken into consideration. When Mr. Powell asked what the landlord was doing on board ship, Mrs. Dusenbury replied "Sleepin', I reckon." (Cf. Vance Randolph's Ozark Folksongs (Columbia, Missouri State Historical Society, 1946; vol. X, p. 203).
1. As I sailed out one Friday night, was not far from land,
When I spied a pretty girl a-combing up her hair
With a comb and a glass in her hand.
Chorus: And the sea is a-roar, roar, roar,
And the stormy winds may blow,
While us poor sailor boys are climbing up the mask, [1]
And the landlord [2] a-lying down below.
2. Up stepped the captain of our gallant ship,
A well spoken captain was he,
Saying we're all lost for the want of a boat,
And will sink to the bottom of the sea. Chorus.
3. Up stepped the mate of our gallant ship,
A well spoken mate was he,
Saying we're all lost for the want of a boat,
And will sink to the bottom of the sea. Chorus.
4. I have a wife and children three,
This night they're looking for me,
They may look, they may wait till the cold water rise,
They may look to the bottom of the sea. Chorus.
5. I have a mother and sisters three,
This night they're waiting for me,
They may look, they may wait till the cold water rise,
They may look to the bottom of the sea. Chorus.
1. mast
2. landsmen; landlubbers;
----------------------
X:289.40
T:The Mermaid
C:Sung by Emma Dusenbury 1936
I:abc2nwc
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:F
G2G A B2(B A)|G2c2c3"^|"c|
d2d (d f2)d|c6"^|"d d|
f2A A B2B A|G2A2B2c3"^|"c|
d2d2B2A A|G8|B3B A2B A|G2G2G2"^|"B c|
d3d f2d2|c6"^|"d d|
f2A2B B B A|G2(A B) c2"^|"c c|
d2d2B2A A|G8