The Mermaid: Forget-Me-Not Songster (NY) c1842 Nafis & Cornish; Barry D
[From The Forget Me Not Songster: Containing a choice collection of old ballad songs as sung by our grandmothers; c. 1842; Nafis & Cornish 87 Pearl Street NY.
Barry includes this text as his D version from the Forget-me-not Songster (Locke, Boston, about 1840). This edition was probably printed two years earlier but has the same text. As Barry has pointed out, Child's D b version, a broadside by Such, is very similar or the basis for the Forget-Me-Not Songster version (see below a bottom of this page.)
The extent of this and other print versions on tradition in the US is unknown. Barry for one, debunks the idea (fostered by Cox and Makenzie) that because a version of it was included in the Carmina Collegensia (a book of college songs), The Mermaid was a popular college song.
R. Matteson 2014]
THE MERMAID.
One Friday morning we set sail,
And when not far from land,
We all espied a fair Mermaid,
With a comb and glass in her hand
The stormy winds they did blow
And the raging seas they did roar.
The sailors on the deck did go,
And wished themselves on shore.
Then spoke a boy of our gallant ship,
And a good lad was he,
My parents in fair Portsmouth town,
This night will weep for me.
Then spoke a man of our good ship,
No braver man than he,
I have a wife in fair London town,
Who will a widow be.
Then spoke the captain of our ship,
A valiant man was he,
We want a boat, we shall be drown'd,
Shall founder in the sea.
The moon shone bright, the stars gave light,
My mother looked for me,
She long may weep with watery eyes,
And blame the ruthless sea.
Then three times round went our good ship,
And sank immediately,
Left none to tell the sorrowing tale,
Of our brave company.
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THE MERMAID- Child's version D b from a broadside printed by Henry Parker Such (Last verse from a Birt broadside)
1 On Friday morning as we set sail,
It was not far from land,
O there I espy'd a fair pretty girl,
With the comb and the glass in her hand.
O the stormy winds they did blow,
And the raging seas did roar,
While we poor sailors go up to the top,
And the land-lubbers lie down below.
2 Then up spoke a boy of our gallant ship,
And a well-spoken boy was he;
'I've a father and mother in fair Portsmouth town,
And this night they will weep for me.'
3 Then up spoke a man of our gallant ship,
And a well-spoken man was he;
'I have married a wife in fair London town,
And this night a widow she shall be.'
4 Then up spoke the captain of our gallant ship,
And a valiant man was he;
'For want of a long-boat we shall all be drowned,'
So she sunk to the bottom of the sea.
5 The moon shone bright, and the stars gave light,
And my mother is looking for me;
She might look, she might weep, with watery eyes,
She might look to the bottom of the sea.
A broadside by Birt, otherwise like Such's, adds:
Three times round went our gallant ship,
And three times round went she;
Three times round went our gallant ship,
Then she sunk to the bottom of the sea.
British Museum, 11621. k. 5 (167).