The Ship's Carpenter- Edwards (VT) 1940s Cazden
[From: Folk Songs of the Catskills, Norman Cazden, Herbert Haufrecht and Norman Studer; 1984.
According to Norman Cazden George Edwards was from Sullivan County, along the Beaverkill. He lived in Grahamsville and in Roscoe. He was born March 31, 1877, in Hasbrouck, died in 1949. (This is not George edwards from Vermont, an informant of Flanders). This version was collected c. 1941.
R. Matteson 2013]
The Ship's Carpenter- George Edwards c. 1941
"It's pretty well met to my own true love,
It's pretty well met," says he,
"It's pretty well met to my own true love,
Long time I've waited for thee, O thee,
A long time I've waited for thee."
"I'm married to a house carpenter,
And a jolly house carpenter is he;
By him I have two [three] little babes,
And I can't belong with thee, O thee,
I can't belong with thee.
["If I forsake my husband
And my children three,]
What have you to keep me on,
For to keep me from slavery, O ry,
For to keep me from slavery?"
"I have ships all on yonder sea,
Sailing from sea to dry land;
Besides I have three hundred twenty sailor lads,
They'll be at your command, O mand,
They'll be at your command."
She dress-ed herself in richery attire,
And so gaily where she did dress;
She went a-walkin' up and down the deck
With her dress all glittering gold, O gold,
With her dress all glittering gold.
They hadn't sailed much more than two weeks,
Two weeks had scarce come, and three,
Before she was heard to cry on deck
And to weep most bitterly, O ly,
And to weep most bitterly.
"Do you weep for gold," says he,
"Or do you weep for fee?
Or do you weep for the house carpenter
That you left when you came along with me, O me,
That you left when you came along with me?"
"I don't weep for gold," she says,
"Nor do I weep for fee,
Nor do I weep for the house carpenter
That I left when I came along with thee, O thee,
That I left when I came along with thee.
"But if I was worth ten thousand pounds,
So freely I'd give it to thee
If I could once more go on yonder shore
My two [three] little babes to see, O see,
My two [three] little babes to see."
They hadn't sailed much more than three weeks,
Three weeks, scarce coming four,
Before there was a leak spring up on their deck,
And her cries were heard no more, O more,
And her cries were heard no more.
Three times around went our gallant ship,
Three times around went she,
Three times around went our gallant ship,
And she sunk to the bottom of the sea, O sea,
And she sunk to the bottom of the sea.
May a curse be onto the ship's carpenter,
May a curse do them for life,
May a curse be onto the ship's carpenter,
To persuade away another man's wife, O wife,
To persuade away another man's wife.