The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #98805 Message #1972099
Posted By: GEST
18-Feb-07 - 08:23 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Newfoundland Mermaid song
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Newfoundland Mermaid song
Catherine ~
According to The Ballad Index, it appears your mother's "mermaid" song is a variant of The Sailor and His Bride which was collected by Kenneth Peacock from Charlotte Decker in Parson's Pond, NL, and published with the title Early Spring in Peacock's Songs of The Newfoundland Outports. Peacock noted that it was a variant of The Young Bride's Lament, and "Aunt" Decker learned it from her mother ca.1890 when she was six years old. :)