From G. Malcolm Laws, Native American Balladry (1950, pp. 147-148):

C8
LOST JIMMIE WHALEN

The grieving girl calls for her drowned sweetheart to rise from his grave. He comes from the waters "a vision of splendor" to see her once more. When she begs him to stay, he replies that Death keeps them apart, but he will try to guard her from danger. He vanishes and she is left alone.

As lonely I strayed by the banks of the river,
I was watching the sunbeams as evening drew nigh;
As onward I rambled, I spied a fair damsel;
She was weeping and wailing with many a sigh.
...........................................
As she sank down on the ground she was standing,
With the deepest of sorrow these words she did say,
"My darling," she cried, "O my lost Jimmie Whalen,
I will sigh till I die by the side of your grave!"

Barry, 12--13, II d. sts. m. (Me.) Stanzas I and II are given above. Reprinted from Bulletin no. II, 4--5.
Bulletin no. II (1936), 5--6, 13 sts. (Me.)
Beck, 117--118, 6 sts. and chorus (Mich. "Jimmie Whalen's Girl").
RIckaby, 24, a fragment of 3 sts. (Mich.)
L. C. Records 3287 A I (Wis.) and 2412 AI & B2 (Mich.) "The Lost Jimmie Whalen".

It is possible that this beautiful Irish ballad originated in America. Barry reports that it was sung in the Maine woods in 1886 and 1894, and says, "No trace of this ballad exists in old country tradition". He describes its background as "Irish folk-tradition, grounded in that rich bed of synthetic mythology which should not longer pass for authentic Celtic", (See Bulletin no. II (1936), 4--7. This and the preceding ballad [C7: "James Whalen"] presumably refer to the same tragedy.