The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #19422   Message #1115154
Posted By: Joe Offer
13-Feb-04 - 01:53 AM
Thread Name: Penguin: The Mermaid
Subject: ADD: Oh, the Lamp Burns Dimly Down Below
Yes, Q, the two versions from Brown are quite interesting.
-Joe Offer-


Oh, the Lamp Burns Dimly Down Below

1. The first to come up was the captain of the ship,
And a brave old tar was he.
Says he, 'I've a wife in Merrie England;
This night she is watching for me.'
Oh, the lamps burn dimly down below, down below.
Oh, the lamps burn dimly down below.


2. The next to come up was the captain's first mate,
And a brave young man was he.
Says he, 'I've a sweetheart in Merrie England;
This night she is waiting for me.'

3. The next to come up was the little cabin boy,
And a brave young lad was he.
Says he, 'I've a mother in Merrie England;
This night she is praying for me.'

4. The last to come up was the greasy old cook,
And a brave old tar was he.
Says he, 'All my pots and all my kettles too
Have gone to the bottom of the sea.'


Version 48A, Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore
'Oh, the Lamp Burns Dimly Down Below.' Contributed by Miss Amy Henderson of Worry, Burke County, in 1914. The refrain, which clearly derives from the more familiar form, is without parallel, except in a fragment in the Virginia collection (TBV 528).