Lyr. Add: JIMMIE WHALEN'S GIRL
Sung by Tom Dunn

1
Onward I strayed by the banks of a river,
Viewing the sunbeams as evening drew nigh.
As onward I rambled I spied a fair maiden
Weeping and wailing with many a sigh.

Chorus-
Weeping for one that is now lying lonely,
Weeping for one that no earthly one could save,
For the dark rolling waters went madly around him,
And the grass now grows green over poor Jimmie's grave.

2
"Jimmie," she cried, "won't you come to my arms?"
"Jimmie, she cried, "won't you come from your grave?"
You promised this evening to meet me, my darling,
But Death's cruel angels have stole you away."
3
Slowly there rose from the depths of the water
A vision of beauty as bright as the sun.
Bows of sweet crimson, they shone bright around them,
And to this fair maiden to speak he began.
4
"Why have you called me from realms of glory
Back to this world I soon had to leave?
To see you again I've come to you, darling;
I came back to you from my cold silent grave.
5
"Cold was the fight on the cold Mississippi;
The water encircled me on every side;
Thinking of you I encountered it bravely,
Hoping in vain that you'd be my bride."
6
"Oh, Jimmie, " she cried, "won't you linger here with me?
Do not desert me in grief for to rave.
Take me, oh, take me along with you , darling;
I'll lie down beside you in your cold silent grave."

A companion to "Jimmie Whalen."
No. 79, pp. 229-230; no musical score.
E. C. Beck, 1948, Lore of the Lumber Camps, University of Michigan Press.

Rickaby published a fragment collected in Michigan.