Looks like we haven't had that one posted before. The Traditional Ballad Index links it to "Meet Me Tonight in the Moonlight" Here are the lyrics from Belden.

BEAUTIFUL LIGHT O'ER THE SEA

I was out last night a-drinking,
I was out the night before,
But if I ever get sober
I'll never get drunk any more.

Chorus:
Beautiful light o'er the sea, o'er the sea,
O beautiful light o'er the sea,
O beautiful light o'er the sea, o'er the sea,
There's someone waiting for me.

I wish I had the wings of an angel,
The voice of annovling* dove,
I'd sail this wide world over
And sail to the one that I love.

I wish I had someone to love me,
Someone to call me their own,
Someone to guide and protect me,
Someone to see me safe home.

*So in the MS. I have no suggestion to offer.


"Beautiful Light o'er the Sea." From the MS ballad-book of Ada Belle Cowden of Woodlandville, Boone County.

Belden's notes: I have not found this maudlin effusion elsewhere, unless it is to be considered a form of 'The Prisoner's Song,' for which see BSSNS 303, MAFLS XXIX 49.

from Ballads and Songs Collected by the Missouri Folk-Lore Society, edited by H.M. Belden., Second Edition (1955), page 494