The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #25974 Message #972850
Posted By: Skipper Jack
26-Jun-03 - 02:27 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: The Lady Maria (Dave Robinson)
Subject: Lyr Add: THE LADY MARIA (Dave Robinson)
Joe,
According to the records The Maria Asumpta was constructed on a sandy Mediterranean beach at Badalona near Barcelona by Nicolas Pica for Jose Isern of Masnou. She was fitted out in Barcelona and sailed for Buenos Aries soon after with a crew of twelve. She was originally named Maria Asunta (the spelling was later changed to Asumpta).
So here is the full version of the song:
THE LADY MARIA
(Dave Robinson)
The Maria started her life in Badalona
In the great days of sail in '58.
In a hundred and thirty years and seven,
In her favourite bay, she met her sad fate.
Chorus:-
The Maria Asumpta, a grand old lady.
The sea has now claimed her and sad was the day.
This lady of Spain had sailed in from Swansea,
At Rump's Point she foundered in old Padstow Bay.
Cargo she carried from Buenos Aries to Cuba,
Barcelona to Palma, Oran and Tangier,
And she was passed on from owner to owner.
In the year 1980, her end it seemed near.
The beautiful brig was to be a film star,
But alas for the Maria, it proved not to be
And she was left lying in the port of Malaga,
To be burnt and her ashes cast out on the sea.
But the lady was rescued and restored in her finery
To gracefully sail on the oceans again.
With her square-rigged sails, white on the water,
Once again proud was this lady of Spain.
On every quayside her admirers would flock,
To gaze on the grand old lady with awe.
Shantymen sang on her scrubbed timbered decks,
Songs she may have heard in the years gone before.
But now on the rocks, between Rump's Point and Pentire
The Lady Maria has a watery grave.
Anne Taylor, John Shannon and Emily MacFarlane
Were lost with The Lady, dashed by the cruel waves.
No more will she grace the ports that embraced her.
No more will she sail all on the wild sea.
But the Lady Maria will ne'er be forgotten
By those who sailed with her and landsmen like me.
There might be one or two differences from the original. But I have included the "first impression" along with the amendment to the last two verses.
The tune is self composed and if you can tell me how to post it on the thread, I will do so.
Many thaks for your interest in this song.
Dave R.