Origins: Maid on the shore (new version?)

Subject: Origins: Maid on the shore (new version?)
From: GUEST,Steph
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 08:10 PM

I've been looking for the origins of a song I know as "Maid on the Shore". It's not the same lyrics or theme as those in the DT so I'm hoping someone recognises it. All I know about it is that the singer learnt it from someone in Donegal.


As I stood and I gazed on a maid of sixteen,
by the woodlands she wandered far and wide;
and by an old tree she laid down to rest
with a gay gallant duke by her side.

Ref:
Will you meet me tonight love, my darling my dear,
our meetings are not long o'er,
and if you love me as true as you once said you'd do,
will you meet me tonight by the shore.

But early that evening the big ship set sail,
and she floundered on the rocks in despair.
As he drowned he dreamed of him true love on shore,
and many times he wished he was there.

Refrain

Later that evening, when all the world at rest,
twas bravely she wandered out the door.
With her cloak in her hand she made for the strand
where she waited all night on the shore.

Refrain


Cheers!

Subject: RE: Origins: Maid on the shore (new version?)
From: Lighter
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 08:17 PM

A different song entirely, despite the appearance of "maid" and "the shore." The extended refrain puts it in the 19th century parlour song category - but it could have been written at any time since then.

Subject: ADD Version: Gay Spanish Maid
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 08:31 PM

Hi, Steph!
It isn't exactly your song, but try this:

Gay Spanish Maid

A gay Spanish maid at the age of sixteen
Over hills and through valleys she roamed
Where she sat down to rest near a green spreading oak
With her gay gallant youth by her side

"My ship sails tomorrow fair maiden," he said
"And with you I can't roam anymore
And will you tonight when your parents are asleep
Will you meet me tonight by the shore?"

"And when her old parents retired to rest
She slowly crept out the hall door
With her hat in her hand she ran down on the sand
And she met with her love by the shore

"My ship sails tomorrow fair maiden," he said
"And with you I can't roam anymore
l will leave you in God's care with your parents at home
While I am so far far away."

That night there came on a most terrible storm
And the wind through her rigging it did howl
Not a soul there to cheer her sad aching heart
And our ship she went down in the gale

The pale moon was rising far over the sea
And the skies a d the waters seemed to meet
Not a sound could be heard but the rippling of the waves
Where they rose and they broke at her feet

That night on the billows we were tossed to and fro
Every man his poor life tried to save
Where I swum to a place that got hidden from the wreck
I got saved from a watery grave

It's now I'll return to my own darling Nell
She's the flower of my bosom I adore
Where she died like a rose that got bitten by the frost
When she thought of her love in the gale


Sources: Mercer 124; Laws K16; Leach 16, 18, 66 cf. Fowke 1994: 156 ("The Young Indian Lass" which she claims has been performed as "The Spanish Lass" in Newfoundland sources);   Roud 708

Performed by Ernest Poole

Source: MacEdward Leach and the Songs of Atlantic Canada (click for recording)

---

Here's the entry from the Traditional Ballad Index:

Gay Spanish Maid, A [Laws K16]

DESCRIPTION: The girl bids her lover farewell as he prepares to sail. A storm sinks the ship soon after it starts on its way; the entire crew is killed except her lover, who clings to a plank. She hears that the ship is lost and dies before her lover reaches her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Cox)
KEYWORDS: ship storm death separation love drowning
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,NE,So) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Laws K16, "A Gay Spanish Maid"
Randolph 125, "Gay Spanish Mary" (1 text)
Gardner/Chickering 40, "A Spanish Maid" (1 text plus an excerpt, 2 tunes)
Combs/Wilgus 87, pp. 134-135, "The Spanish Maid" (1 text)
JHCox 115, "A Gay Spanish Maid" (1 text)
DT 560, GAYSPAN
Roud #708
File: LK16

---

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Instructions

The Ballad Index Copyright 2004 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.

---

Folktrax.org lists more-or-less the same sources:

GAY SPANISH MAID, THE - "at the age of sixteen" - LAWS #K-16 ABBB 1957 p148 - ROUD#708 - COX FSOS 1925 p371 George Gregg, WVa 1917 (w/o) - McKENZIE BSSNS 1928 pp104-5 James Campbell (w/o) - CREIGHTON SBNS 1932 pp71-2 Mrs Grantmyre 1929+ - RANDOLPH OFS 1946 1 pp434-5 Mrs Nina May Blake Mo 1929 (w/o) "The GS Mary"

---

The version in the Digital Tradition is from Creighton, Songs and Ballads From Nova Scotia, no.35

Subject: RE: Origins: Maid on the shore (new version?)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 09:07 PM

"Will you meet me tonight on the shore" was sung on the cd "Out of Court" by Maire Ni Chathasaigh and Chris Newman, Old Bridge Music. Haven't heard it myself, so it could be just another "Gay Spanish Maid.,"

Subject: RE: Origins: Maid on the shore (new version?)
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 09:55 PM

Both texts quoted here seem to be forms (quite variant, mind) of the same song (and, as Lighter has already said, nothing at all to do with the other Maid on the Shore). Roud currently lists a fair few examples, all from the USA and Canada.

Subject: RE: Origins: Maid on the shore (new version?)
From: GUEST,Steph
Date: 25 Jan 05 - 04:58 PM

Thanks very much, it has been puzzling me for ages!