Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
The House Carpenter / The Ship Carpenter / James Harris / The Daemon Lover (Child No. 243) - Sung by Mrs. Victoria Shifflett Morris (s.p Shiflett) (1895–1964) of Mount Fair, Albemarle County, Virginia, USA. Recorded by Arthur Kyle Davis Jr. on March 10, 1933.
00:00:00 The House Carpenter - Victoria Shifflett Morris
00:03:37 The House Carpenter - Robert Shiflett
An excellent article by Mike Yates on Cecil Sharp's and Maud Karpeles' Appalachia trip in the 1910s can be read here: mustrad.org.uk/articles/sharp.htm
A selection of 1930s phonograph recordings made by folklorist Arthur Kyle Davis Jr. (1897–1972) of Virginia ballad singers has been digitised and made available for listening online: https://avalon.lib.virginia.edu/collections/7m01bk901
We get a chance to listen to some of the very same people Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles met and noted songs from in the 1910s.
The audio quality of these recordings is relatively poor, being made with portable equipment at that time, but the songs are interesting and worthy of attention. I had the idea of creating small compilations of related versions of each song for these videos. This is because I noticed that I often had more than one recording of each song available from singers who were related or lived in the same area.
Arthur K. Davis Jr. published the hundreds of Virginia ballads he collected in two books, "Folk-Songs of Virginia" (1949), and "More Traditional Ballads of Virginia" (1960) with the editorial assistance of Paul Clayton Worthington.
Note by Kevin W.:
A traditional Virginia version of The House Carpenter (Child 243). American texts of this ballad are often quite mundane, but they are sung to remarkably attractive tunes. The supernatural elements of Scottish texts are absent in US versions which appear to be derived from the English Ship Carpenter form of the ballad.
Compare Child 243, Version B, "The Distressed Ship - Carpenter" from The Rambler's Garland (1785): http://71.174.62.16/Demo/LongerHarvest?Text=Child_d24302
As with Young Hunting (Child 68) I wonder if the elaborate supernatural elements of a demon with cloven feet have been grafted onto the song by literary Scottish poets at a later date. The only trace of the supernatural found in US texts is a picturesque mention of the Hills of Heaven and Hell.
George Foss' account of the Brown's Cove, Albemarle County singers is well worth a read: klein-shiflett.com/shifletfamily/HHI/GeorgeFoss/whall.html
Song transcription:
"We have met, we have met, my own true love,"
"Well met, well met," said she.
"I have late-lie returned from the salt water sea,
And it's all for the sake of thee.
"I coulda married the king's daughter dear,
And she woulda married me,
But all the crowns of gold I refused,
And it's all for the sake of thee."
"If you coulda married the king's daughter dear,
I am sure you were to blame,
For I am married to a house carpenter,
And they say he's a fine young man."
"Will you forsake on your house carpenter,
And go along with me?
I will take you where the grass grows green,
On the banks of Sweet Willie."
"What do you have to maintain me on,
To keep me from starving?" said she.
"I have a hundred ships on the ocean a-sailin'
And a-sailin' for dry land,
And a hundred and ten of the nicest waiting men,
Shall be at your command."
She picked up her tender little baby,
And the kisses she did give it were three,
"Stay at home, stay at home, my tender little thing,
And keep your papa's company."
She hadn't been a-sailing on the sea two weeks,
I'm sure it were not three.
Before this poor damsel begin for to weep,
And she wept most bitterly.
"Are you a-weepin' for my silver?" says he,
Or are you weepin' for my gold?
Or are you a-weepin' for your house carpenter,
For you'll never see no more?"
"I'm not a-weepin' for your silver," said she,
Nor neither for your gold.
I am weeping for my tender little baby,
That I'll never see no more."
She hadn't been a-sailin' on the sea three weeks,
I'm sure it were not four,
Before this vessel sprung a leakin' floor,
And it sank to rise no more.
The House Carpenter / The Ship Carpenter / James Harris / The Daemon Lover (Child No. 243) - Sung by Mrs. Victoria Shifflett Morris (s.p Shiflett) (1895–1964) of Mount Fair, Albemarle County, Virginia, USA. Recorded by Arthur Kyle Davis Jr. on March 10, 1933.
00:00:00 The House Carpenter - Victoria Shifflett Morris
00:03:37 The House Carpenter - Robert Shiflett
An excellent article by Mike Yates on Cecil Sharp's and Maud Karpeles' Appalachia trip in the 1910s can be read here: mustrad.org.uk/articles/sharp.htm
A selection of 1930s phonograph recordings made by folklorist Arthur Kyle Davis Jr. (1897–1972) of Virginia ballad singers has been digitised and made available for listening online: https://avalon.lib.virginia.edu/collections/7m01bk901
We get a chance to listen to some of the very same people Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles met and noted songs from in the 1910s.
The audio quality of these recordings is relatively poor, being made with portable equipment at that time, but the songs are interesting and worthy of attention. I had the idea of creating small compilations of related versions of each song for these videos. This is because I noticed that I often had more than one recording of each song available from singers who were related or lived in the same area.
Arthur K. Davis Jr. published the hundreds of Virginia ballads he collected in two books, "Folk-Songs of Virginia" (1949), and "More Traditional Ballads of Virginia" (1960) with the editorial assistance of Paul Clayton Worthington.
Note by Kevin W.:
A traditional Virginia version of The House Carpenter (Child 243). American texts of this ballad are often quite mundane, but they are sung to remarkably attractive tunes. The supernatural elements of Scottish texts are absent in US versions which appear to be derived from the English Ship Carpenter form of the ballad.
Compare Child 243, Version B, "The Distressed Ship - Carpenter" from The Rambler's Garland (1785): http://71.174.62.16/Demo/LongerHarvest?Text=Child_d24302
As with Young Hunting (Child 68) I wonder if the elaborate supernatural elements of a demon with cloven feet have been grafted onto the song by literary Scottish poets at a later date. The only trace of the supernatural found in US texts is a picturesque mention of the Hills of Heaven and Hell.
George Foss' account of the Brown's Cove, Albemarle County singers is well worth a read: klein-shiflett.com/shifletfamily/HHI/GeorgeFoss/whall.html
Song transcription:
"We have met, we have met, my own true love,"
"Well met, well met," said she.
"I have late-lie returned from the salt water sea,
And it's all for the sake of thee.
"I coulda married the king's daughter dear,
And she woulda married me,
But all the crowns of gold I refused,
And it's all for the sake of thee."
"If you coulda married the king's daughter dear,
I am sure you were to blame,
For I am married to a house carpenter,
And they say he's a fine young man."
"Will you forsake on your house carpenter,
And go along with me?
I will take you where the grass grows green,
On the banks of Sweet Willie."
"What do you have to maintain me on,
To keep me from starving?" said she.
"I have a hundred ships on the ocean a-sailin'
And a-sailin' for dry land,
And a hundred and ten of the nicest waiting men,
Shall be at your command."
She picked up her tender little baby,
And the kisses she did give it were three,
"Stay at home, stay at home, my tender little thing,
And keep your papa's company."
She hadn't been a-sailing on the sea two weeks,
I'm sure it were not three.
Before this poor damsel begin for to weep,
And she wept most bitterly.
"Are you a-weepin' for my silver?" says he,
Or are you weepin' for my gold?
Or are you a-weepin' for your house carpenter,
For you'll never see no more?"
"I'm not a-weepin' for your silver," said she,
Nor neither for your gold.
I am weeping for my tender little baby,
That I'll never see no more."
She hadn't been a-sailin' on the sea three weeks,
I'm sure it were not four,
Before this vessel sprung a leakin' floor,
And it sank to rise no more.
