The Prisoner’s Song

Collected from the singing of Clarance Ashley on April 7th, 1966 and published in The East Tennessee State University Collection of Folklore: Folksongs II:
Ah it’d been better for us both if we’d never
In this wide wicked world had never met
While the pleasure we seek here together
I am sure I can never forget

Published in the 1952 collection, The Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore, Vol. 3. Several versions recorded, only a few will be noted here.

E. Meet Me By the Moonlight

From the manuscripts of Obadiah Johnson of Crossnore, Avery Co, NC, notable in it’s lack of prison imagery

I am going to leave you tomorrow
To sail on the ocean so blue
To leave all my friends and relations
I have come now to bid you adieu.

Then meet me by the moonlight, love, meet me
I want to see you alone
To tell of the heart that is breaking
To leave my love and my home.

I hate to leave you, my darling
But my parents to me are unkind
To prove false words that are spoken
Has never once entered my mind

I have a fine ship on the ocean
All lined with silver and gold
And before my lover shall perish
I’ll have that ship anchored and sold

I have come by the moonlight to see you
To tell of my future time
I am going to seek for a fortune
Will return and claim you for mine

Your return to me is uncertain
But to you I will ever be true
God grant you may have a safe voyage
And our days apart may be few

I know that heaven will bless us
And the angels will guide you aright
To help you return to your loved one
Though her heart is breaking tonight.

Years passed and she proved to him faithful
To another she never was wed
And her life it seemed blighted forever
When she heard that her true love was dead

G. I Have A Ship On the Ocean

Collected from Miss Jewell Robbins of Pekin, Montgomery Co, NC in 1921. This time, the moonlight motif is not present in addition to the jail.

I have a secret to tell you, sweet love
About the ship on the sea
And if you think you can hear it, sweet love
I’ll tell it to you in a dream

Darling, the ship is on the ocean
As ever near to me
Darling, this would would lose its motion
If I proved false to thee

I have a ship on the ocean, sweet love
All lined with silver and gold
Before I’d see you suffer, sweet love
I’d anchor my ship to be sold

Some say love is pleasure, sweet love
What pleasure do I see
When the one I love so dearly, sweet love
Has turned her back on me

H. I Had A Little Ship

Collected from Miss Jennie Belvin of Durham, NC in 1922. It’s noted that this may be a different song as only the ship is present, but still groups it with these other versions.

I had a little ship on the ocean
All lined with silver and gold
And freely would I give it
To call little Sallie my own

Little Sallie, little Sallie my darling
Little Sallie, little Sallie my own
And freely would I give it
To call little Sallie my own

I. Meet Me in the Moonlight

Collected by C. G. Knox c. 1923 from Miss Gertrude Smith of Morganton, Burke Co, NC. with one stanza of note:

When the cold, cold clay is around me
Won’t you come and shed one hitter tear
And say to the friends standing round me
“There’s a heart I have loved long ago”

J. Sweet Lulur

Collected from John M. Greer of Boon, Watauga Co, NC in 1915. The moonlight theme is gone, but the ship and prisoner is present.

He hound my feet in cold iron
All tangled my feet in chains
But before I’ll go back on sweet Lulur
I’ll have them tangled again

O Lulur, O Lulur my darling
O Lulur. O Lulur my dear
If it hadn’t been for sweet Lulur
Sweet Lulur that brought me here

I had three ships on the ocean
All lined with silver and gold
And before I’ll go back on sweet Lulur
I’ll have them hoisted and sold

K. Sweet Lulur

Collected from Thomas Smith of Watauga Co, NC in 1915 who learned it as a child from Miss Louise Wilson. While it’s clearly related, it doesn’t fit the standard melody very well.

When I was in Danville a-walking down the street
I spied a policeman who bound my hands and feet
He bound my feet in cold iron, all tangled my feet in chains
But before I’ll go back on sweet Lulur I’ll have them tabled again

Oh Lulur, oh Lulur, my darling, oh Lulur, oh Lulur, my dear
If I [sic] hadn’t a-been for sweet Lulur, it was Lulur that brought me here.

Three versions were published as “Meet Me Tonight” in Vance Randolph’s 1946 collection, Ozark Folksongs, Vol. IV: Religious Songs and Other Items.

A.

From the singing of Mrs. Carrie Barber of Pineville, Missouri on December 28th, 1924, who first heard the sound around 1889.

You must meet me tonight in the moonlight
You must meet me tonight all alone
For I have a sad story to tell you
Must be told by the moonlight alone

You’ll be taken to the new jail tomorrow
A-leavin’ your darlin’ all alone
With them cold prison bars all around you
An’ a board from your pillow ever’ night

You know that my parents was cruel
To drive me away from their door
If ever I live to grow older
I’ll never go back any more

Oh blow ye the winds o’er the ocean
Blow ye the winds o’er the sea
Oh blow ye the winds o’er the ocean
An’ bring back my darlin’ to me

I have a large ship on the ocean
All mounted with silver an’ gold
An’ before that my girl shall suffer
That ship shall be anchored an’ sold

If I had the wings of a [sic] angel
If I had the wings of a dove
I’d fly to the arms of my darlin’
An’ there I would lay down an’ die

B.

An alternate first verse from the singing of Mrs. W. E. Jones of Pineville, MO on May 22nd, 1930.

Oh meet me, my true love, oh meet me
Oh meet me in the moonlight alone
For I have a true story to tell you
It’s a story that’s never been told

C.

Additional related stanzas from the singing of Mrs. Dale Stouts of Cyclone, MO on September 12th, 1931

For I had of listened to mamma
An’ listened to what mama said
I would not have been in this here prison
But slept in my own little bed

I once had a sister an’ brother
I once had a gal to go see
I once had a father an’ mother
In that little cottage by the sea

If I had the wings of a sparrow
Far away from this prison I’d fly
I’d fly to the arms of my true love
An’ there I would lay down and die

D. Meet Me By Moonlight

From a manuscript belonging to Miss Katherine Ollinger of Fayetteville, AR on December 2nd, 1941.

There is a fine ship on the ocean
All lined with a silvery hoard
Its name is Abraham Lincoln
And I’m sure that my Willie’s on board

Oh meet me, oh meet me by the moonlight
Oh meet me by moonlight alone
I have a sad story to tell you
Must be told by the moonlight alone

Oh where has my Willie now gone to?
He’s out on the wild raging sea
He’s out on the ocean a-sailing
And he’ll never come back to me

I wish I knew of an angel
To lend me his wings for to fly
I’d fly to the arms of my Willie
And there I would lay down and die

As reported in H. M. Belden’s Ballads and Songs Collected by the Missouri Folk-Lore Socity (1940) from a manuscript belonging to Ada Belle Cowden of Woodlandville, Boone Co, MO.

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

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 [sic] 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

A. Seven Long Years in State Prison

As published in Carl Sandburg’s The American Songbag (1927).

Seven long years in state prison
Seven long years for to stay
For knocking a man down the alley
And taking his gold watch and chain

Sad, sad and lonely
Sitting in my cell all alone, all alone
Thinking of days that’s gone by me
And the days when I’ve done wrong

I used to have a brother and a sister
who lived in a cottage o’er the sea
I used to have a father and mother
But they are all gone from me

I wish I had wings of a sparrow
I wish I had wings for to fly
I’d fly to the side of my mother
And there let me lay down and die

B. Seven Long Years

Alternate 3rd verse of A. (here given as the first verse) collected from P. D. Midgett of Wanchase, Roanoke Island, NC in 1920 and published in The Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore, Vol. 3.

I have a father and a mother
That dwell in a cottage by the sea
I have a brother and a sister
I wonder if they ever think of me

As reported by Emelyn Gardner and published in More Pious Friends and Drunken Companions: Songs and Ballads of Conviviality, Frank Shay’s 1928 collection.

Seven long years I’ve been married
Wished that I’d lived an old maid
For ever since I’ve been married
My husband won’t work at his trade

He promised me before we were married
That I should be young and gay
And every night of the week long
Should go to a party or play