Once
there lived a captain
Who was borned out on sea;
And before that he got married
He was sent far away.
Oh but when
that he returned
To her father he did go
"Is your daughter inside sir,
Can I see her once more?"
"For my
daughter is not here sir
She left this house last night.
She is gone to some annunery."
Was the old man’s reply.
He went on
to this nunnery
And he knocked all at the door,
Out comes the reverend mother
And she's tearing full sore
Saying, "Your
true love, is not here sir,
She left us here last night,
She is gone to some asylum
Where she's fractured in mind."
He went on
into the asylum
Where he got a hard surprise
And the answer he is getting
Was she died here last night,
"Let me
in", then says the captain,
"Let me in", the captain cried.
"Let me in until I see her
"And I'll die by her side."
For he stood
at her left side
And his sharpest sword he drew
He's stood to good attention
And he pierced his heart through.
Oh sad it was
the parting
And hard it was the doom
To see the two loyal lovers
Lying dead on the floor
================================
Oh green grow
the laurels
And soft it falls the dew
Since one of my true lovers
Forever parting from you
This version
from "Voice of the People" by Topic. (Roud 3376) Jean
‘Sauce’ Driscoll (daughter of Mikeen McCarthy. To our
knowledge, the only other two versions to have been found in the
tradition are from Seán Ó Conaire of Rosmuc, Co Galway
and from Traveller John ‘Jacko’ Reilly of Roscommon.
We first recorded
this from the singer’s father, Mikeen McCarthy, who had sold
it around the fairs and markets in Kerry on a ballad sheet some
time in the nineteen-forties. Unfortunately, he was only able to
remember four verses and we tried on a number of occasions, without
success, to see if he could recall more. One evening, he proudly
announced that his daughter, a young woman then in her early twenties,
had learned all of it from another Traveller, Nora Coffey. To our
knowledge, this is the only traditional song she sings.
Other CDs:
John Reilly - Topic TSCD 667.
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