Like a Rough and a Rolling Sea (Rough and Rolling Sea)

DESCRIPTION: "Farewell, farewell to my only child, Like a rough and rolling sea (x2)." "The lightnings flashed and thunders rolled...." "The storms beat high and the winds blew fierce...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1901 (Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute)
KEYWORDS: farewell separation sea storm nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute, p. 229, "Like a Rough and a Rolling Sea (Rough and Rolling Sea)" (1 text, 1 tune; p. 90 in the 1901 edition)
Roud #15236
NOTES [132 words]: The words do not match Psalm 107:23-27, but the emotions do: "They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end." (King James) - BS
I suspect that there is New Testament influence here, in Jesus's stilling of the storm. Jesus was asleep in a boat with his disciples when the weather turned bad: "A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat" (Mark 4:37). The disciples woke up Jesus, who spoke to the wind and calmed it. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.0
File: Dett229

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