Gentle Boy, The (Why Don't Father's Ship Come In)

DESCRIPTION: "As I roved out one evening As I sat down to rest, I saw a boy scarce four years old Sleep on his mother's breast." They tell about his father who sailed away and was lost in a hurricane. "They cast their eyes to heaven and son and mother died."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield-BalladsAndSeaSongsOfNewfoundland)
KEYWORDS: grief parting death sea disaster storm wreck baby mother father separation sailor
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf) US(MA,NE)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Greenleaf/Mansfield-BalladsAndSeaSongsOfNewfoundland 113, "The Gentle Boy" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 795-796, "The Ship That Never Came" (1 text, 1 tune)
Guigné-ForgottenSongsOfTheNewfoundlandOutports, pp. 330-331, "The Ship That Never Came (The Gentle Boy)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lehr/Best-ComeAndIWillSingYou 120, "Why Don't Father's Ship Come In?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lane/Gosbee-SongsOfShipsAndSailors, p. 37, "Why Don't My Father's Ship Come In?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Bethke-AdirondackVoices, p. 117, "The Gentle Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2973
RECORDINGS:
John James, "My Daddy's Ship" (on MUNFLA/Leach)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Rocks of Scilly" [Laws K8] (theme)
NOTES [94 words]: A user on Mudcat suggested that this is the same song as "The Question," which was printed in The Miners' Express, July 29, 1837 (p. 4), available on newspapers.com. The theme is obviously similar, but the words are very different:
"Where does my father stay so long,
Mother from you and I?
Why does he not return again?
Why do you weep and sigh?
Three months, you said, he would remain,
And leave us all alone,
Yet by the winter's storm and snow,
Twelve months have passed and gone."
It does not explicitly say that they die. I don't think it's the same song. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.4
File: GrMa113

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