Going Across the Sea

DESCRIPTION: Floating lyrics, bound by the chorus, "Going (across the sea/to Italy) before long (x3) To see that gal of mine." Sample verses: "Yonder comes a pretty little girl, How do you reckon I know..."; "Finger ring, finger ring, shines like glittering gold..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1926 (recording, Uncle Dave Macon), but some of the floating verses show up in Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 88, "Betty Anne", which was collected in 1916.
LONG DESCRIPTION: Floating lyrics, held together by the chorus, "(across the sea/to Italy) (x3) To see that gal of mine." Sample verses: "Yonder comes a pretty little girl, How do you reckon I know..."; "Finger ring, finger ring, shines like glittering gold..."; "I asked that gal to marry me... She said she wouldn't marry me If all the rest was dead."
KEYWORDS: floatingverses courting travel love nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 111, "Wish I Had a Needle and Thread" (7 text, of which only "E" is really substantial; it is certainly the "Italy" version of "Going Across the Sea." The other fragments contain verses typical of "Shady Grove," "Old Joe Clark," and others)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 111, "WIsh I Had a Needle and Threat" (2 tunes plus text excerpts)
Lunsford/Stringfield-30And1FolkSongsFromSouthernMountains, pp. 44-45, "Italy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Jones-MinstrelOfTheAppalachians-Bascom-Lamar-Lunsford, pp. 229-230, "Italy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 88, "Betty Anne" (1 text, 1 tune, with lyrics from "Shady Grove," "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss" and "Going Across the Sea")
Roud #11516
RECORDINGS:
Henry L. Bandy, "Going Across the Sea" (Gennett test pressing GEx14360, 1928; unissued; on KMM)
R. D. Burnett & Lynn Woodard, "Going Across the Sea" (recorded for Gennett 1929, but unissued; on BurnRuth01)
Crook Brothers String Band, "Going Across the Sea" (Victor V-40099, 1929)
Zeb Harrelson & M. B. Padgett, "Finger Ring" (OKeh 45078, 1927; rec. 1926)
Bascom Lamar Lunsford, "Italy" (Brunswick 227/Vocalion 5246, 1928) (on BLLunsford01) (Riverside RLP 12-645, 1956)
Uncle Dave Macon, "Going Across the Sea" (Vocalion 15192, 1926)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Train on the Island (June Apple/June Appal)" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Shady Grove" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Troubled In My Mind" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Took My Gal a-Walkin'" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Chilly Winds" (floating lyrics)
NOTES [38 words]: Given that both songs are almost pure collections of floating verses, it may seem improbable to link "Italy" with "Going Across the Sea." The tunes, however, are the same; under the circumstances, that seems reason enough. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.1
File: RcItaly

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