Midnight on the Stormy Deep

DESCRIPTION: "Twas midnight on the stormy deep, My solitary watch I'd keep, And think of her I'd left behind, And ask if she'd be true and kind." He is forced away by war. She asks him not to leave; "The deep deep sea may us divide." One or the other betrays the other
AUTHOR: attributed to "B. E. L." in the 1857 sheet music, perhaps based on a poem "Die Schildwache" by Wilhelm Hauff (1802-1827)
EARLIEST DATE: 1857 (sheet music published by Miller & Beacham)
KEYWORDS: love courting separation
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Dime-Song-Book #11, p. 45, "'Tis Midnight on the Stormy Deep" (1 text)
Roud #18034
RECORDINGS:
The Blue Sky Boys, "Midnight on the Stormy Deep" (Bluebird 6480)
Mac & Bob (Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner), "Midnight on the Stormy Deep" (Vocalion 5125)
Ernest V. Stoneman, "Midnight on the Stormy Deep" (CYL: Edison ???, 1928)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Loved You in the Days of Joy" (lyrics)
NOTES [50 words]: The common version of this has a text substantially different from the 1857 sheet music, and the tunes are somewhat different also. So even though I can't cite a traditional version, there may have been some oral transmission along the way. Of course, it could just be that it was A. P. Carter-ized. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: RcMotSD

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