Sea, The

DESCRIPTION: "The sea, the sea, the open sea, The blue, the fresh, the ever-free, Without a mark, without a bound..." "I love, oh how I love to ride On the fierce foaming bursting tide...." The old seaman looks back on a tumultuous but happy life
AUTHOR: Bryan Waller Procter ("Barry Cornwall") (1787-1874) (source: NLScotland notes)
EARLIEST DATE: 1847 (Journal by William Histed of the Cortes); probably written c. 1837
KEYWORDS: sailor sea death nonballad age
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Huntington-SongsTheWhalemenSang, pp. 63-64, "The Sea" (1 text, 1 tune)
Dime-Song-Book #8, p. 54, "The Sea, the Sea, the Open Sea" (1 text)
Frank-JollySailorsBold 193, "Sea, The (The Sea the Sea the Open Sea)" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Barry Cornwall [Bryan Waller Proctor], _English Songs and Other Small Poems_, Chapman and Hall (London), 1851 (available on Google Books), pp. 73-74, "The Sea" (1 text)
J.E. Carpenter, _The Book of Popular Songs_ (London: G. Routledge & Co., 1858 (available on Google Books)), pp. 264-265, "The Sea" ("The sea, the sea, the open sea") (1 text)
Roud #2019 and 31320
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 271, "The sea! the sea! the open sea!" J Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Harding B 11(3443), "The sea! the sea! the open sea!" (ibid.); also Harding B 11(3441), "The sea! the sea! the open sea! J. Pitts (London), 1819-1844; also Harding B 11(1210), "The sea! the sea! the open sea!" J. Harkness (Preston), 1840-1866; also Harding B 11(3440), E. M. A. Hodges (London), 1855-1861; also 2806 c.13(251)=2806 c.14(74)=Firth c.12(418), "The sea! the sea! the open sea!" J. Lindsay (Glasgow), 1851-1910; also Harding B 11(3442), "The sea, the sea, the open sea!" W. Dixon (Workington), n.d.; also ;Johnson Ballads 1283, "The sea! the sea! the open sea" O. Hodgson (London), n.d.; also Firth c.26(198), "The sea, the sea, the open sea," unknown, n.d.; also Johnson Ballads 2518, "The sea! the sea! the open sea!" unknown, n.d.; also Firth b.27(125), "The sea! the sea! the open sea!" unknown, n.d.
NLScotland, RB.m.169(139) , "The Sea!," James Lindsay (Glasgow), c. 1891-1894?
NOTES [95 words]: To me this looks like a professional piece which Histed copied down in his journal for some reason. But Huntington's notes left me with just enough doubt to include the song here. The Dime Song Book and broadside versions proved I was right....
"Barry Cornwall" was the pen name of Bryan Waller Proctor, a lawyer who among other things was a British Commissioner of Lunacy. Perhaps it's just as well he used a pseudonym.
Although not well-remembered today, he was sufficiently successful that Granger's Index to Poetry cites fifteen poems of his, including this one. - RBW
Last updated in version 7.0
File: SWMS063

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