> Martin Carthy > Songs > Banks of Newfoundland

Banks of Newfoundland

[ Roud 1812 ; Laws K25 ; Ballad Index LK25 ; trad.]

John Bowden sang Banks of Newfoundland with a chorus by Martin Carthy, Jez Lowe, Roy Harris and Paul Adams, and accompanied by John Bowden, concertina; Jez Lowe, cittern; and Martin Carthy, guitar, on the Fellside anthology A Selection from the Penguin Book of English Folk Songs. The record's sleeve notes said:

From John Farr, Gwithian, Cornwall; recorded in 1926 by J.E. Thomas. Although Sharp collected a version in 1915 which he described as a capstan shanty, the song seems to have been more commonly used as a forebitter and fo'c'sle song. In both text and melody there are remarkable similarities to some sets of the earlier transportation ballad, Van Diemen's Land. Mr Farr's text was almost identical to the one from Sharp's informant and so a few phrases plus the “holy-stoning” chorus have been borrowed. The tune is related to some Irish sets of The Lowlands of Holland.

Lyrics

O you Western Ocean labourers,
I would have you all beware,
That when you're aboard of a packet-ship,
No dungaree jumpers wear,
But have a big monkey jacket
Always at your command,
And think of the cold Northwesters
On the Banks of the Newfoundland.

Chorus (after each verse):

So we'll rub her round and scrub her round
With holystone and sand,
And say farewell to the Virgin Rocks
On the Banks of the Newfoundland.

As I lay in my bunk one night
A-dreaming all alone,
I dreamt I was in Liverpool,
'Way up in Marylebone,
With my true love beside of me,
And a jug of ale in hand,
When I woke quite broken-hearted
On the Banks of Newfoundland.

We had one Lynch from Ballinahinch,
Jimmy Murphy and Mike Moore;
It was in the winter of sixty-two,
Those sea-boys suffered sore,
For they'd pawned their clothes in Liverpool,
And sold them out of hand,
Not thinking of the cold Northwesters
On the Banks of Newfoundland.

We had one female passenger,
Bridget Riley was her name,
To her I promised marriage
And on me she had a claim.
She tore up her flannel petticoats
To make mittens for our hands,
For she couldn't see the sea-boys freeze
On the Banks of Newfoundland.

And now we're off Sandy Hook, my boys,
And the land's all covered with snow.
The tug-boat will take our hawser
And for New York we will tow;
And when we arrive at the Black Ball dock,
The boys and girls will stand,
We'll bid adieu to the packet-ships
And the Banks of Newfoundland.

Acknowledgements

The words are from The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs, eds Ralph Vaughan Williams & A.L. Lloyd, Penguin, 1959. John Bowden's variations transcribed by Reinhard Zierke. Thanks to Garry Gillard.