| Lyrics: | LOST JIMMY WHELAN
( ) Am Em Am E / C Dm Am / Am Em Am E / C Dm Am
All alone as
I strayed by the banks of the river,
Watching the moonbeams as evening drew nigh,
All
alone as I rambled, I spied a fair damsel
Weeping and wailing with many a
sigh.
Weeping for one who is now lying lowly,
Mourning for one who no mortal can
save.
As the foaming dark water flow gently about him,
Onward they speed over young
Jimmy's grave.
She cries, "Oh, my darling, please come to me quickly,
And give me
fond kisses that oft-times you gave.
You promised to meet me this evening, my darling,
So
now, lovely Jimmy, arise from your grave."
Slowly he rose from the dark, stormy
waters,
A vision of beauty more fair than the sun,
Saying "I have returned from the
regions of glory
To be in your dear loving arms once again."
"Oh, Jimmy, why can't
you tarry here with me,
Not leave me alone, so distracted in pain."
"Since death is the
dagger that's cut us asunder,
Wide is the gulf, love, between you and I."
"One fond
embrace, love, and then I must leave you;
One loving farewell, and then we must
part."
Cold were the arms that encircled about her;
Cold was the body she pressed to her
heart.
Slowly he rose from the banks of the river,
Up to the heavens he then seemed
to go
Leaving this fair maiden, weeping and mourning,
Alone on the banks of the river
below.
G. Malcolm Laws, Jr., assigns the number C8 to this ghostly tale,
in his
NATIVE AMERICAN BALLADRY (1964), stating, "It is possible
that this beautiful Irish ballad
originated in America." It was
sung in the Maine woods as early as 1886. Phillips Barry
tells
us that "no trace of it exists in old country tradition." Thus
it would seem that
this "Irish" ballad is purely American.
Sung by Joan Sprung on FSI-75
@ghost
@love
filename[ JIMWHEL
DC
===DOCUMENT BOUNDARY |
