<meta content="urn:uuid:8bde0144-a9d2-4cb7-aa88-6529fb4369b5" name="Adept.expected.resource"/> </head> <body> <p class="p15">On….The Mermaid</p> <p><span class="t3"> </span></p> <p><span class="t3"> </span></p> <p>Child lists six versions of Ballad 289 while the Roud Folksong Index lists two hundred and sixty-two versions of #124, The Mermaid. When the crew of a ship on the ocean spies a mermaid, they know they are in trouble—mermaids were a portent of disaster. Even seeing one with a mirror and comb didn’t forestall their troubles. In some versions, the Captain, Mate and Boatswain all mourn that soon their wives will be widows while the cabin boy bemoans his parents’ grief. Whether the ship goes around three times in some versions or was en route to Greenland in another, they all testify to how important shipping was and how futile it was to fight the power of the sea. (1)</p> <p>As shown on the YouTube uploads this is a popular ballad with amateur singers. Others such as Martain Carthy, Celtic Mayhem, The Pirates Of St. Piran, Celtic Stew, and The Sharecroppers have also recorded The Mermaid.</p> <p><span class="t3"> </span></p> <p>1) Child, Francis James. <span class="t18">The English and Scottish Popular Ballads Vol. V.</span> Mineola: Dover, 2003.</p> <p> </p> </body> </html>