William Glenn Oh it's of a ship and a ship of fame Launched off the stocks, bound to sail the main With one hundred and fifty brisk young men Well picked and chosen every one And William Glenn was the captain's name He was a fine and a tall young man As fine a sailor as sailed the sea And we were sailing to New Barbary On the first of April, then we set sail Blessed with a fine and a prosperous gale And we were bound for New Barbary With all of our whole ship's company We hadn't been sailing a league or two Til all of our whole ship's jovial crew They all fell sick but 63 As we were sailing to New Barbary One night the Captain then he did dream A voice came to him and said to him "Prepare yourself and your company For tomorrow night you must lie with me" This woke the captain in a terrible fright It being the third watch of the night And aloud for the bosun then he did call And to him told his secrets all "Bosun" he said "it grieves my heart To think I've played a villain's part A man I slew in Staffordshire And all for the sake of his lady fair And of the ghost of that I am afraid That has in me such terror bred So keep the secret within your breast And pray to the lord that he gives you rest" |
 We hadn't been a sailing a league but three Til raging grew the roaring sea There rose a tempest up in the skies Which did our seamen much surprise And the main mast sprung by the break of day Which made our rigging all but to give way And did our seamen much afright The terrors of that awful night And then the bosun he did declare That the captain was a murderer This so enraged the whole ship's crew That overboard our captain threw Our treacherous captain he being gone Immediately there came a calm And the winds abated and so did the sea And we went sailing to New Barbary And when we came to the Spanish Shore Our good little ship for to repair The people there were amazed to see Our dismal case and such misery Now seamen all wherever you may be I pray you take a warning from me As you love life won't you have care And never go sailing with a murderer |
| This song of mystery and supernatural seafaring is mentioned briefly in the notes of The Child Ballads, but I couldn't find a written version of this for a long time outside of Nic's version on To The Devil A Stranger. I finally found it in Songs And Ballads From Nova Scotia Ballads by Helen Creighton. In the Child ballads, it is mentioned as Captain Glenn, in a list of songs featuring a curse that is lifted from a ship when the cause of it is thrown overboard. To me, this song neatly dovetails two of my favorite things: ghosts and folk songs. In my own songs, I have a hard time not writing about ghosts too often so you can imagine how delighted I was to find Nic's oeuvre so full of them! This telling is certainly more streamlined than printed versions, though some of it has been edited to make it even more mysterious. This is one of the most spine-chilling songs I have ever heard and was, in a way, the reason for this album. While it is probably not the same William who has said goodbye to Nancy in the last song, it's nice to think that it might be. |
|