Patrick Spenser (Niles No. 25)

1. Oh, the King stood with his fighting men,
The King stood with his court.
A sailor man he sore did need,
And one of good report, report,
   A sailor man he sore did need,
   And one of good report.
   (repeat last two lines of each verse)

2. Then the King went to Dunfertown
To burble the wine so red,
“Are all my sailing captains gone?
Mayhaps they all be dead.”

3. “The season’s off,” an old knight said,
“’Tis winter,” cried a youth.
“Your cargo and your ship will drown
In the Northern Sea, forsooth.”

4. Oh, strong was Patrick Spenser’s arm
And sharp his seaman’s eye,
And sharper still the sense of him
To ken a sullen sea.

5. The King spoke to his footy page,
“Ye must not stop or stay
Until Pat Spenser well doth know
The royal will today.

6. “What man has done me all this ill,
Whan man hath done me sore,
To send me forth agin the sea
When I shall not sail more?

7. “Oh, hasten ships and sailor men,
Oh hasten sandlers, too,
Oh, hasten down the endless sea
The King’s wild will to do.

8. “For two days past I saw the sun
And yester eve’ing the moon,
Tonight I saw a blood-red star
And you know my end is soon.”

9. When Patrick Spenser turned away,
A laugh did light his eye.
When Patrick Spenser came to rest,
Hit was his time to die.

10. Oh, some will sit in the chimney book,
And some walk on the strand,
And some do watch the whole day out
For Spenser’s ship to land.

11. But Patrick Spenser’s long since home
Where sailors all must haven.
The Scottish lords and all their crew
Are in the sailors’ heaven.

12.  O, at his feet the Scottish lords
Lay mid the ocean’s wailing,
And at his head, in letters red,
The orders for his sailing.


This is a song that John Jacob Niles collected from 85-year-old Christopher Bell in 1934 near Gatlinburg, TN.  Bell had learned it from his grandparents, who moved to Georgia from Eastern North Carolina at the end of the 18th century.  It’s a variation on Child Ballad No. 58, “Sir Patrick Spens”.  Comparing the tunes and lyrics is interesting, though.  Quite a bit changed in the trip across the sea and the years!