{"id":11693,"date":"2021-07-25T17:37:24","date_gmt":"2021-07-25T17:37:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=11693"},"modified":"2024-03-16T14:47:43","modified_gmt":"2024-03-16T14:47:43","slug":"down-in-a-diving-bell","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/down-in-a-diving-bell\/","title":{"rendered":"Down in a diving bell"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>The mermaid<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1869<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>George Leybourne \/ Alfred Lee<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN5013<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>George Leybourne<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Ford, Warde; USA : California; 1938
Devlin, Jennie USA : Massachusetts; 1936\/38
Earl, Merritt USA : Vermont : Eden 1958 (17 Oct)
Hill, Charlie; England : Devon 1985
Morrissey, Tommy; England : Cornwall
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Once I was a sailor bold. Some tales to you I'll tell\nOf all the wonders I have seen when in a diving bell.\nWhile on the ocean, messmates for money challeng'd me\nI'd not the pluck to go and see the mermaids in the sea.\n\nDown in a diving bell at the bottom of the sea,\nThat's a pretty place the fishy sights to see.\nDown in a diving bell at the bottom of the sea,\nNice little mermaids, pretty little mermaids, all come courting me.<\/em>\n\nWhen I was only halfway down, mermaids came to me.\nThey sang and danc'd to welcome me, far down in the sea.\nThey came in hundreds to shake hands. So many turn'd me pale,\nFor a very funny thing that all mermaids should shake hands with their tail.\n\nWhen I reach'd the bottom, there I saw a thing to make me laugh.\nThey'd made a clothesline out of the Atlantic Telegraph.\nAnd old mermaids disclos'd to me with salt tears in their eyes,\nAlthough 'twas under water, 'twas very bad weather to dry. \n\nI caught a pretty mermaid. To kiss her was my wish,\nBut like an eel she slipp'd away, for you can't hold onto fish.\nHer mother brought her back again and whisper'd unto me\nThat if I like down there I might get married in the sea.\n\nWe married were at a funny church that was built of oyster shells.\nThe parson wore a bathing gown. A codfish rang the bells.\nI'm married now and happy. You girls are in the shade.\nYou can't compare to mine so fair altho' she's a mermaid.\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A song from the Halls of the 1870s, sung and written by the Lion Comique<\/em> George Leybourne<\/a>, with music by his regular collaborator Alfred Lee. This song may well have been a follow up to his hit of 1868, Up in a Balloon<\/em><\/a>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Diving bells had been around since the 18th century and people could pay to be lowered into a river or the sea at various locations around the UK – most famously at the Royal Polytechnic Institution of London from 1838 on. The Polytechnic combined entertainment and education, and members of the public paid to sit in a specially constructed diving bell and be lowered into a giant tank. The tank had reinforced glass windows so participants could view painted scenery and imagine they were being lowered into the sea.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
The earliest reference to Leybourne singing it that I can find is in Summer 1869:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Performance at New Star Music Hall, Liverpool. reported in  Liverpool Mercury Aug. 3, 1869<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
It was first published in 1869:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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 Nov. 30, 1869; The Daily Telegraph <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
The song has been found in the repertoire of both English and American traditional singers – a recording by Ford Warde is available at the Library of Congress<\/a> but it turns up in some odd places, here we have a version by The Dinning Sisters in 1942:<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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