40 songs collected by Frank & Anne Warner in 1940 & 1951. English sea songs & ballads from "The Lost Colony", Roanoke Island, the very spot where the first settlers were landed by Sir Walter Raleigh, 1585, and where music & speech traditions retain much of their original early English form & style. Singers include the Tilletts and the Culpepers and Martha Midgett, Roanoke, 6 Negro songs from Sue Thomas and her son, J.B.Sutton.

1. BARBAREE [Book #142] Tink Tillett, Roanoke (1940) 2v - 0'52"

2. (BONY ON) THE ISLE OF ST. HELENA [#143] Tink Tillett - 2'26"

3. NAPOLEON'S DREAM Tink Tillett - 1'04"

4. THE POOR LITTLE FISHERMAN'S GIRL [#144] Mrs Eleazar Tillett & Martha Etheridge (1951) - 3'16"

5. THE JOLLY THRESHER (THE NOBLEMAN & THE THRESHER) Mrs. Eleazar Tillett - 1'24"

6. JOHN REILLY [#147] Tink Tillett (1940) 3v - 1'10"

7. LORD LOVEL Mrs. Eleazar Tillett (1951) 10v - 2'27"

8. THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND (MY PARENTS RAISED ME TENDERLY) [#148] Tink Tillett - 1'38"

9. INDEED, PRETTY POLLY (THE OUTLANDISH KNIGHT) [#149] As previous - last verse - 0'48"

10. FARE YOU WELL, CHARMING NANCY Mrs. Eleazar Tillett (1951) 3v - 1'22"

11. PRINCE BOYS (THE PRINCESS ROYAL) [#150] Tink Tillett (1940) 3v - 1'18"

12. SCARBOROUGH SANDS [#151] Tink Tillett 2v - 1'23"

13. THE SHEFFIELD 'PRENTICE [#152] Martha Etheridge 2v - 1'05"

14. PAUL JONES [#153] Tink Tillett (1940) v1 v3 & ch - 1'02"

15. A POOR LITTLE SAILOR BOY [#154] Eleazar Tillett 1v - 0'52"

16. A SAILOR'S GRAVE [#155] Eleazor Tillett - 2'49"

17. THE SOUTHERN GIRL'S REPLY [#156] Eleazor Tillett 1v & ch - 0'48"

18. HER BRIGHT SMILE HAUNTS ME STILL [#157] Mrs Tillett & Etheridge (1951) - 2'26"

19. SEVENTY-TWO TODAY [#158] Tink Tillett (1940) - 1'53"

20. "CHICKEN" & "SHOOTING DEER" RIDDLE Ron Tillett (Tink's grandson) - 1'13"

21. GOODBYE OLD BOOZE (Recitation) Cliff Tillett (Ron's father, Tink's son) - 0'24"

22. TIME TO REMEMBER THE POOR (THE SNOW IS ON THE GROUND) [#161] Eleazor Tillett (1951) - 1'55"

23. YOU'VE GOT TO WALK THE LONESOME VALLEY [#162] Curt Mann (with guitar) & family (1941) - 2'14"

24. TOMMY CAME TO SEE ME [163] Martha Ann Midgette (12 year old neighbour to Curt Mann) - 1'03"

25. WILL THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN? Martha Ann Midgett 1v - 0'38"

26. WALLABUG [#164] Martha Ann Midgett - 0'25"

27. SEVEN LONG YEARS IN STATE PRISON Martha Ann Midgette and her mother - 1'29"

28. OLD GREY BEARD A-FLAPPING [#165] Sue Westcott, Manteo 2v - 0'32"

29. THE BANKS OF NEWFOUNDLAND [#141] Capt. John Culpeper, Nag's Head (1941) 2v - 1'04"

30. SHOW ME THE MAN WHO NEVER DONE WRONG (ROCKING THE BABY) [#166] Mrs. Alwilda Culpeper 2v & ch - 1'10"

31. HOLD MY HAND, LORD JESUS [#169] Sue Thomas, Elizabeth City (1941) (talk bef) - 2'09"

32. NOBODY KNOWS HOW HEAVY MY LOAD [#171] Sue Thomas 2v & ch - 1'42"

33. YOU CAN'T HURRY GOD [#172] Sue Thomas 2v & ch - 1'54"

34. MAIL DAY [#173] "Chain Gang Song" J.B.Sutton - 1'12"

35. JAIL HOUSE BLUES [#174] J.B.Sutton (talk bef) - 1'38"

36. O BUD [#175] J.B.Sutton - 0'30"

37. SALLY JANE J.B.Sutton (talk bef) - 0'40"

38. THE ALLIGATOR SONG (talk aft) - 2'04"

39. LATHER AND SHAVE (THE IRISH BARBER) [#178] (talk bef) - 2'22"

40. THE OLD MILLER (MILLER'S LAST WILL) Warren Payne, Englehard, Hyde County, (1951) - 2'25"

Recorded 1941-1951. Edited by Peter Kennedy and first published by Folktrax 1987.

The black singer, Sue Thomas recorded for the Warners, HE'S GOT THE WHOLE WORLD IN HIS HANDS, a song now widely known from such as Marian Anderson, Mahalia Jackson, Odetta and, in England, Lonnie Donegan. Sue's son, J.B.Sutton, was a chauffeur in Elizabeth City. Warren Payne (74) was the mail-man at Gull Rock and learned his song from his father at Fairfield. Rebecca King Jones, over 70, in a calico dress, apron, boots and sun-bonnet, lived alone in a little cabin in the woods at Crab Tree Creek, between Durham and Raleigh.