A tragedy ballad from 1850.
words by Edwin H. Chapin
music by George N. Allen
The open expanse and waves of the ocean were imagined in the western United States. The wind blew through the tall grass of the prairie and looked like waves. The prairie schooner replaced the ship. That’s why these words were adjusted into the western song “Bury Me Not On the Lone Prairie”.
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by Benjamin R. Tubb:
Lyrics
- “O! bury me not in the deep, deep sea”
The words came low and mournfully
From the pallid lips of youth, who lay
On his cabin couch at close of day
He had wasted and pined ’till o´er his brow
The death-shade had slowly passed, and now
Where the land and his fond loved home were nigh
They had gathered around him to see him to die - “O! bury me not in the deep, deep sea
Where the billowy shroud will roll over me
Where no light will break through the dark, cold wave
And no sunbeam rest upon my grave
It matters not, I have oft been told
Where the body shall lie when the heart is cold
Yet grant ye O! grant ye this boon to me
O! bury me not in the deep, deep sea” - “For in fancy I’ve listened to the well known words
The free, wild winds, and the songs of the birds
I have thought of home, of cot and bower
And of scenes that I loved in childhood’s hour
I had ever hoped to be laid when I died
In the church-yard there, on the green hill side
By the bones of my fathers’ my grave should be
O! bury me not in the deep, deep sea” - “Let my death slumbers be where a mother’s prayer
And a sister’s tear shall be mingled there
O! ’twill be sweet, ere the heart´s throb is o’er
To know when its fountains shall gush no more
That those it so fondly hath yearned for will come
To plant the first wild-flower of spring on my tomb
Let me lie where those loved ones will weep over me
O! bury me not in the deep, deep sea” - “And there is another, her tears would be shed
For him who lay far in an ocean bed
In hours that it pains me to think of now
She hath twined these locks, and hath kissed this brow
In the hair she hath wreathed, shall the sea snake hiss?
And the brow she hath pressed, shall the cold wave kiss?
For the sake of that bright one that waiteth for me
O! bury me not in the deep, deep sea” - “She hath been in my dreams” – his voice failed there
They gave no heed to his dying prayer
They have lowered him slow o’er the vessel’s side
Above him has closed the dark, cold tide;
Where to dip their light wings the sea-fowls rest
Where the blue waves dance o’er the ocean’s crest
Where the billows bound, and the winds sport free
They have buried him there, in the deep, deep sea
Sung here by Fred Feild: