Bluegrass Messengers

Cabin Boy- Tillett (NC) 1923 Brown D/ Chappell B

[There are two versions here from Brown Collection both from the Tillets (Jaunita and Tink) and both with similat tests-- so I'm putting them both here. Tink's version appears also in Chappell- Folk Songs of the Roanoke and the Abermerle, 1939. Juanita Tillett of Wanchese, Roanoke Island is surely kin to C.K. "Tink" Tillett  (Tink) Tillett and his wife, Eleazar Tillett, their son Cliff, and nephew Hub Tillett. How she kin I don't know.

Frank Warner who also collected from Tink wrote: From the Outer Banks of North Carolina were C. K. Tillett and his family of Wanchese. Mr. Tillett's nickname was "Tink." These people live north of Cape Hatteras, on Roanoke Island.

Below Junaita's version is the version from Tink- same basic version of Juanita's end verses.

R. Matteson 2014]

Brown Collection of NC Folklore

47. The Sweet Trinity (The Golden Vanity)
(Child 286)

The oldest form of this, Child's A, is a seventeenth-century broadside; later modifications of it, in broadsides and stall prints down into the nineteenth century, are nearer to the form in which it is traditionally current in our time. It is a favorite among American ballad singers. For its vogue, see BSM 97-8 [1], and  add to the citations there given Massachusetts (FSONE 136-7), North Carolina (FSRA 43-5), Florida (FSF 326-8), the Ozarks (OFS I 195-201), Michigan (BSSM 214-15), and Wisconsin (JAFL LII 11-12). It is altogether probable that its popularity is  due in part to the sonorous refrain, and perhaps also to the tune or tunes used. There are six texts in our collection.
 

Footnote (above): 1.  There are two errors in the citations there given. The LL reference should be 238-9, not 228-9; and the JFSS 11 reference should be 244, not 224.


D. 'Cabin Boy.' Contributed by Juanita Tillett of Wanchese, Roanoke Island, in 1923.

1 Up steps the cabin boy, and the cabin boy said he:
'What will you give me to sink the Exellin.
If I sink her in the lowland so low. my boys.' said he.
'If I sink her in the lowland sea?'

2 'I have riches and I have land,
Besides I've a daughter and she will be at your command.
If you will sink her in the lowland so low, my boys,' said he,
'If you'll sink her in the lowland sea.'

3 This boy had a jar[4] all fitten for the use;
Four and twenty holes he had bore into the sloop.
So he sunk him in the lowland so low, my boys, said he,
So he sunk him in the lowland sea.

4 Some were playing cards and others throwing dice.
While captain and mate was both giving good advice ;
Then he sank her in the lowland so low, my boys, said he,
So he sunk her in the lowland sea.

5 This boy dived his best, and swam against the tide,
He swam till he came to his master's side.
For he had sunk in the lowland so low, my boys, said he.
He had sunk her in the lowland sea.

6 'Master, oh master,' this poor boy he cried,
'You may take me or I'll float with the tide.'

'I'll hang you, I'll shoot you, I'll send you with the tide.
If ever I thought my daughter would be your bride.
Though you have sunk her in the lowland so low, boys,' said he;
And he sunk her in the lowland sea.

7 The mate he picked him up and he laid him on the deck.
In four and twenty minutes his soul had gone to rest.
Though he had sunk her in the lowland so low, my boys, said he;
And he sunk her in the lowland sea.

Footnote 4.  This is a curious corruption of "auger."

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From Chappell- Folk Songs of the Roanoke and the Abermerle 1939

II. Sea Ballads and Songs

These examples of sea ballads and songs, or ballads and sea songs, are not chanteys, work-songs of the sea primarily, such as Boone's Capstan Bars and Colcord's Roll and Go, and have little to do with the hard toil of seamen. They are better suited to the sailor in port, and his maid before and after. In other respects they are concerned with the mystery and justice of the sea, shipwrecks, pirates, and sea battles.

Additional texts and helpful commentary on the wide circulation of these songs and ballads may be had from Louise Pound, American Ballads and Songs, 1922; W. Roy Mackenzie, Ballads and Sea Songs From Nova Scotia, 1928; H. H. Flanders and George Brown, Vermont Folk-Songs and Ballads, 1931, 1932; E. B. Greenleaf and G. Y. Mansfield, Ballads and Sea Songs of Newfoundland, 1933; Arthur tr. Hudson, Folksongs of Mississippi, 1936.

[Lowland So Low]- Tink Tillett 1923

This boy div his best, and swam against the tide,
And swam till he came to his master's side.
[For he had sunk in the lowland so low, my boys, said he.
He had sunk her in the lowland sea.]

'O Master, O master,' the poor boy he cried,
Take me in or I'll float with the tide.'
Though I've sunk her in the lowland so low, my boys, said he;
Though I've sunk her in the lowland sea.

I'll shoot you or I'll hang you or I'll send you with the tide.
Before I ever thought my daughter would be your bride.
Though you've sunk her in the lowland so low, boys,' said he;
Though you've sunk  her in the lowland sea.

The mate took him up and he laid him on the deck.
In four and twenty hours his soul had gone to rest.
Though he had sunk her in the lowland so low, my boys, said he;
Though he sunk her in the lowland sea.

Brown Collection, Vol. 4 also has Tink's version [music upcoming]:
 

D. 'Cabin Boy.' Sung by C. K. Tillett. Recorded at Wanchese, Roanoke Island,  in 1923. The tune for the second stanza begins with the eight measures given  in the variations, which in themselves represent merely unimportant changes in  the melodic line of the initial eight measures of the original melody. Instead,  however, of continuing with the remainder of the latter, the second stanza repeats for the remaining eight measures the initial phrase of the first stanza.

For melodic relationship cf. **FSRA 43, No. 23, measures 5-8.