Golden Vallady- Hartlan (NS) pre1932 Creighton
[From: Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia; Creighton, 1932. Her notes follow:
R. Matteson 2014]
No. 10. The"Sweet Trinity"; or the "Golden Vanity" Child 286.
Compare this variant of the Pepys ballad, Sir Walter Raleigh Sailing on the Lowlands, to the Child variant C to which this bears a close relationship. The bold Roosian crew is rather singular, for the enemy is usually Turkish, Spanish or French. This may be an echo of the Crimean War. The ship has a variety of names, as The Goulden Vanitie, The French Galley, The French Gallolee, The Turkish Galley, etc. Variant C agrees that the boy took his auger and bore two holes at twice, although in some cases it reads thirty holes at twice and fifteen at once. Between stanzas one and two of the Nova Scotia text there should be a line telling how the little cabin boy asked his master what reward he would be given for sinking the enemy ship. The ballad is widely current in Great Britain and on this continent. Compare stanza 3 of The Louisiana Lowlands in this volume.
GOLDEN VALLADY. (Singer's title.) Sung by Mr. Richard Hartlan, South-East Passage.
1. I had a ship in the northern counteree,
She goes by the name of the Golden Vallady.
I'm afraid she'll be taken by some bold Roosian crew
As she lies on the lowlands, on the lowlands,
As she lies on the lowlands low.
I will give you gold and silver,
Likewise mv daughter Jane,
If you'll sink her in the lowlands, in the lowlands,
If 1ou'll sink her in the lowlands low.
Oh, the boy took his auger, and overboard jumped he,
He swam till he came to the bold Russian crew.
oh, the boy took his auger, and he bore two holes in twice
While some were playing chess and the others were playing dice,
And he sank her in the lowlands, in the lowlands,
And he sank her in the lowlands low.
Now the water came in, which dazzled all their eyes,
And he sank her in the lowlands, in the lowlands,
And they sank her in the lowlands low.
Oh, the boy took his auger, and back swam he,
He swam till he came to the Golden Vallady.
He called, " Captain, pick me up,
For I'm sinking in the lowlands, in the lowlands,
For I'm sinking in the lowlands low."
"I could kill you, I could stab you,
I could sink you as you lie,
I could sink you in the lowlands, in the lowlands,
I could sink you in the lowlands low."
Oh, the boy swam around, around the starboard side,
When his strength began to fail, and bitterly he cries,
He cried, "Friends, pick me up, else I surely will be drowned,
For I'm sinking in the lowlands, in the lowlands,
For I'm sinking in the lowlands low."
Oh, his shipmates picked him up, and it's on the deck he died,
They sewed him in his hammock which was so long and wide,
They sewed him in his hammock, and it's overboard him threw,
And they sank him in the lowlands, in the lowlands,
And they sank him in the lowlands low.