Golden Vanity- Wallace (NS) pre1950 Creighton C
[From: Traditional Songs from Nova Scotia by Helen Creighton (1899– 1989) Creighton and Doreen Senior. Five versions of Child 286 were published. Here's a few brief biographical bits from the Maine Folklife Center:
Helen Creighton was born into an old and distinguished Halifax family in 1899 in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. She was born with a caul, a folkloric sign of good fortune. In the 1920s, she began to write travel pieces, fiction, and stories for the radio.
Creighton began her career as a folk music collector in 1928. In 1931 Creighton found a partner in her efforts; the English folklorist Doreen Senior. During the 1930s the pair traveled throughout Nova Scotia gathering folksongs. Creighton sought out the informants and recorded song lyrics, while Senior transcribed the music. Creighton and Senior published Twelve Folk Songs from Nova Scotia in 1941; and Traditional Songs from Nova Scotia in 1950.
R. Matteson 2014]
C. The Golden Vanity- Mrs. Annie C. Wallace, Halifax
Andante alla marcia [music upcoming]
Our ship she was a-sailing to some foreign counteree,
She sailed by the name of the Golden Vanity,
I'm afraid she, will be taken by some bold pirate crew,
As she sails along the lowlands, lowlands,
As she sails a-long the low-lands low.
2. Our captain called his cabin boy and unto him did say,
"What will I give you if the pirate you'll destroy?
I will give you gold, I will give you store,
I will give you my daughter Nancy as soon as we reach the shore
If you will sink the pirates never more to rise,
If you sink them in the lowlands, lowlands,
If you sink them in the lowlands low."
3. The boy took an auger and overboard jumped he,
He swam till he came to the bold pirate sea,
He bored a hole-once, he bored a hole twice,
oh some were playing cards and some were playing dice,
He let the water in and it dazzled all their eyes
As he sank them in the lowlands, lowlands, "
As he sank them in the lowlands low.
4. The boy took the auger and back swam he,
He swam till he came to the Golden Vanity,
Saying, "Captain pick me up for I'm afraid I will be drowned,
For I'm sinking in the lowlands, lowlands,
For I'm sinking in the lowlands low."
5. The captain he was standing upon the starboard side,
He said, "I'll drown you, I'll sink you, I'll send you with the tide."
The boy swam around unto the other side,
His strength failed him and bitterlee he cried
Saying, "Shipmates pick me up for I'm sure I will be drowned,
I am sinking in the lowlands, lowlands,
I am sinking in the lowlands low. "
6. His shipmates picked him up and on the deck he died,
They sewed him in his hammock which was both long and wide
And overboard they threw him and sent him with the tide
As they sank him in the lowlands, lowlands,
As they sank him in the lowlands low.