Golden Willow Tree- Buckner (NC) 1916 Sharp B
[From English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians; Vol. 1, 1917. My title replacing the generic Golden Vanity.
Sharp's Notes No. 41. The Golden Vanity:
Texts without tunes: Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads, No. 286. A. Williams's Folk Songs of the Upper Thames, p. 199. Gavin Greig's Folk-Song of the North-East, ii, arts. 116 and 119. Cox's Folk Songs of the South, p. 169 (see also further references). Journal of American Folk-Lore, xxiii. 429; XXX. 330.
Texts with tunes:—Gavin Greig's Last Leaves, No. 101. Kidson's Garland of English Folk Songs, p. 72. Tozer's Fifty Sailors' Songs, p. 30. English Folk Songs (Selected Edition), I. 36 (also published in One Hundred English Folk-Songs, p. 36). Christie's Traditional Ballad Airs, i. 238. English County Songs, p. 182. Songs of the West, 2nd ed., No. 64. Journal of the Folk-Song Society, I. 104; II. 244. Ford's Vagabond Songs of Scotland, p. 103. Journal of American Folk-Lore, xviii. 125. Wyman and Brockway's Lonesome Tunes, p. 72. British Ballads from Maine, p. 339. Davis's Traditional Ballads of Virginia, pp. 516 and 602. McGill's Folk Songs of the Kentucky Mountains, p. 97.
B. [Golden Willow Tree]- Buckner (NC) 1916 Sharp B
1. There was a little ship in the North Amerikee,
That went by the name of the Golden Willow Tree,
As she sailed upon the lowlands low.
2 There was another ship in the South Amerikee,
She went by the name of the Turkey Silveree,
As she sailed in the Lowlands low.
3 O captain, O captain, what will you give to me
To sink the ship of the Golden Willow Tree,
As she sails in the Lowlands low?
4 I will give you gold, I will give you fee,
I'll give you my daughter and a-married you shall be,
If you sink her in the Lowlands low.
5 He turned on his back and away swam he,
Crying: O this lowland lies so low.
He turned on his breast and away swam he,
He swam till he came to the Golden Willow Tree,
As she sailed on the Lowlands low.
6 He turned on his back and away swam he,
Crying: O this Lowland lies so low.
He turned on his breast and away swam he,
He swam till he came to the Turkey Silveree,
As she sailed on the Lowlands low.
7 O captain, O captain, pray take me on board,
For I have been just as good as my word,
I have sunk her in the Lowlands low.
8 I know you have been just as good as your word,
But never no more will I take you on board,
While I sail on the Lowlands low.
9 He turned on his back and down swum he,
Crying : O this Lowland lies so low.
He turned on his breast and down swam he,
He sank before he came to the Turkey Silveree,
Till she sailed on the Lowlands low.