Lowlands Low- Burditt (VT) 1870 Flanders C
[Below are Coffin's introductory notes from Flanders' Ancient Ballads. This ballad covers over 80 pages, the most extensive collection published.
R. Matteson 2014]
The Sweet Trinity or the Golden Vanity
(Child 286)
This ballad is immensely popular in America and not hard to find in Britain. It dates back to a broadside of the 1680's in which the deceitful captain is Sir Walter Raleigh. (See Flanders FF.) Since then it has taken many forms and may conclude in any number of ways. The Flanders texts give an excellent cross section of the plot variations found in this ballad. In A-T the boy drowns in the lowlands low. In U, he sinks the captain's ship as well as that of the enemy before he drowns. In V, he also sinks the captain's ship and there is only one survivor to tell the tale. In W, he sinks the captain's ship, ironically drowning the girl he loved with the crew. In X, he dies after being hauled on deck. In EE his ghost returns to treat the captain to a glass of beer before sinking the boat. In FF-JJ, the heroic lad is rewarded with a leave of absence, the daughter's hand, or gold and silver. Of these texts, A1, with the stanzas on the phantom ship, and R, with the lines borrowed from "The Mermaid" (Child 289) are noteworthy. So are V, with its one survivor, like Melville's Ishmael; and FF, which preserves the name of Raleigh, if not the ending, from Child A" The vessel's name, originally The Sweet Trinity, varies greatly in America, becoming The Golden Vanity, The Green Willow Tree, The Merry Golden Tree, and so on. Its opponent, sunk by the cabin boy, was "a false galley" in the old broadside, but it is more likely a Turkish (or Russian, Irish, French, etc.) Revelee or "Shavaree" (sloop) in the States.
There is a certain preposterous quality to this song, and college students and music hall writers have exploited this fact in a series of parodies. see Coffin, 155, for references. Perhaps for the same reason, it has been extremely popular with sailors.
A long bibliography for "The Sweet Trinity" is easy to come by. See coffin, 153-5 (American); Dean-Smith, 69; Belden, 97 (English); Greig and Keith, 228-9, and Ord, 450-1 (Scottish). Phillips Barry, British Ballad's from Maine, 339-47, includes and discusses it. There is a song, once in a while confused with "The Sweet Trinity," called "The Low-lands Low." while it has a similar burden, it tells a very different story and goes back to an English stall ballad, "Young Edwin in the Lowlands Low" (Laws M 34), that was well known here and in Britain, see Laws, ABBB, 197-8; Belden, 127; and Dean-smith, 118, for some references to it.
The tunes for Child 286 can be divided into six groups which, however, may turn out to be related at least to some extent. The groupings are as follows: (1) Davis, Edwards, Moses, Burditt, and possibly Pease; (2) George, Daniels, Houghton; (3) Henry, Blake, George, Barry; (4) Clarke, Cassidy, Richards, Dragon; (5) Ingalls; and (6) Fish and Percival. The Ingalls runs seems to be a version of the popular "Canada-I-O." In order to save repetition, the tune relationships for standard collections are given here. Only relatively close tunes have been selected. from the large number available. In spite of their profusion, however, there is a lack of analogues for groups (2) and (6). For group (3), see Sharp I, 282-285, 2B9 I; FCB 4, 120, 47 A, 121 A (I), 123 C (I) ; BES, 346, ROI, 195, 200 (D); BI, 160. For group (3), especially the Blake rune, see BES, 34b (distant) . For group (4) see Sharp l, 287, 288 G; GCM, 214; ROI, 200.
C. "Lowlands Low." Recorded by H. H. F., July 29, 1931 in Springfield, Vermont, from the memory of Elwin Burditt who first heard this sung in his father's lumber miII in 1870, in Shrewsbury, Vermont. George Brown, Collector; 1930; Structure: A B C D (2,2,2,2); Rhythm D but divergent; Contour: undulating; Scale : hexatonic; t.c. F. Note the small range (major sixth).
Tr. M. O. [Music upcoming]
Lowlands Low
There was a ship went sailing from North Amerikee,
And the name that she bore was The Green Willow Tree,
As she sailed for the Lowlands that lie so low,
As she sailed for the Lowlands low.
She had sailed scarce three leagues, three,
Before she overtook The Turkish Revelee
As she sailed for the Lowlands that lie so low,
As she sailed for the Lowlands low.
"I'll give you gold and I'll give to you a fee
And I have an only daughter that I will marry unto thee,
If you'll sink 'em in the Lowlands that lie so low,
If you'll sink 'em in the Lowlands low."
Then he took an instrument made for that use
To make four and twenty holes, all in one push[1],
And he sank 'em in the Lowlands that lie so low
And he sank 'em in the Lowlands low.
Some were playing cards and some were playing dice
And some were taking up with the devil's best advice
As they sank in the Lowlands that lie so low,
As they sank in the Lowlands low.
Some run with hats and some run with caps,
All intent to stop up the salt sea gap,
As they sank in the Lowlands that lie so low,
As they sank in the Lowlands low.
He turned on his breast and back swam he;
He swam 'til he reached The Green Willow Tree
As she sailed in the Lowlands that lie so low,
As she sailed in the Lowlands low.
And he said to the Captain, "Take me on board
And be unto me as good as your word,
For I sank 'em in the Lowlands that lie so low,
For I sank 'em in the Lowlands low."
Then said the Captain, "I'll not take you on board
Nor be unto you as good as my word.
You can sink in the Lowlands that lie so low,
You can sink in the Lowlands low."
"Were it not for the love that I have for your men'
I would do unto you as I did unto them.
I would sink you in the Lowlands that lie so low,
I would sink you in the Lowlands low."
He turned on his breast and away swam he.
He swam straight away from The Green Willow Tree
And he sank in the Lowlands that lie so low
And he sank in the Lowlands low.
1. This is a problem line for most versions- here no rhyme was attempted.