Lowlands Low- Daniels (VT) 1935 Flanders H
[My title, although it could be Green Willow Tree (mentioned later than usual). 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.
H. [Lowlands Low] Sung to H. H. F. and Phillips Barry, Plainfield, Vermont, by Mrs. Myra Daniels of East Calais, Vermont; H. H. F., Collector; October 22, 1935. Structure: A Ba C Dc1 Dc2 (2,2,2,2,2,2); rhythm D; Contour: undulating; Scale: Mixolydian (the leading tone appears only once) t.c. D.
Tr. H. E. F. B. [Music upcoming]
They had not sail-ed weeks but three,
Saying, oh, the Lowlands lie so low;
They had not sail-ed weeks but three
When they came in sight of the Turkish Shageree,
As she sailed the Lowlands, lie down low,
As she sailed the Lowlands, low.
Then up speaks one little cabing [1] boy,
Saying, oh, the Lowlands lie so low;
Then up speaks one little cabing boy,
Saying, "What will you give me if the ship I'll destroy,
If I sink her in the Lowlands, lie down low,
If I sink her in the Lowlands, low?"
"I'll give you gold and I'll give you fee,"
Saying, oh, the Lowlands lie so low,
"I'll give you gold and I'll give you fee,
And my oldest daughter your wedded bride shall be
If you sink her in the Lowlands, lie down low,
If you sink her in the Lowlands, low."
He bent upon his breast [2]and away swam he,
Saying, oh, the Lowlands the so low;
He bent upon his breast and away swam he,
And he swam till he came to that Turkish Shageree,
As she sailed the lowlands lie so low,
As she sailed the Lowlands, low.
He had an instrument that's fixed for the use,
Saying, oh, the lowlands lie so low,
He had an instrument that's fixed for the rise
For to bore nine holes and he bored them all to once,
And he sank her in the lowlands lie so low,
And he sank her in the Lowlands, low.
Then he bent upon his breast and back swam he,
Saying, oh, the lowlands lie so low,
Then he bent upon his breast and back swam lie
And he swam till he came to The Golden Willow Tree
As she sailed the lowlands lie so low,
As she sailed the Lowlands, low.
"O Captain, Captain, oh, take me on board,
Saying, oh, the lowlands lie so low,
"O Captain, Captain, oh, take me on board
And be unto me as good as your word
For I've sunk her in the lowlands lie so low,
For I've sunk her in the Lowlands, low."
"Oh, no, oh, no, I can't take you on board,"
Saying, oh, the lowlands lie so low,
"Oh, no, oh, no, I can't take you on board
Nor be unto you as good as my word,
1f you've sunk her in the lowlands lie so low,
If you've sunk her in the Lowlands, low."
"If it wasn't for the love that I have for your men
Saying, oh, the lowlands lie so low,
"If it wasn't 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, lie down low,
I would sink you in the Lowlands, low."
1. cabin
2. "bent over" also similarly "smote his breast" in some versions. Oliver Goldsmith's "Citizen of the World" Vol. II (London: J. Newbery, 1762), p. 101: "He...bent his breast against the broad wave and disappeared in an instant."