Lowlands Low- Hayes (ME) 1942 Flanders DD
[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.
DD. "Lowlands Low" - As sung by Hanford Hayes of Stacyville, Maine. M. Olney, Collector; May 10, 1942
Lowlands Low
"Oh, I shall give you silver and I shall give you store,
Likewise my daughter, Nellie, when you reach the shore
If you'll sink them in the Lowlands, yes, the Lowlands,
If you sink them in the Lowlands, low."
oh, the boy he took an auger and overboard. jumped he;
He swam till he came to The Golden Vanitee.
Oh, he bored a hole once and he bored a hole twice,
[1]
He bored a hole so as to let the water in
And it dazzled in their eyes
And he sank them in the Lowlands, yes, the Lowlands,
And he sank them in the Lowlands, low!
Oh, the boy he swam again till he swam to the other side,
Crying, "captain, pick me up for I fear I will be drowned!
For I'm sinking in the Lowlands, yes, the Lowlands!
I am sinking in the Lowlands, low!"
Oh, the captain being standing all by the starboard side,
"I'll stick you! I'll stab you! I'll send you on the tide!
Yes, I'll sink you in the Lowlands forever and ever more!
I will sink you in the lowlands, low!"
Oh, his comrades picked him up; it was on the deck he died;
They sewed him in his hammock [2] for it was long and wide
And they sank him in the Lowlands, yes, the Lowlands
And they sank him in the Lowlands, low.
1. It seems that a line is missing here and looks like it was a editing/publishing accident. I know that they've happened to me - haha!
2. pronounced "hammick"