Lowlands Low- Lorette (VT) 1930 Flanders G, Brown
[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.
G. "Lowlands Low"- Sung by Paul Lorette of Manchester Center, Vermont, remembered from his brother, James Lorette. Published Vermont Folk-Songs & Ballads, 230. [Flanders comments: The published text differs ever so slightly from this one.]
George Brown, Collector; September 23, 1930.
Lowlands Low
There were three ships a-sailing on the northern sea.
We hadn't sailed east no more than one or two days,
Before we came in sight of The Turkish Shaveree
As we sank 'em in the Lowlands, so lonesome low,
As we sank 'em in the Lowlands low.
Oh, up steps the cabin boy saying, "What shall you give me
If I go and sink that Turkish Shaveree?
Oh, I will sink 'em in the lowlands, the lonesome low,
I will sink 'em in the Lowlands low."
"Oh, I will give you gold and I will give you prize;
My oldest daughter shall be your bride
If you'll sink 'em in the Lowlands, the lonesome low,
If you'll sink 'em in the Lowlands low."
So he took his instruments and out went he
Till he came to The Turkish Shaveree,
And he sank 'em in the Lowlands, the lonesome low,
And he sank 'em in the Lowlands low.
Some run with their coats, and some with their caps
Trying to stop that salty water gap,
But he had sunk 'em in the Lowlands, so lonesome low,
He had sunk 'em in the Lowlands low.
Then he took his instruments and back swam he
Till he came to The Green Willow Tree,
For he had sunk 'em in the Lowlands, the lonesome low,
He had sunk 'em in the Lowlands low.
"O Captain, O Captain, I came for my prize
For I have sunk that Turkee Shaveree.
For I have sunk 'em in the Lowlands, so lonesome low,
I have sunk 'em in the Lowlands low."
"I will neither give you gold nor will I give you prize,
But I'll serve you as you've served them;
You have sunk 'em in the Lowlands, so lonesome low;
I will sink you in the Lowlands low."