The Golden Vanity- Richards (NH) 1941 Flanders Z
[This is an excellent version from one of the better informants. 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.
Z. "The Golden Vanity" Sung by Mrs. Belle Richards of Colebrook, New Hampshire. M. Olney, Collector; November 20, 1941;
Structure: A B C D E (2,2,2,2,2); Rhythm D but divergent; Contour: undulating; Scale: major
The Golden Vanity
'Twas of a ship sailed from the North Amereekay [1]
And she went by the name of The Golden Vanity
And she feared she would be taken by some Turkish travelee,
As she lay along the Lowlands, Lowlands,
As she lay along the Lowlands low.
The first that came on deck was a little cabin boy,
Saying, "Captain, what'll you give to me that ship for to destroy?"
"I will give you gold and silver and my daughter when on shore
If you'll sink her in the Lowlands, Lowlands,
If you'll sink her in the Lowlands low."
Oh, then he grasped an auger and overboard sprang he;
He smote upon his breast [2] as he swam along the sea
And he swam till he came to the Turkish travelee,
As she lay in the Lowlands, Lowlands,
As she lay in the Lowlands low.
oh, some were playing cards and some were shaking dice,
And some were in the cabin a-sleeping with their wives,
And he bored her good ship's bottom and he sank her in the tide,
As she lay along the Lowlands, Lowlands,
As she lay along the Lowlands low.
Oh, then he swam back to The Golden Vanity,
"Take me up, take me up, for I'm sinking in the sea.
Take me up, take me up, for I'm sinking in the tide,"
As they lay along the Lowlands, Lowlands,
As they lay along the Lowlands low.
"Take you up, take you up, no, that never can be.
I'll sink you, I'll drown you, in the bottom of the sea.
If you bored her good ship's bottom and you sank her in the tide,
You may sink in the Lowlands, Lowlands,
You may sink in the Lowlands low."
"O Captain, brave Captain, if it wasn't for your men,
I would do unto you as I've done unto them.
I would bore your good ship's bottom and I'd sink you in the tide,
As you lay along the Lowlands, Lowlands,
As you lay along the Lowlands low."
Oh, then they picked him up and on the deck he died.
They wound him in his hammock, for it was long and wide;
And they threw him overboard and they sank him in the tide,
As they sailed along the Lowlands, Lowlands,
As they sailed along the Lowlands low.
1. If so, it must rhyme with vanity (now becoming vanitay)
2. smote= usually "beat" ("bent" is frequently found meaning bent over; see also Mattie Groves) perhaps "fell upon" makes more sense since he is swimming.