The Golden Vanity- Stevens (RI) 1945 Flanders GG
[The refrain is similar to Flanders V by Fish. 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.
GG. "Golden Vanity" As recited by Miss Maude Lyman Steuens of Newport, Rhode Island. Miss Stevens says, "This was recited to me many years ago by a, woman who learned it from an English friend." She stated she had neuer heard it sung. M. Olney, Collector; October 25, 1945
The Golden Vanity
There was a gallant ship and a gallant ship was she,
High diddle-dee as the winds blow low,
And her name it was The Golden Vanity [1]
And she sailed for the Lowlands low, heigh-O,
And she sailed for the Lowlands low.
She had not been many days at sea,
High diddle-dee as the winds blow low,
When bearing down upon her came a French gallee
As she sailed for the Lowlands low, heigh-O,
As she sailed for the Lowlands low.
Then up spoke the captain of The Golden Vanity,
High diddle-dee as the winds blow low,
"Which shall be his reward who will sink the French gallee
And get safe to the Lowlands low, heigh-O,
And get safe to the Lowlands low."
Then up spoke the middy of The Golden Vanity,
High diddle-dee as the winds blow low,
"What will be my reward if I sink the French gallee ,
And get safe to the Lowlands low, heigh-O,
And get safe to the lowlands low?"
Then up spoke the captain of the Golden Vanity,
High diddle-dee as the winds blow low,
"We will give you all estate in the North Countree
When we come from the Lowlands low, heigh-O,
When we come from the Lowlands low."
They wrapped him up in a goat's skin,
High diddle-dee as the winds blow low,
And threw him overboard to let him sink or swim
And set sail for the Lowlands low, heigh-O,
And set sail for the Lowlands low.
He turned him around in the raging sea.
High diddle-dee as the winds blow low,
And soon came up to the French gallee
As she sailed for the Lowlands low, heigh-O,
As she sailed for the Lowlands low.
The Frenchmen were playing at cards and dice,
High diddle-dee as the winds blow low,
When he pulled out an instrument and sent then in a trice
And they never reached the Lowlands low, heigh-O,
And they never reached the Lowlands low.
He turned him around in the raging seas,
High diddle-dee as the winds blow low,
And soon came up with The Golden Vanity
As she sailed for the Lowlands low, heigh-O,
As she sailed for the Lowlands low.
"Now throw me a rope and take me up on board.,"
High diddle-dee as the winds blow low,
"And prove to me as good as your word"
When I've come from the Lowlands low, heigh-O,
When I've come from the Lowlands low."
"No, no," said the captain, "we want you not on board,',
High diddle-dee as the winds blow low,
"Now we will prove as good as our word
'When I've come from the Lowlands low, heigh-O,
When I've come from the Lowlands low."
"Then just as I served the French gallee,"
High diddle-dee as the winds blow low,
"Just so will I serve the Golden Vanity.
I shall never reach the Lowlands low, heigh-O;
I shall never reach the Lowlands low."
So they threw a rope and took him up on board.,
High diddle-dee as the winds blow low,
And proved to him much better than their word
When they came from the Lowlands low, heigh-O,
When they came from the Lowlands low.
The gallant middy was never so happy in his life,
High diddle-dee as the winds blow low,
As when he got the daughter of the captain for his wife,
When he came from the Lowlands low, heigh-O,
When he came from the Lowlands low.
1 Pronounced Van-i-tee.