The Lowlands Low- Evilsizer (MI) 1935 Gardner
From: Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan; Gardner and Chickering]
82 THE LOWLANDS LOW
(The Sweet Trinity; The Golden Vanity, Child, No. 286)
This version is most similar to Child C. According to notes concerning the two texts of this ballad in The Roxburghe Ballads, VI, 418-421, extant broadsides of the song are not earlier than about 1682, although it may have appeared as early as 1663. For a Scottish text see Ord, p. 450. For other texts and references see Bulletin, V, p.-11; Greenleaf and Mansfield, p. 43; Henry, JAFL, XLV, 25-29; and Randolph, pp. 177-180. The present version was sung in 1935 by Mr. Otis Evilsizer, Alger.
1 There was a ship that was sailing on the sea,
And the name of the ship was the Green Willow Tree,
That was sailing on the lowlands, lowlands low,
That was sailing on the lowlands low.
2 There was another ship that was sailing on the sea,
And the name of the ship was the Turkish Revelry,
That was sailing on the lowlands, lowlands low,
That was sailing on the lowlands low.
3 "O captain, O captain, what will you give to me
If I will sink this ship they call the Turkish Revelry,
If I sink them in the lowlands, lowlands low,
If I sink them in the lowlands low?"
4 "O I will give you gold, and I will give you free,
And my youngest daughter your wedded wife shall be,
If you sink them in the lowlands, lowlands low,
If you sink them in the lowlands low."
5 So he bent his breast and away went he
From the ship called the Green Willow Tree,
For to sink them in the lowlands, lowlands low,
For to sink them in the lowlands low.
6 He had a little instrument he carried with him,
And he bored nine holes in the stern end of it,
For to sink them in the lowlands, lowlands low,
For to sink them in the lowlands low.
7 Then he bent his breast and away went he
From the Turkish ship they call the Revelry,
For he had sunk them in the lowlands, lowlands low,
For he had sunk them in the lowlands low.
8 "O captain, O captain, will you take me on board
And be unto me as good as your word,
For I've sank them in the lowlands, lowlands low,
For I've sank them in the lowlands low?"
9 "O no, I'll not take you on board,
Nor be unto you as good as my word,
For you've sank them in the lowlands, lowlands low,
For you've sank them in the lowlands low."
10 Then he bent his breast and away went he,
From the ship they call the Green Willow Tree,
Farewell to the lowlands, lowlands low,
Farewell to the lowlands low.