The Weeping Willow Tree- Fish (NH) 1940 Flanders V
[Her ancestors (Bourne family) were some of the earliest settlers in the Vermont area in the 1600s so the source of this ballad could be very old (see bio below). The ballad has been "arranged" by Fish from traditional sources- probably her father. The arrangement includes a happy ending for the little cabin boy, probably Fish's creation. Below are Coffin's introductory notes from Flanders' Ancient Ballads. This ballad covers over 80 pages, the most extensive collection published.
[From: AirondackMusic.org] Lena Bourne Fish, or “Grammy Fish” as she was known, grew up in the town of Black Brook and spent the first 24 years of her life in the northeastern section of the Adirondack Park. It was there that she inherited an immense song repertoire that had been “kept in (her) family for more than two hundred years.”
Song collectors Anne and Frank Warner, Helen Hartness Flanders and Marguerite Olney visited and recorded Mrs Fish’s singing in the early 1940s, when she was living in East Jaffrey, New Hampshire in her late sixties. She sang nearly 100 songs for the Warners over four recording sessions, and it is from those recordings that we have the two songs below.
Lena learned her songs from many places but, like numerous other Adirondack singers, an early and very important source was her own family. Her father, Stratton Bourne, was a lumber salesman in the Adirondacks, supplying wood to the iron trade for charcoal. He had songs, Irish and otherwise, he’d learned from the men he worked with and encountered in the woods. Uncle Butler Bourne, who lived alone on Whiteface Mountain in his later years, was said to have had a “chest full” of songs that he passed down to his nieces. Mrs. Fish no doubt learned pieces from other family members, neighbors and friends as well.
Mrs. Fish, who was often ill and fearful for her health as she grew older, had something of a miraculous recovery after her visits from folksong collectors. The attention created interest from the community at large in her songs, which led to public performances at community events and schools. She started a mimeographed song newsletter called “The Dreamer,” and the last years of her life were busy and happy. With several notebooks filled with handwritten lyrics and a head full of tunes and song associations, Lena Bourne Fish took her role as keeper of an old and rare repertoire seriously, and old and rare it was; many of her songs have not been found elsewhere in North America.
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.
V. "The Weeping Willow Tree" Sent by Mrs. Lena Bourne Fish of East Jaffrey, New Hampshire, whose father, Stratton Bourne, was born in northern Vermont. Copied literatim et punctatim. H. H. F., Collector; 1940 Structure: A B C D E Fb (2,2,2,2,2,2); Rhyrhm D; Contour: undulating; Scale: major; t. c. D. Footnote: On May 9, 1940, Miss Olney recorded this song from Mrs. Fish in almost identical form, as did Mrs. Flanders on November 6, 1940, and on January 5, 1943. (See tune.)
The Weeping Willow Tree
One of the old songs that I have in my possession is entitled "The Weeping Willow Tree." The Weeping Willow Tree is the name of a ship that is said to have been built and launched in Virginia in the days of Sir Walter Raleigh. It is a tale of the lowlands of Virginia and Sir Walter Raleigh is said to have named and superintended the building of the ship. I have never put the song with any collection of old songs that I have arranged as I thought it was so old that no one would care for it. But when I see the collectors of old songs have listed it as a rare old song and that few copies of the original are now in existence, I have recopied it, and have come to the conclusion that songs are like friends they have to be old to be really good.
A Trading ship was fashioned
To sail the southern sea
Down in the lowland low.
She was straight and she was handsome
And prim as prim could be
And the name of the ship was the Weeping Willow Tree.
Her crew were hardy seamen as brave as brave could be
Boys from the lowlands low,
Her decks were broad and wide, and were white as white could be
And on her sails was printed a weeping willow tree
She was fashioned in the lowlands, lowlands low
And was born to ride the wave heigh ho,
This worthy ship was chosen to sail the Spanish main
Far from the lowland low
The captain he was shrewd and was also proud and vain
And he hoped by his shrewd dealing a fortune for to gain
With the ship built in the lowland, lowlands low
That was born to ride the wave heigh ho
Now as this ship was sailing down on the southern sea
Far from the lowland low
They met a Spanish ship called the Royal Castilee,
And they jeered at the crew of The Weeping Willow Tree,
That was faishn [1] in the lowland, lowland low
And was built to ride the wave hey ho.
The Captain called his cabin boy as he had done before
A lad from the lowlands low
And he said boy you can swim and your stroke is swift and sure
So the saucy Spanish ship it shall never reach the shore
For we'll sink them in the ocean low, low, low
We will sink them in the ocean low.
So take in hand an auger and swim out to the side
For we're from the lowlands low,
And then you bore a hole that shall be both deep and wide
For I am bound to humble the Spanish Sailor's pride
And we'll sink them in the ocean low,low, low,
We will sink them in the ocean low.
So this was the end of the Royal Castilee
She Sank in the ocean low
Her lofty sails so wide and her haughty air so free
Both were buried in the depths of the raging southern
For they sank her in the ocean low, low, low
They sank her in the ocean low.
The cabin boy exclaimed sir, I now demand my fee
You knave from the lowlands low,
So five hundred lb [2] in gold you now must give to me
And I also am first mate of the Weeping Willow Tree
For I sank them in the ocean low, low, low,
I sank them in the ocean low
You'll get no gold from me lad for causing the wreck
You thief from the low lands low
So he took the cabin boy the nape of the neck
And he flung him in the sea from the Weeping Willow's deck
That was fashioned in lowland, lowland low
And was built[3] to ride the waves hey ho
Bur he still carried his auger as he had done before
The lad from the lowland low
His heart was filled with vengeance his aim was swift and sure
So instead of boring one hole, he bored twenty-four
In the ship built lowlands, lowlands low
That was born to ride the wave hey ho
The worthy trading ship was 200 leagues from shore
Far from the lowlands low
So the Captain and the crew they never reached the shore
And the wild seemed to say fare thee well for evermore
To the ship built in the lowland, lowlands low
That was born to ride the waves hey ho
But one brave hardy sailor escaped the raging sea
A lad from the lowlands low
He was picked up by a ship so it has been told to me
And so he told the fate of the Weeping Willow Tree
That was fashioned in the lowland, lowlands low
And was built [3] to ride the wave hey ho
1. fashioned= built
2. pounds
3. originally spelled- buit