Sinking in the Lowlands Low- DeCoster (ME) 1925 Barry B
[From Barry and all in British Ballads from Maine, 1929. This ballad is found throughout across the US dating back to the early to mid 1800s. The chorus,
As we sailed along the lowlands, lowlands, lowlands,
As we sailed along the lowlands low.
as above or in a similar form was attached to different songs. Certainly a date going back to the 1700s is possible but yet not documented. Barry et all (see below in notes) comment: "One could hardly have better evidence of the date when it came to America. 'With the very first emigrants' is the only answer."
They also add: During the Civil War "lowlands," variously rewritten, was one of the most popular songs.
R. Matteson 2014]
THE GOLDEN VANITY
(Child 286)
"The Golden Vanity" appears to be entirely traditional in Maine. We know no copy in any broadside or early songbook, yet the song was known all over Maine, particularly along the coast, and even to the shores of the St. Lawrence; but we did not happen to find it on the Border, possibly because we saw none of the fishermen. We have not found the "happy ending" of Child B. Instead, our copies end with the death and burial of the intrepid cabin boy. None of Child's traditional copies are very old, and it may be that the American version is as much older than the happy ending versions as it is more effective in singing. During the Civil War "lowlands," variously rewritten, was one of the most popular songs.
This is another of the songs found equally along the Maine seacoast and in the Appalachian highlands; and like those notieed before, it is one of the older ballads, well known in England at a period before the emigration to America began. Indeed the subject matter insures its having been exceedingly popular at just the period when the English settlers were thronging to America; for in one version it is the Turk who is the enemy, and in the other it is Sir Walter Raleigh who is the hero, and both Turk and Raleigh, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, were what today would be called "front-page stories."
Though Walter Raleigh might be called almost the patron of all early adventurers to Virginia, the A-text of Child, bearing his name, does not seem as popular as the other text about the Golden Vanity. Copies containing some mangled form of the name of The Sweet Trinity are found in the South, but in New England the Golden Vanity is usually understood to be the vessel's name, indicating a preference for Child's B text. We do not recall a copy containing the line, "In the Neatherlands," so characteristic of Child A, but always, "the Lowlands" as in B. After all, except for the difference in the burdens, the two versions are closely similar. What is important is that a song which must have reached the height of its popularity in England at the period when colonists were leaving for the New World, should be found in the characteristic "split" texts in the southern Highlands balancing other not dissimilar texts found on the Maine seacoast. One could hardly have better evidence of the date when it came to America. "With the very first emigrants" is the only answer.
B. "SINKING IN THE LOWLANDS LOW" sent in by Justin DeCoster, Buckfield, 1925.
1 There was a ship a-sailing in the northern seas,
All in the Lowlands low;
The name of this ship was the Golden Rea,
A-sailing in the Lowlands low, Lowlands low,
A-sailing in the Lowlands low'
2 They had not sailed more miles than three,
All in the Lowlands low;
They had not sailed more miles than three
Till they came up with the French gener-ree [1]
That was cruising in the Lowlands, Lowlands,
A-cruising in the Lowlands low'
3 Up stepped Jack, the little cabin boy,
Of the Lowlands 1ow;
Up stepped Jack, the little cabin boy
"What will you give me if that ship I will destroy,
And sink it in the Lowlands, Lowlands low,
And sink it in the Lowlands low?"
4 The captain said: "I'll give you gold and I will give you fees,
All in the Lowlands low;
I'll give you gold and I will give you fees,
And my eldest daughter your bride shall be,
If you will sink it in the lowlands low, Lowlands low,
if you will sink it in the Lowlands low'"
5 Jack jumped into the waves and away swam he,
All in the Lowlands low;
Jack jumped into the waves and away swam he,
Till he came up to that French gener-ree
That was sailing in the Lowlands, Lowlands low,
That was sailing in the Lowlands low.
6 Jack had an auger that was made on the shore,
All in the Lowlands low;
Jack had an auger that was made on the shore,
While he was boring one hole, it would bore twenty-four;
She began to sink in the Lowlands low, Lowland low,
She began to sink in the Lowlands low.
7 Some waved their hats and some waved their caps,
All in the Lowlands low;
Some waved their hats and some waved their caps,
Some was trying to stop up the salt-water gaps;
Jack sunk her in the Lowlands low, Lowlands low,
She sank in the Lowlands low.
1. galley (ship) to gallery to generie