The Lowlands Of Holland- Curtis (NL) 1951 Leach
[From MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada. Online notes follow.
R. Matteson 2012, 2015]
Variant of an 18th century Scottish traditional, Bonny Bee Hom [Child Ballad #92] The English And Scottish Popular Ballads (1882-1898) edited by Francis James Child (Dover, 1965). Also a variant of a 19th century Scottish broadside ballad, The Lowlands of Holland, printed by the Poet's Box (Dundee) c.1890, and archived at the National Library of Scotland, shelfmark: RB.m.143(121) Collected in 1951 from Harry Curtis of Trepassey, NL, and published in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA).
A variant was recorded by Anita Best and Pamela Morgan [b.1957] of Grand Falls, NL, (The Colour Of Amber, 1991; ECMA Album Of The Year, 1993)
The Lowlands Of Holland- Collected by MacEdward Leach in 1951 from Harry Curtis of Trepassey, NL
Listen: http://www.mun.ca/folklore/leach/sounds/NFLD2/9A-06_51.mp3
Those that I loved as I assure them I'll never be content,
Till the salt seas will be frozen before I will repent;
Repent I will forever until my dying day,
For the lowlands of Holland parted my love from me.
Now my love he built a bonny ship and put her on the sea,
With seven score good mariners to bring her home again;
The weary winds began to blow and the seas began to run,
Now my love and his bonny ship hard weather's tossed about.
Now my love he built another ship and put her on the main,
With seven score good mariners to bear her company;
They were three of them got drownded and the others died at sea,
For the lowlands of Holland parted my love from me.
Said the mother to her daughter, "Dear, who do you sad lament,
For there's lotsa men in this country who'll with you be content."
If there's lots of men in this country there is none of them for me,
For the lowlands of Holland parted my love from me.
Now there'll never be a cap on my head or a haircomb in my hair,
Nor will there be a candlelight shine in my bedroom more;
Nor will I love another man until my dying day,
For the man that I love dearly is sleeping in the sea.