This has been in my family a long time. Two or three of my mother's people sang it to me and, as usual, each had a different version. I've sung it all my singing life, and I hope it never leaves me. This is probably the fourth tune I've sung to it; it's a derivation of a tune Bob Stuart thought he learned from a book ... He didn't know he couldn't read music at the time. The words are a mixture of various family versions. The only version I can place is the "Some were playing poker ... " verse - from my aunt Ethewyn, but even that has probably changed. (If I replace "her" with "him," ,it's because we often speak of a vessel of another country as "he" - "the Spaniard," "the Frenchman," etc., as though we were talking of the man that sails her. Don't know why. (G.B.)i>
There was a lofty ship and they
put her out to sea,
And the name of the ship was the
Golden Vanity,
And they sailed her on the
low lands, low lands low,
They sailed her on the lowland
sea.
And she had not been sailing but
two weeks or three
When she was overtaken by a Turkish
Revelry
As she sailed along the lowland,
lowland low,
As she sailed along the lowland
sea.
Then boldly up spoke our little
cabin boy,
Saying, "What would you give me
if the galley I destroy?
If I sink her in the lowland,
lowland low,
If I sink her in the lowland sea?"
"To the man that them destroys," our
Captain then replied,
"Five thousand pounds and my daughter
for his bride,
If he'll sink them in the lowland,
lowland low,
If he'll sink them in the lowland
sea."
Well, the boy he made ready, and
overboard went he,
And he swam to the side of the
Turkish enemy
As she lay along the lowlands,
lowlands low,
As she lay along the lowland sea.
And he had a brace and auger made
for the use,
And he bored nine holes in her hull
all at once
As she lay along the lowland,
lowland low,
As she lay along the lowland sea.
And some were playing poker and some
were playing dice;
Some were in their hammocks, and the
sea as cold as ice,
And the water rushed in and it
dazzled to their eyes,
They were sinking in the lowland
sea.
Well, he swam back to his ship and he
beat upon the side,
Crying, "Shipmates, take me up, for
I'm wearied with the tide,
And I'm weary of the lowlands,
lowlands low,
I'm weary of the lowland sea."
"Well, I'll not pick you up," the
Captain then replied,
"I'll shoot you, I'll drown you, I'll
sink you in the tide;
I will sink you in the lowland,
lowland low,
I will sink you in the lowland sea."
"If it was not for the love that I
bear for your men,
I'd do unto you as I did unto them;
I would sink you in the lowland,
lowland low,
I would sink you in the lowland
sea."
The boy bowed his head; down sank
he,
He said farewell to the Golden
Vanity
As she lay along the lowland,
lowland low,
As she lay along the lowland sea.
(repeat first verse)-