Lowlands

(Lowlands Away / Lowlands Low)

I dreamed a dream the other night Ch: Lowlands, Lowlands, hurrah, my John I dreamed a dream the other night Ch: My Lowlands, away! I dreamt I saw my own true love, I dreamt I saw my own true love. He was green and wet with weeds so cold, He was green and wet with weeds so cold. "I am drowned in the Lowland seas," he said, "I am drowned in the Lowland seas," he said. "I shall never kiss you again," he said, "I shall never kiss you again," he said. I will cut my breasts until they bleed, I will cut my breasts until they bleed. I will cut away my bonny hair, I will cut away my bonny hair. No other man shall think me fair, No other man shall think me fair. O my love lies drowned in the windy Lowlands, O my love lies drowned in the windy Lowlands.

Lowlands, II

We're bound away to Mobile Bay Ch: My dollar and a half a day Oh was you ever in Mobile Bay Ch: Lowlands, lowlands, a-way, my John A-screwing cotton by the day Ch: My dollar and a half a day A dollar and a half is a black man's pay, A dollar a day is a white man's pay The white man's pay is rather high The black man's pay is rather low. Oh my mother she wrote to me, She wrote to me to come home from sea.

The narrative of this slow ballad took many forms, and only a few have been included here. Some forms tell the story of a drowned sailor or a deceased lover. Some forms do not aim to tell a cohesive story.

Professor Gibb Schreffler provides thoughtful context for the song in an article “Twentieth Century Editors and the Re-envisioning of Chanties: A Case Study of ‘Lowlands [Away]’”. Schreffler advances the viewpoint that the shanty tradition was borne in African-American work songs and minstreldom before being co-opted by sailors and, later, writers. He notes that earlier written versions of the song were based around the line my dollar and half a day, while later versions coerced it into the story-ballad tradition and were rife with plagiarism.

Frank Shay (An American Sailor's Treasury) associates Lowlands (II) with American sailors and their grumbling sentiments. “Hoosier” may be an accessible substitute for “white man”.