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Lowlands of Holland
The Lowlands of Holland
[
Roud 484
; Master title: The Lowlands of Holland
; G/D 6:1116
; Henry H180
; Ballad Index R083
; Bodleian
Roud 484
; Wiltshire
883
; DT LOWHOLLD
, LOWHOLL2
; Mudcat 79881
; trad.]
Sabine Baring-Gould, Henry Fleetwood Sheppard: Songs of the West Norman Buchan: 101 Scottish Songs James Kinsley: The Oxford Book of Ballads Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger: Travellers’ Songs From England and Scotland Roy Palmer: Folk Songs collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams Roy Palmer: The Valiant Sailor Frank Purslow: Marrow Bones James Reeves: The Everlasting Circle Stephen Sedley: The Seeds of Love Cecil J. Sharp: One Hundred English Folksongs
Cynthia Gooding sang The Lowlands of Holland in 1953 on her Elektra album of early English folksongs, Queen of Hearts. She noted:
The Lowlands of Holland is one of many songs about a girl mourning her lover who has been shipwrecked. The Child Ballad, Bonny Bee Hom (No. 92), tells the same story and the fourth verse [“No shoes nor stockings I’ll put on…”] is common to many songs of this type. There are also several American versions.
Bella Higgins of Blairgowrie, Perthshire, sang The Lowlands of Holland to Hamish Henderson in 1954. This recording from the School of Scottish Studies Archive (SA1954/102 (B1)) was included in 2005 on the Kyloe anthology Hamish Henderson Collects. The album’s booklet noted:
First published in Herd’s Scottish Songs (1769), and later included in volume 2 of Johnson’s Scots Musical Museum, this song, which is sometimes confused with the ballad Bonny Bee Horn (Roud 3885, Child 92), has clearly been popular with Scottish Travellers, Hamish Henderson also recorded a version from Duncan Burke, a Perthshire Traveller, while Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger collected a set from Jeannie Thompson, born 1904, a sister-in-law of the singer Belle Stewart (Travellers’ Songs From England and Scotland, London, 1977, pp. 78-81). Belle’s daughter, Sheila MacGregor (née Stewart) learnt part of the song from Bella Higgins, her aunt, and this is included in MacColl & Seeger Till Doomsday in the Afternoon (Manchester, 1986. pp. 171-72).
Charlotte Higgins of Blairgowrie sang The Lowlands of Lowlands in 1955 to Maurice Fleming (SA1955.016.3), described as “a sea ballad which was learned by Charlotte from a relative when she was sixteen”. This recording was included in 2011 on the Greentrax anthology Songs and Ballads From Perthshire Field Recordings of the 1950s (Scottish Tradition 24).
Paddy Tunney sang The Lowlands of Holland to Diane Hamilton in Summer 1955 in Beleek, Northern Ireland. This recording was included in 1956 on the Tradition album of folk songs and dances from the Irish countryside, The Lark in the Morning. He also sang it in a Peter Kennedy recording on the anthology Sailormen and Servingmaids (The Folk Songs of Britain Volume 6; Caedmon 1961; Topic 1970). A 1965 studio recording made by Dick Swetenam and Bill Leader at Olympic Studios, London, was released on his 1966 Topic album The Irish Edge and was included on the 1998 Topic anthology My Ship Shall Sail the Ocean (The Voice of the People Volume 2). Sean O’Boyle noted on Tunney’s Topic album:
This is a Scots press gang song naturalised in Ireland. Hence, being an Irish singer, Paddy Tunney naturally sings of ‘Galway’ where the original text speaks of ‘Galloway’. The Holland in the song is New Holland, or the East Indies:
Where the sugar cane is plentiful
And the tea grows on each tree.Versions of The Lowlands of Holland are to be found in every part of Britain and Ireland. Texts with various tunes have been published in Folk Songs From Somerset (No. 44), Herbert Hughes’ Irish Country Songs (Vol. ii, 70) and Joyce’s Old Irish Folk Music and Songs (p. 214). Cecil Sharp collected a fragmentary version of it at Nash, Virginia, and published it in English Folk Songs From the Southern Appalachians, Vol 1 (p. 200). The beautiful air here used is sometimes cheapened by being sung in marching time, but Paddy’s tempo, learned traditionally from his mother, is very much in keeping with the feeling of the words. Like so many of Paddy’s songs, the tune is Doh mode hexatonic.
Isla Cameron sang The Lowlands of Holland in 1956 on her Tradition album Through Bushes and Briars.
Ewan MacColl sang a variant of this song called The Cold Coast of Greenland on his and A.L. Lloyd’s 1957 Riverside album Thar She Blows!, and Shirley Collins sang a shortened three-verse version of this as The Spermwhale Fishery on her 1960 LP False True Lovers and on her 1964 EP English Songs Vol. 2.
Shirley Bland sang Lowlands of Holland in 1963 in The Galliards’ album England’s Great Folk Group. Jimmie Macgregor noted:
Shirley sings here a version of this very old ballad which was collected in Medstead, Hampshire, by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Paddie Bell sang The Lowlands of Holland on her 1965 album Paddie—Herself.
Martin Carthy sang Lowlands of Holland in 1966 on his Second Album and re-released in 1970 on the anthology Shades of Folk and in 1999 on the Martin Carthy compilation CD A Collection. A 1984 BBC live recording was released in 2013 on his Delphonic download album Live in Whitby 1984. Carthy noted on the first record:
Until well into the last century the only way of keeping the Royal Navy up to strength was by pressing men into service, and press gangs terrorised the coastal towns in search of likely young men to serve on board. Although this service was ostensibly for the duration of a campaign, in practice it was more often a life sentence. Apparently the system was never officially abolished by act of Parliament.
Norma Watersons sang a different version of Lowlands of Holland in 1996 on Waterson:Carthy’s second album, Common Tongue. Waterson:Carthy also sang Lowlands of Holland at Peggy Seeger’s 70th birthday; a recording of this concert was released in 2007 on Three Score and Ten. Martin Carthy noted on the first album:
The big mystery facing anyone who sings The Lowlands of Holland appears at the very moment that person tries to decide where they are; the Lowlands of Holland, that is. It was an extremely hot day in Holland when the sugar cane was plentiful and tea grew on trees. An alternative might be Australia (the fact that ti trees grow there is almost too tempting to ignore), but perhaps the Caribbean would be closer. Surinam perhaps. There were endless territorial squabbles among the British, French, Dutch and Spaniards, and the press-gang was always super-busy. Norma’s way of doing it is based on a version in Pedlar’s Pack found originally in Hull.
Sandy Denny recorded Lowlands of Holland twice for the BBC; both times unaccompanied. One version was part of the session for the BBC Radio One show “Sounds of the Seventies”, hosted by Bob Harris, recorded on 24 August 1971 and broadcast on 6 September 1971. It appeared first in 1997 on the The BBC Sessions 1971-73 and was also included in 2004 on Fledg’ling’s 5 CD Sandy Denny anthology A Boxful of Treasures and in 2007 on her 3 CD+DVD set Live at the BBC. The other BBC version dates back to Sandy’s time with Fotheringay in November 1970. It was recorded for BBC Radio “Sounds of the Seventies”, hosted by Bob Harris, on 15 November and broadcast on 21 November. This recording was included in 2015 on Fotheringay’s Universal anthology Nothing More and in 2016 on Sandy’s anthology I’ve Always Kept a Unicorn.
Steeleye Span recorded quite another song about press gangs with the same title Lowlands of Holland in 1970 for their first album Hark! The Village Wait. The record’s sleeve notes commented:
Although it happens quite often in the field of folk music that many versions of a particular song are reported, it is rare that, so in the case of of Lowlands of Holland, completely differing story lines are recorded. James Reeves (The Everlasting Circle) suggests that “there may have been an original in which a young bridegroom is pressed for service in the Netherlands, but in some of the later versions Holland appears to have become New Holland, the former name for Australia, which has perhaps been confused with the Dutch East Indies.” The words of the version we perform refer to Galloway (Scotland) but the song crops up in all parts of the British Isles. Our tune was learned from Andy Irvine, a former member of Sweeney’s Men. Ashley Hutchings: “It’s no more than coincidence that there are two songs [this and All Things Are Quite Silent] on the album about press gangs, and this one was suggested by Terry & Gay.”
A Steeleye Span live recording from St. David’s Hall, Cardiff on 6 December 1994 can be found on the video 25 Live: The Classic Twenty Fifth Anniversary Tour Concert. Another live recording from The Forum, London on 2 September 1995 was released on the CD The Journey.
Martin Carter sang The Lowlands of Holland in 1972 on his Traditional Sound album Ups & Downs.
Ian Manuel sang The Lowlands of Holland in 1972 on his Topic album The Frosty Ploughshare. A.L. Lloyd noted:
The songs of itinerant farm workers, sailors, tramps, travellers and suchlike men on the move, are a class apart from the lyrics of settled, domesticated peasant smallholders, with their personal emotional problems and family cares. In some respects, The Lowlands of Holland (first printed in the eighteenth century) lies on the frontier between the settled and the unsettled, the domestic and the uprooted. It’s a poignant piece, with a gorgeous hexatonic tune, that doubtless commanded a hush in many a bothy dormitory of a winter night.
Johnny Collins and Company sang Lowlands of Holland in 1975 on his Traditional Sound album Johnny’s Private Army. He noted:
One of the first traditional English songs I learned. I’ve been searching ever since for a girl with the money and inclination to buy me an ocean-going yacht. As the chap in the song gets drowned in verse three it’s perhaps as well that I haven’t yet found her.
Swan Arcade sang Lowlands of Holland on their 1976 album Matchless.
Dave Burland sang The Lowlands of Holland in 1978 on Hedgehog Pie’s album Just Act Normal. He also sang The Lowlands of Holland in 1996 on his CD Benchmark, where he noted:
It may be that because we are an island race, many of our songs are about the sea. The Lowlands of Holland has nothing to do with the Netherlands, being a song about New Holland or Australia as it was later known.
Gordon Tyrrall sang The Lowlands of Holland in 1978 on his Hill & Dale album Farewell to Foggy Hills. He noted:
Thought to be of Scottish origin but there are also some fine English and Irish versions. The guitar is in standard tuning, with the sixth string dropped to D.
Dolores Keane sang The Low Low Lands of Holland in 1979 on her and John Faulkner’s Mulligan album Broken Hearted I’ll Wander. She noted:
“Says the mother to the daughter give o’er your sore lament.
There are men enough in Galway to be your hearts content.”I think the mention of Galway in this song gave it a local touch for me. There are of course many versions of it and the place name in the above line often changes according to the preference of the singer.
Peggy Seeger sang The Lowlands of Holland in 1986 on Ewan MacColl’s and her album Blood & Roses Volume 4. She noted:
Child 92, Bonny Bee Hum, is a rather discursive and unsatisfactory narrative of lovers meeting, exchanging tokens, parting and dying. It would seem that Lowlands of Holland in its standard form—comprising the first section of Bonny Bee Horn—emerged around 1740. It may have been used—consciously or unconsciously, in the folk manner—as a basis for a Galloway widow’s lament upon the death of her husband on a voyage to Holland. Whatever its origin, its short burst of lyric despair is far more effective than the longer parent ballad. I learned this version from the singing of Mrs. Carrie Grove, a Maine ballad singer. I have changed it considerably over the years so that it is now far more ornamented.
Maggie Boyle sang Lowlands of Holland on her 1987 album Reaching Out.
Patti Reid sang Lowlands of Holland in 1987 on her eponymous Fellside album Patti Reid.
Brian Peters sang The Lowlands of Holland in 1992 on his Harbourtown CD The Seeds of Time. He noted:
The Lowlands of Holland highlights the unchanging pain felt through the ages by lovers separated through warfare that is no direct concern of theirs, and was nicked from Haydn Thompson. I’m told Sedley’s The Seeds of Love is one source for this version.
Caledon sang The Lowlands of Holland on their 1996 CD The Noble Trousers. They noted:
There are many versions of this song but Davy [Steele] learnt this one from his grandfather. It is most like a version from Derry which is where Patsy [Seddon]’s grandfather was from.
Old Blind Dogs sang The Lowlands of Holland in 1997 on their Lochshore CD Five.
The Fraser Sisters (Fi Fraser and Jo Freya) sang The Lowlands of Holland in 1998 on their eponymous No Masters CD The Fraser Sisters. They noted:
This song has one of the most beautiful tunes, and we first heard it sung by our ex-aunty Annie Power (our uncle’s partner at the time). We loved it so much that we recorded it at our first attempt to produce a Fraser Sisters album ten years ago. When we finally looked as though we were going to get the project off the ground this song was at the top of our list. Geography and history not being one of our strong points it took us a while to figure out why tea was growing on every tree. Apparently the reference is to part of Africa/Asia/errr… we think, anyway it is definitely not the Holland we know with the windmills etc.
Nancy Kerr and James Fagan sang Lowlands of Holland in 1999 on their Fellside CD Steely Water. They noted:
One of the classic tales of lovers parted, with a particularly courageous female protagonist who abandons the conventions of love, marriage and beauty in favour of an austere and chaste existence. Nancy learned this version from her mum; the origins of the melody are uncertain but it may be from Somerset, while the words are close to those in Child and other collections.
Heather Heywood sang Lowlands of Holland in 2000 on her Tradition Bearers CD Lassies Fair and Laddies Braw. She noted:
I learned this from Martin Carthy, but at some point I started to sing it to a different tune.
Sally Doherty sang The Low Lowlands of Holland on her 2002 album Black Is the Colour.
Tom and Barbara Brown sang Lowlands of Holland in 2005 on their WildGoose CD Tide of Change. They noted:
Reality of a different kind crashes in on another heroine, in the ballad-soliloquy The Lowlands of Holland. Should we quote the Child number? the Laws or Roud? nah, look it up if need be! The Lowlands of Holland, of course, were the Dutch East Indies you don’t get a very good crop of sugar-cane in the Netherlands! This version was published in Herbert Hughes’ Irish Country Songs (1915) with what appears to be one of the standard tunes except that on manuscript it staggers, with unpredictable irregularity, between 4/4 and 5/4. The tune became an intellectual challenge until it came alive again of itself, astonishing us with the resultant ethereal intensity and poignancy of the song. The version was collected in County Derry but, sadly, we don’t know who from.
Emily Smith’s words of The Lowlands of Holland on her 2005 CD A Different Life are quite similar to Steeleye Span’s lyrics. She noted:
I found the words to this tragic song in Robert Ford’s Vagabond Songs and Ballads of Scotland in which he states that the song was originally written by a young woman from Galloway whose husband was lost to the sea on a voyage across to Holland.
Mary Humphreys and Anahata sang Lowlands of Germany in 2006 on their WildGoose CD Fenlandia. Mary Humphreys noted:
Collected by H.E.D. Hammond from William Bartlett of Wimborne Dorset in 1905 and published in Bronson’s Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads. It is a press-gang song that has fused with Lowlands of Holland and is remarkably similar to that found in Herd’s Scottish Songs (1776).
Keith Kendrick sang Lowlands of Holland in 2006 on his WildGoose CD Songs From the Derbyshire Coast. He noted:
Likely the first British traditional song I ever sang in public—thanks to Martin Carthy for his early recorded performance (and much, much more) and Tom Addison for leading me to it. Good on yer chaps!
Craig Morgan Robson sang The Lowlands of Holland on the 2009 WildGoose CD of songs collected by George Gardiner from five woman singers in Axford, Hampshire, The Axford Five. They noted:
From Mrs. Goodyear
Gardiner collected other versions of both text and tune in Hampshire. The song exists in many forms. It appears in Herd, Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, II, 1776, p 2; and Johnson, Scots Musical Museum II, 1788, p 118 (No. 115). The song may have been based in part on a broadside ballad, The Seaman’s Sorrowful Bride, printed in London for J Deacon, Guilt-spur-street, c. 1683.
Jim Moray sang Lowlands of Holland on his 2010 CD In Modern History.
Rosaleen Gregory sang The Lowlands of Holland in 2012 on her first album of Child ballads, Sheath and Knife. She noted:
Strictly speaking, this is a broadside ballad, perhaps originally forming part of a longer narrative ballad but now standing by itself as one of numerous 18th and early 19th century laments for lovers forced into active service by the notorious ‘press-gangs’ whose job it was to round up the ‘cannon fodder’ needed to keep Britain ‘mistress of the seas’.
Tan Yows sang The Lowlands of Holland on their 2012 CD Undipped. They noted:
The Lowlands of Holland reflects the sadness of a young bride whose love has been lost at sea. Original vocal melody by Tim Hart.
Maggie Reilly sang The Lowlands of Holland (verses 1, 2 and 4 from Herd’s Scottish Songs) in 2007 on the bonus CD of her Hypertension album Rowan.
Martha Tilston sang The Lowlands of Holland in 2014 on her CD The Sea. She noted:
Through the Whately side of my family, I grew up listening to Geordie songs. The Whately gang also had a strong affiliation to Ireland and its music. Singing was often part of family get-togethers in my childhood—Aunty Bean would sing On Our Island when we were down in Zennor, with a glass of wine in her hand and all the kids were mesmerised.
I was aware that Kev[in Whatley] was a folk singer as well and spent some time in Ireland when he was young playing music—I’m sure there was some story about camping on the dunes playing in a pub most nights in Ireland for their dinner—?
I asked Kev if he wanted to be involved in the project and to my delight he said yes. One of the songs he suggested was Lowlands of Holland and this instantly felt right for a family album, as I had grown up listening to Maggie [Boyle]’s version of it. The project was starting to weave into an interesting net of shared songs, bloodd lines, and the sea.
Kev knew the Martin Carthy version better so I combined what I remembered of the version Maggie sang with the Carthy version and out of that evolved our arrangement—and what a lovely voice Kev has.
Gudrun Walther and Jürgen Treyz sang Lowlands of Holland on their 2017 CD Duo. They noted:
A very popular traditional anti-war song from a woman’s perspective—the husband is pressed to fight in the army and never returns from the war. According to most sources, its origins are likely to be Scottish, but it is also widely known in Ireland and England.
The interlude [Lonesome Reel] was written as a slow reel in a dressing room during a tour with our band, Cara.
John Smith sang Lowlands of Holland in 2018 on his CD Hummingbird. The lines “My love across the ocean wears a scarlet coat … and roses in his hair” in his third verse are printed on the song’s Wikipedia page. They allegedly come from a Suffolk version of the song and are supposed to refer to the Battle of Minden in 1759. The verse and explanation were added to Wikipedia in February 2015 by an anonymous author without any references. The Roud Index lists no version of this song from East Anglia, and I also can’t find any previous online or published source for these lines. So I have to suspect they are an invention of the anonymous Wikipedia author.
Ken Wilson sang The Lowlands of Holland on his 2018 CD Portraits. He noted:
A song of the Royal Navy press-gangs. Confusion reigns over which part of the world has its setting—Holland, Australia, the Carribbean? However, the song does seem to originate in Scotland!
Francy Devine sang The Lowlands o Holland on his 2020 album An Ownerless Corner of Earth. He noted:
This version of the well-known Lowlands o Holland was inspired when hearing Dundee (though a Fife lass) singer Barbara Dymock at Cullerlie, Aberdeenshire. I was very taken by it and have sung it since. Written in Scots, it is well received with audiences intrigued by its difference to more standard versions.
Fiona Ross sang The Lowlands of Holland in 2020 on her and Shane O’Mara’s CD Sunwise Turn. She noted:
According to Ford’s Vagabond Songs and Ballads of Scotland, this song was composed at the beginning of the 18th century by a young woman in Galloway whose husband drowned on a voyage to Holland. Other versions of the song mention New Holland, the name given to Australia by the Dutch in the 1600s. Indeed there are many variants of the song and the tune to which it’s sung. The tune I sing is based on Miss Admiral Gordon’s Strathspey (attributed to William Marshal), a pairing that dates back to the 18th century.
Joshua Burnell sang Lowlands of Holland on his 2021 album Seasons Vol. 2 Spring. He noted:
Britain is begrudgingly waking up to the immense and long-lasting damage caused by colonialism around the globe between the 16th and 18th centuries. Even back in Britain, thousands of lives were being shattered by its impact. The British government was making lots of money from its colonies and they were running short on sailors to go and die for the cause, so they invented the press-gang.
Impressment was the practice of kidnapping men and forcing them to join the navy. In this song, a woman tells us about the time her family was woken up in the middle of the night when a sea captain and his gang broke into their house and dragged her husband away to fight in the Anglo-Dutch wars in the Caribbean. It sounds like a good plot to a Pirates of the Caribbean sequel until you remember it actually happened.
Pretty much every folky has sung Lowlands of Holland, but I first heard it on Steeleye Span’s debut album. I’m not alone in thinking it is the ultimate folk-rock album, so this was my tribute. Well, the first of probably too many tributes. I liked the lyrics Martin Carthy sang, so used them instead and was lucky to have so many great friends to perform on it.
Lyrics
The Lowlands of Holland in Herd: Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs
My love has built a bonny ship, and set her on the sea,
With seven score good mariners to bear her company;
There’s three score is sunk, and threescore dead at sea,
And the lowlands of Holland has twin’d my love and me.
My love he built another ship, and set her on the main,
And nane but twenty mariners for to bring her hame.
But the weary wind began to rise, and the sea began to rout,
My love then and his bonny ship turn’d withershins about.
There shall neither coif come on my head, nor comb come in my hair;
There shall neither coal nor candle light shine in my bower mair,
Nor will I love another one, until the day I die,
For I never lov’d a love but one, and he’s drown’d in the sea.
O had your tongue my daughter dear, be still and be content,
There are mair lads in Galloway, ye need nae sair lament;
O! there is nane in Galloway, there’s nane at a’ for me,
For I never lov’d a love but ane, and he’s drown’d in the sea.
Charlotte Higgins sings Lowlands of Lowlands
For the first night I was married and lay on my marriage bed
There came a young sea captain and stood at my bedside,
Sayin, “Arise, arise young married man and come a-long with me
To the low, low lands of low lowland to face your enemy.”
It’s, “Lie still, lie still my bonnie bride, lie still and take your ease
For it’s I must go with these young men wherever that they please.
Bit if I was at my liberty as I have been before
I would be with you all night my love and plough the seas no more.”
For my love he’s built a gallant ship, a ship of low doubt[?] fame
There is four-and-twenty seamen bold for to guide her over the main.
But tonight being dark and stormy and the seas began to roar,
It’s down she went with all her crew, alas for to rise no more.
I will wear no handkerchief around my neck nor stays around my waist;
Nor never shall I comb my hair for to shade my beauty fair
Since the rolling seas and stormy wind has parted my love and me.
Said the mother unto the daughter, it’s, “Why do you lament?
There’s plenty of men in old Ireland, so daughter be content.”
“If there’s plenty of men in old Ireland, mother, there is none of them for me
Since the rolling seas and the stormy wind has parted my love and me.”
So farewell unto the lowlands, it’s parting gave me fame,
Neither home nor habitation nor sailor to be seen.
Where the sugarit cane grows plenty and dates on every tree,
So farewell unto the low lowland that parted my love from me.
Paddy Tunney sings The Lowlands of Holland
The night that I was married and lay in marriage bed,
Up came the bold sea captain and stood at my bedhead,
Saying, “Rise, arise, new-wedded man and come along with me
To the lowlands of Holland for to face your enemy.”
“For Holland is a lovely land and in it grows fine grain.
It is a place of residence for soldiers to remain,
Where the sugar cane is plentiful and the tea grows on each tree.”
“I never had but the one sweetheart and he’s far away from me.”
Said the mother to the daughter, “Leave off your sore lament,
There’s men enough in Galway to be your heart’s content.”
“There’s men enough in Galway, but alas there’s none for me,
Since the high winds and stormy seas parted my love and me.”
For the stormy winds began to blow and the seas did loudly roar,
And the captain or his gallant ship was never seen no more.
“I’ll wear no stays around my waist, no combs all in my hair,
No handkerchief about my neck to hide my beauty fair.
And neither will I marry until the day I die,
Since the high winds and rolling seas do part my love and I.”
For the stormy winds began to blow and the seas did loudly roar,
And the captain or his gallant ship was never seen no more.
Martin Carthy sings Lowlands of Holland
On the night that I was married and on my marriage bed
There came a bold sea-captain and he stood at my bedhead
Crying, “Oh, rise oh rise, young married a man, and come along with me
To the low lowlands of Holland, to fight your enemy.”
Oh I held my love all in my arms still thinking he might stay
But the captain he gave another order, he was forced to march away.
Crying, “There’s many a blithe young married a man this night must go with me
To the low lowlands of Holland, to fight the enemy.”
Oh Holland is a wondrous place and in it grows much green
’Tis a wild inhabitation for my true love to be in
Where the grass do grow and the warm winds do blow and there’s fruit on every tree
But the low lowlands of Holland parted my love and me
No shoe no stocking I’ll put on no comb go through my hair
Nor shall no coal nor candlelight shine in my bower fair
Nor will I lie with any young man until the day I die
For the low lowlands of Holland parted my love and I
Norma Waterson sings Lowlands of Holland
On the night that I was married and laid in my marriage bed
There came a bold sea-captain and he stood at my bedhead
Saying “Rise up, rise up, Riley, and go along with me
To the lowlands of Holland, to fight and never flee.”
Ar the ship she lies in harbour with her anchor at her prow
There’s a gale blows down the Humber, I can hear it roaring now
And I cannot wait for other men to come along with me
To the lowlands of Holland, for to fight and never flee.
Now Holland is a pretty place for my love to dwell in
But there’s no deep sea harbour for a sailor to remain
But the sugarcane was plentiful and tea grows on every tree
And the lowlands of Holland lie between my love and me.
I will build my lover a bonny boat, a boat with silver sails
With four and twenty young mariners for to rock her through the waves
Come all you ranting roaring lads come on boys pull away
For I never had but one true love and he is far away
No shawl goes around my shoulder and no comb goes through my hair
No candlelight nor firelight will shine in my bower fair
And never will I married by until the day I die
Since the raging seas and stormy winds parted my love and I
Sandy Denny sings Lowlands of Holland
On the night that I was married and in my marriage bed
There came a bold sea-captain and he stood at my bedhead
Saying, “Arise, arise young wedded man this night for to go with me
To the low lowlands of Holland to fight the enemy.”
Oh, I held my love all in my arms, still hoping he might stay,
When the captain he gave another order and we had to march away,
Saying, “There’s many a blithe young married man this night must go with me
To the low lowlands of Holland to fight the enemy.”
But Holland it is a wondrous place and in it grows much green
’Tis a wild inhabitation for my true love to be in.
Where the leaves they grow and the winds they do blow and strange fruit grows on every tree
’Tis the wild wild lands of Holland where twined my love and me.
No shoes nor stocking I’ll put on nor comb to go through my hair
And nor shall day or candlelight shine on my bower fair
Nor shall I sleep with any young man until the day I die
For the lowlands of Holland they parted my love and I.
Steeleye Span sing Lowlands of Holland
The love that I have chosen I therewith be content
And the salt sea shall be frozen before that I repent
Repent it shall I never until the day I dee
But the lowlands of Holland has twined my love and me.
My love lies in the salt sea and I am on the side
It’s enough to break a young thing’s heart what lately was a bride.
But lately was a bonny bride with pleasure in her e’e.
But the lowlands of Holland has twined my love and me.
My love he built a bonny ship and set her on the sea
With seven score good mariners to bear her company.
But there’s three score of them is sunk and three score dead at sea
And the lowlands of Holland has twined my love and me.
My love has built another ship and set her on the main
And nane but twenty mariners all for to bring her hame.
But the weary wind began to rise, the sea began to roll
And my love then and his bonny ship turned widdershins about.
There shall nae a quiff come on my head nor comb come in my hair
And shall neither coal nor candlelight shine in my bower mair.
And neither will I marry until the day I dee
For I never had a love but one and he’s drowned in the sea.
Oh hold your tongue my daughter dear, be still and be content.
There’s men enough in Galloway, you need not sore lament.
Oh there’s men enough in Galloway, alas there’s none for me
For I never had a love but one and he’s drowned in the sea.
Peggy Seeger sings The Lowlands of Holland
On the night that I was married, that night we went to bed,
Up stepped the bold sea-captain and stood at our bed-head.
“Rise, you wedded man, and go with me
To the low, low lands of Holland to fight your enemy.”
I throwed my arms around him, imploring him to stay,
Up spoke the bold sea-captain, “Rise and come away!
Rise, you wedded man, and go with me,
To the low, low lands of Holland to fight your enemy.”
“O daughter, dearest daughter, what makes you so lament?
There’s many a young man in our town might give your heart content.”
“There’s many a young man in our town, nary a one for me,
For I only had but one true-love and he is drowned at sea.
“No shoes, no stockings I’ll put on, no comb go through my hair,
No firelight, no candle bright come in my chamber more,
And never will I married be until the day I die,
For the angry waves and cruel wars parted my love and I.
Maggie Boyle sings Lowlands of Holland
On the night that I was married and on my marriage bed
Up came a bold sea captain and he stood at our bedhead,
Saying, “Arise, arise, young wedded man, and come along with me
To the low lowlands of Holland to fight the enemy.”
O Holland is a lovely land and on it grows fine grain,
O it is a place of residence for a soldier to remain,
Where the sugarcane grows plentiful and the tea grows on each tree.
I never had but the one sweetheart, now he’s far away from me.
Says the mother to the daughter, “Give o’er your sore lament,
There are men enough in Galway to be your heart’s content.”
“If there’s men enough in Galway, alas there’s none for me
Since these high winds and the stormy seas came between my love and me.
“I’ll wear no stays around my waist nor combs all in my hair,
Nor handkerchief around my neck to save my beauty fair.
And neither will I marry until the day I die
Since the lowlands of Holland came between my love and me.”
Dave Burland sings The Lowlands of Holland
New Holland is a barren place, in it there grows no grain,
Nor any habitation wherein for to remain.
Where the sugar canes are plenty, the wine drops from the trees,
The low low lands of Holland has twined my love and me.
My love he built a bonny ship and set her on the sea
With four score twenty crewmen to keep her company.
There’s a score is lost, a score is drowned, there’s a score is dead at sea,
The low low lands of Holland has twined my love and me.
So my love he built another ship and set her on the main,
Four and twenty crewmen for to bring her home.
But the raging seas began to roar, the wind began to rout,
My love and then his bonny ship turned widdershins about.
Then shall neither coif go on my head nor comb go through my hair,
Nor any coal nor candlelight shine in my bower more,
Nor will I love another one until the day I die,
The low low lands of Holland has twined my love and I.
Hold your tongue, dear daughter, be still and be content,
There are more lads in Galloway, you need not so lament.
There is none in Gallow, there’s none at all for me,
The low low lands of Holland has twined my love and me.
(repeat first verse)
Caledon sing The Lowlands of Holland
On the night that I was married and on my married bed
There cam’ a bold sea captain and stood at my bed head,
Saying, “Arise, arise young married man and come awa’ wi’ me
Tae the low, low lands o’ Holland tae fight the enemy.”
I threw my arms around my love thinking that he might stay
But the captain he gave anither order and forced him tae march away.
Crying, “There’s mony a fine young married man this night maun gang wi’ me
Tae the low, low lands o’ Holland tae fight the enemy.”
O Holland is a wondrous place and in it grows much green,
It’s a wild inhabitation my true love tae be in,
Where the wind does blow and the grass does grow and there’s fruit on every tree
But the low, low lands o’ Holland have twined my love and me.
No shoes nor stockings I’ll put on nor came gae through my hair,
Nor shall no coal nor candlelight shine in my bower mair.
Nor shall I lie wi’ anither young man until the day I dee
For the low, low lands o’ Holland have twined my love and me.
Old Blind Dogs sing The Lowlands of Holland
As I went out one May morning, down by the riverside,
By shadows there and trees so bare, alas to be my bride,
Alas to be m’bride m’boys and the chamber to behold,
I’ll never ever forget my love, he was a jolly sailor bold.
I built my love a gallant ship, a ship of noble frame,
Wi’ a hundred jolly sailor boys to box her about the main,
To box her about the main, m’boys, without any fear or doubt,
Wi’ my own true love in that gallant ship, we were sadly tossed about.
The anchor and the cable went over board straightway,
The mainmast and the rigging lie a-buried ’neath the clay.
It was Tempest sent bad weather and the raging of the sea,
I never had but one true love, and he was drowned at sea.
Said the father to the daughter, “What makes you sore lament?
There is a lad that’s in our town will make your heart content.”
“There is no lad that’s in our town, no noble or duke,” cried she,
“Since the raging seas and stormy winds, parted my love from me.
”No handkerchief will find my head, no comb go through my hair,
No fire bright nor candle light will view my beauty fair.
And never will I married be until the day I die,
Since the raging seas and stormy winds, parted my love and I.”
(repeat first verse)
Nancy Kerr and James Fagan sing The Lowlands of Holland
On the night that I was married, that night I lay in my bed
A captain came to my bedside and unto me he said
“Arise, arise, arise young man, and come along with me, with me
To the low lowlands of Holland, to face your enemy.”
Said the mother to her daughter, “What makes you to lament?
There’s dukes and earls and squires can ease your heart’s content.”
“But never will 1 married be until the day I die, I die
Since the low lowlands of Holland have parted my love and I.
“I will build my love a bonny boat, a boat of noble fame
With four and twenty sailors bold to box her o’er the main
They’ll rant and rove in sparkling glee as o’er the seas they go, they go
To the low lowlands of Holland, to face a deadly foe.”
New Holland is a bonny place and in it grows much green
It’s a wild inhabitation for my love to be in,
For the sugar canes are plenty and the wine drops from the trees, the trees
Oh the low lowlands of Holland have twined my love from me.
“There’s not a swathe goes round my waist, nor a comb goes in my hair,
Nor candlelight or firelight can ease my heart’s despair.
And never will I married be until the day I die, I die,
Since the low lowlands of Holland have parted my love and I.”
John Smith sings Lowlands of Holland
The night that we were married and laid upon our bed
A man came to my chamber and stood at my bedhead,
Said, “Up, arise young married man and come along with me
To the lowlands of Holland to fight your enemy.”
Well I held my love all in my arms thinking he might stay;
But the captain gave an order and he was forced to march away,
Said, “There’s many young married men this night must go with me
To the lowlands of Holland, to fight the enemy.”
My love across the ocean wears a scarlet coat so fair,
With a musket at his shoulder and roses in his hair.
There’s men enough in this old town but no men do I see
For I’ve never had but one true love and he was pressed from me.
The love that I have chosen was to my heart’s content,
The salt sea shall be frozen before that I repent.
Repent it I shall never until the day I die
For the lowlands of Holland have parted my love and I.
Francy Devine sings The Lowlands o Holland
The lu that I hae chosen I’ll herewith be content,
The saut sea shall be frozen afore that I repent.
Repent it shall I never until the day I dee
But the lowlands o Holland hae twined ma lu an me.
Ma lu lies in the saut sea an I am on the side
Enough tae brak a young thing’s heart who lately wis a bride.
Who lately wis a bonny bride wi pleasure in her een
But the lowlands o Holland hae twined ma lu an me.
Ma lu he built a bonny ship an set her on the sea
Wi seven score guid mariners tae bear her company.
But four score were sunk an three score deid at sea
An the lowlands o Holland hae twined ma lu an me.
Ma lu he built anither boat an set her on the main
Wi nane but twenty mariners tae bring her hame.
But the weary wind began tae rise an the sea began to rout
An ma lu then an his bonny boat turned widdershins aboot.
There shall nae a quiff cam on ma heid nor comb cam in ma hair,
There shall neither coal nor candlelicht shine in my bower mair.
I’ll ne’er lu anither ain until the day I die
For I ne’er had a lu but ain and he’s drounéd in the sea.
Go haud your tongue my dauchter dear, lie still an be content.
There are mair lads in Gallowa, ye needna sair lament.
There are mair lads in Galloway, but there’s nane at aa for me
For I ne’er lu’d a lu but ain an he’s drooned in the sea.
Fiona Ross sing The Lowlands of Holland
The love that I hae chosen, was tae my heart’s content
The saut sea will be frozen, before I do repent
Repent it will I never, until the day I dee
Tho the lowlands o Holland, hae twin’d my love and me
My love lies in the saut sea, and I am on the side
Enough tae break a young thing’s heart wha lately was a bride
Wha lately was a bonnie bride wi pleasure in her e’e
And the lowlands o Holland hae twin’d my love and me
My love he built a bonnie ship and sent her tae the sea
Wi seven score brave mariners tae bear her company
Three score gaed tae the bottom, and three score died at sea
The lowlands o Holland hae twin’d my love and me
My love he built another ship and sent her tae the main
He had but twenty mariners and a’ tae bring her hame
The stormy clouds did roar again, the raging waves did rout
And my love and his bonnie ship turn’d widdershins about
There shall nae mantle cross my back, nae comb cam in my hair
Neither shall coal nor candlelicht shine in my bower mair
Nor shall I hae another love until the day I dee
I never loved a love but ane and he’s drown’d in the sea
Oh haud yer tongue my dochter dear, be still and be content
There are mair lads in Gallowa, ye needna sair lament
O there is nane in Gallowa, there’s nane at a’ for me
For I never loved a love but ane and he’s drown’d in the sea