Golden Vanity – Roger McGuinn's Folk Den

There were a lot of sea chanties that dealt with the
subject of the Captain's daughter. Can you imagine
the desire that the common sailors must have felt for
the only pretty woman on board ship, during a long
voyage? They must have nearly gone mad.

In the same manner, the Captain would have guarded his
daughter with an overwhelming sense of protective jealousy.
That's what happens in this story. After using the poor
cabin boy to do his dirty work, the cruel Captain leaves
him to drown, thus saving his daughter for himself.

I've loved this song, ever since learning it at the
Old Town School of Folk Music in the late '50s. Although
I performed it at the coffee houses on Rush Street in Chicago,
I never got around to recording it until now.

Lyrics:

Oh there was a lofty ship and a lofty ship was she

F G

And the name of that ship it was the Golden Vanity

C Am

And she feared she would be taken by the Turkish Enemy

F G C Am

As she sailed on the lowland, lowland low

F G C

As she sailed on the lowland sea

Up stepped a little cabin boy, a cabin boy was he

And he said to the Captain what will you give to me

If I sneak alongside the Turkish Enemy

And I sink her in the lowland, lowland low

And I sink her in the lowland sea

Oh I will give you silver and I will give you gold

And the hand of my daughter your bonnie bride will be

If you'll sneak alongside of the Turkish Enemy

And you'll sink her in the lowland lowland low

And you'll sink her in the lowland sea

So he jumped overboard and overboard jumped he

And he swam alongside of the Turkish Enemy

And with a little drilling tool he boar-ed holes three

And he sank her in the lowland lowland low

He sank her in the lowland sea

Then he turned himself around and back again swam he

'Til he came to the side of the Golden Vanity

But the Captain would not heed, for his daughter he did need

And he left him in the lowland lowland low

He left him in the lowland sea

Well his shipmates brought him out, but upon the deck he died

And they wrapped him in his blanket that was so soft and wide

And they cast him overboard and he drifted with the tide

And he sank beneath the lowland lowland low

He sank beneath the lowland sea

And he sank beneath the lowland lowland low

He sank beneath the lowland sea