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If you're looking for something to cheer you up you may want to look elsewhere! :)
I'm trying out some ideas for a forthcoming mini-album of English folk songs ... I recorded this one today and thought I may as well post it.
Every version of this song I've ever heard has been done unaccompanied. It's not that it would be difficult to set it to music, it's just such a bleak and lonely song it feels like it belongs on its own. Like a siren call across the ocean.
It's actually a sailor's shanty and sung from a man's point of view, but all the most compelling versions I've heard have been sung by women.
The reference to "my John" in the refrain probably just means "my lad", since "John" was an old slang name for a merchant seaman. As it happens my maternal grandfather was a merchant seaman called John, so this one's for him.
I decided not to make any edits to this recording, so it has a rough edge, but ... you try singing six verses in one take with nothing to hide behind!
© 2007 Rebsie Fairholm
I'm trying out some ideas for a forthcoming mini-album of English folk songs ... I recorded this one today and thought I may as well post it.
Every version of this song I've ever heard has been done unaccompanied. It's not that it would be difficult to set it to music, it's just such a bleak and lonely song it feels like it belongs on its own. Like a siren call across the ocean.
It's actually a sailor's shanty and sung from a man's point of view, but all the most compelling versions I've heard have been sung by women.
The reference to "my John" in the refrain probably just means "my lad", since "John" was an old slang name for a merchant seaman. As it happens my maternal grandfather was a merchant seaman called John, so this one's for him.
I decided not to make any edits to this recording, so it has a rough edge, but ... you try singing six verses in one take with nothing to hide behind!
© 2007 Rebsie Fairholm
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Lyrics
I dreamed a dream the other night
Lowlands, lowlands away my John
I saw my love all dressed in white
Lowlands away
She came to me at my bedside
All dressed in white like some fair bride
And nestled in her bosom there
A red, red rose my love did wear
She made no sign, no word she said
And then I knew my love was dead
She's drowning in the lowlands sea
And never more coming back to me
Then I awoke to hear the cry
"Oh watch on deck! Oh watch ahoy"
Lowlands, lowlands away my John
I saw my love all dressed in white
Lowlands away
She came to me at my bedside
All dressed in white like some fair bride
And nestled in her bosom there
A red, red rose my love did wear
She made no sign, no word she said
And then I knew my love was dead
She's drowning in the lowlands sea
And never more coming back to me
Then I awoke to hear the cry
"Oh watch on deck! Oh watch ahoy"
dreadmon
Who needs backup with a set of authentic pipes like yours? It's not an easy task to do a capella - unless you've got loads of skill and heart, which you've got heaped high to the rooftops. This is enchanting, sad and yet beautiful - all rolled into one great track.