Solo

For he took his auger and let the water through,

And sank the Spanish pirate craft and all her rascal crew;

He swam back to the "Vanity," 'twas all that he could do,

He was sinking in the Lowlands low.

Chorus Lowlands, Lowlands,

Solo

Was sinking in the Lowlands low.

"I'll not take you up now," our cruel captain cried,

"I'll kill you if you come on deck, to claim my child as bride

I'll throw you in the water, I'll drown you in the tide,

I will sink you in the Lowlands low."

Chorus Lowlands, Lowlands,

Solo

Will sink you in the Lowlands low.

So we took him up, but when on the deck he died,

We lifted him so tenderly, and sewed him in a hide;

We said a short prayer o'er him, and dropped him in the tide,

And he's sailing in the Lowlands low.

Chorus Lowlands, Lowlands,

He's sailing in the Lowlands low.

No use to growl, though I sometimes do,
No use to curse that the seas aren't blue -
And it's hard, black sailing.

To laugh on her icy ropes is best,

To cheer at the wind from the howling West And stand to her broken railing.

It's flying-fishmen for a trade-wind sea
But I'll ask that the guts be granted me
For the black storm's blowing.

And when I sail, as I some day shall,
To a sailor's unflowered funeral,

To sing as I'm seaward going.

Bill Adams