A Lovely Find

I was perusing my directory of songs today and thought I'd listen to a little Dolores Keane. I hadn't listened to anything by her in a while and, to be honest, I don't know much of her work. I clicked on a song called "The Low Lowlands of Holland".

I have never heard this song before and sure enough I was pleasantly surprised when I heard the guitar and tin whistle playing an intro. The melody really stuck me as beautiful with it's unexpected lows and highs. These help emphasize the lyrics, which, by the way, are here:

The Low Lowlands of Holland

The night that I was married and upon my marriage bed,
Up came a bold sea captain and he stood at my bed head
Saying "Arise arise young wedded man and come along with me
To the low lowlands of Holland to fight the enemy."

Now Holland is a lovely land and on it grows fine grain.
Sure it is a place of residence for a soldier to remain
Where the sugarcane is plentiful, where the tea grows on each tree.
I never had, but the one sweet thought and now he's far away from me.

Says the mother to the daughter, "Give up your soldier man
For there's man enough in Galway for to be your heart's content."
"Oh if there's man enough in Galway, alas there are none for me,
Since the low, lowlands of Holland have come between my love and me."

I'll wear no swathe around my waist, nor combs all in my hair,
No handkerchief around my neck for to save my beauty fair.
And never will I marry, until the day I die
Since the low, lowlands of Holland have come between my love and I.

Beautiful song of loss, the hurt of war, and the desire to hold on to the things that mean most to us. I've already worked out the chords to the song and all I need is a little time to getting the melody right then it's another song ready for my song book.