SLPAD - 92 - Low-Lands - 5

[Michael Bailey]

Why the hyphen in Low-Lands?

He has a falling-out and lands low?


This link:

https://www.proz.com/kudoz/english/poetry-literature/5513273-lowlands.html

has a number of songs containing the word “lowlands” but textually the
story doesn’t refer to sea songs, only to sea stories, iirc.

The germane song - if there is one - I think would be

There is this sea shanty called "Lowlands" or "Lowlands Away" (popularised
by the game Assassin's Creed 4 and movies such as Moby Dick [2011] and
Treasure Island [2012]). There are numerous versions, but they generally
feature the chorus "Lowlands, lowlands away, my John". So the first verse
goes something like this:

I dreamed a dream the other night
Lowlands, lowlands, away my John
I dreamed a dream the other night
Lowlands, my lowlands, away.

One version features this ending:

My love is drowned in the windy Lowlands,
Lowlands, lowlands, away my John
My love is drowned in the windy Lowlands.
Lowlands, my lowlands, away.

Depending on the version, the shanty usually portrays either the dream of a
sailor who sees his beloved in his sleep and realises that she is dead; or
the dream of a girl who similarly dreams of her sailor boyfriend being dead.

I am not sure whether "Lowlands" here has any meaning? Or is it just a
poetic chorus? Perhaps a corruption of an earlier version, or brought over
from another song? It just doesn't seem to tie in with the rest, but I
don't know much about sea shanties.
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We’re spared any deaths in “Low-Lands” I think - if he is mourning anything
it’s his lost youth and/or his moribund love.