Lowlands

The song is a bit of a mystery. It has often been found in tradition in Britain and USA but always as a shanty, usually sung while working at the pumps. It is likely that it's a fragment of an Anglo-Scots ballad that lived on among British seamen. In the old days a crew of a merchant ship were often spoken of as “the Johns” so the term “my John” in the ballad is no more personal than “my lad”. My thanks to Bert Lloyd for this information.