"Lowlands" was one of several shanties you might have heard by listening very closely to "Moby Dick, Part I" on the Encore Family Channel last night.

Crazy Elijah - who's Scottish in this version, which may explain his shanty choice - mumbles it to himself weirdly. He sings (as far as I can tell),

"I dreamed a dream the other night...
I dreamed, I dreamed a man was dead."

Because all who sail with Ahab are doomed.

There were also snatches of "Blood-Red Roses," "Blow, Boys, Blow" (discussed on another thread), "The Hog-Eye Man" (in the "railroad navvy" version, understandably) and "Leave Her Johnny." "The Hog-Eye Man" was sung and played on the fiddle at the Spouter Inn (much as was "A-Roving" in the 1956 version), to the merriment of all.

The crew of the Pequod. a handsome topsail schooner this time around, was less merry as they started to sing "Leave Her Johnny" for fun in the forecastle. But they were interrupted.

They sang"Blow, Boys, Blow" as a rowing song, and, IIRC, they sang "Blood-Red Roses" as they started cutting into the first dead whale. So far, no shanties while hoisting, haulong, or heaving.


Part II tonight....

Almost forgot: on SyFy's "The Age of Dragons," the Pequod is a huge, medieval diesel-powered dragon-hunting tank ploted by Ahab's martial-arts proficient daughter, Rachel. She and Ishmael are kind of an item. No shanties, though - I told you it was deisel-powered.