Thread: And now , time for the good old sea shanty, lads, arrrrr!

I tried to get a sea shanties thread going about 18 months ago and all I got was sass.

I love them. They're manly work song that you sing like a man, not some namby-pamby lack-beard.
I sang Flying Fish Sailor (Blow the Man Down) at a work colleague once and she were shocked at the lyrics. "I though it was about happy sailing on a windy day!" She said.
No.

Oh, blow the man down, bullies, blow the man down!
Way, hey, blow the man down,
Oh, Blow the man down, bullies, blow him right down!
Oh, gimme some time to blow the man down.

As I was a-rollin' down Paradise Street,
Way, hey, blow the man down,
A big Irish copper I chanced for to meet,
Oh, gimme some time to blow the man down.

"Oh, you're a blackballer by the cut of your hair,
And you're a blackballer by the clothes that yez wear!"

Policeman, policeman, you do me great wrong,
I'm a flying-fish sailor just home from Hong Kong.

"No, you're signed on some packet that flies the black ball,
And you've robbed some poor Dutchman of boots, clothes, and all."

So, I smashed in his face and I stove in his jaw,
Sez he, "Look here, young fella, you're breakin' the law."

Well, they gave me six months in Liverpool town,
For a-beatin' and a-kickin' and a-blowin' him down.

A Liverpool ship and a Liverpool crew,
A Liverpool mate and a Scouse skipper, too.

We're Liverpool born, boys, and Liverpool bred,
Thick in the arm, boys, and thick in the head.

Talk about attacks on coppers!

Anyway, Johnny Collins has an excellent voice:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-xoSxTvOPY]Johnny Collins with Jim Mageean + Co - Poor old Horse (Man) - YouTube[/ame]
Fashions have dated but, whatever.

Originally Posted by digger

Try "BOUND FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA" by The Pogues thats a ripper.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM5x3TJpP24]The Pogues - South Australia - YouTube[/ame]

try getting that out of ya head!!


In South Australia I was born, heave away, haul away
In South Australia, 'round Cape Horn, were bound for South Australia

Haul away your rolling king, heave away, haul away
Haul away, youll hear me sing, were bound for South Australia

As I walked out one morning fair, heave away, haul away
'Twas there I met Miss Nancy Blair, were bound for South Australia

There's just one thing that's on my mind, heave away, haul away
That's leaving Nancy Blair behind, were bound for South Australia

And as we wallop round Cape Horn, heave away, haul away
You'll wish to God you've never been born, were bound for South Australia

In South Australia I was born, heave away, haul away
In South Australia, 'round Cape Horn, were bound for South Australia



Where else would you go for more info on this matter than this website?
"THE ART OF MANLINESS"

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2008/0...-sea-shanties/

A GREAT LIST OF SONGS (WITH LINKS) AND EXPLAINATIONS.

UNTIL THIS LOOK ABOUT I DIDN'T KNOW IT EXISTED!

we often used Bound for South Australia when setting sail on Leeuwin II as it was a 'long hall' shanty.

for the original purpose of this thread though... Fiddlers Green was often sung when remembering some of the older crew that were no longer with us.

Ah yes Fiddlers green, my Celtic roots [ a long way back] has this song in my blood, Bob


Fiddlers Green - Irish Song - YouTube

Here's one for those with an eye for the bonnie lassie, & an ear for the Cape Breton Fiddle,


Natalie MacMaster: Playing the Cape Breton fiddle - YouTube

Many versions of what Bob calls 'Spanish Ladies' My favourite is Brisbane Ladies, a drover's song from the 1800's.

Farewell and adieu, to you Brisbane ladies.
Farewell and adieu to the girls of Toowong.
For we've sold all our cattle and home we must wander.
Back home to the station once more.

Actually, the history of the tune as such, Bob ;


al links

Origins[edit]

It is featured in The Oxford Book of Sea Songs, edited by Roy Palmer in 1986, which states that the earliest known reference to it is in the logbook of the Nellie of 1796 (though a ballad by the same name, registered in England December 14, 1624 with the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers , may also be related to it).



The song's namesake, "Spanish Ladies", can most likely be traced to the period between 1793 and 1796 in which British ships would often dock in Spanish harbours while Spain and Britain were still allies in War of the First Coalition against Revolutionary France. While this may help to contextualize the song's mention of Spain, no truly definitive dating has surfaced yet.



There is also a possibility that the song traces its origins to the Peninsular War - (the Spanish and Portuguese theater in the Napoleonic Wars when, after defeating the Grande Armée, the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars were shipped off to England, and forbidden to bring the Spanish women they married (in varying degrees of legitimacy), as well as their children, with them.[1]
Its story is that of ships in fog (and therefore unable to determine their latitude by sighting) trying to find the entrance to the English Channel, between the dangers of Ushant to the south and the Isles of Scilly to the north. The sandy bottom is a good sign—and there is always the added reassurance of the width of the entrance, thirty-five leagues. A discussion in Arthur Ransome's novel Peter Duck notes that the succession of headlands on the English shore suggests a ship tacking up-channel, identifying a new landmark on each tack.



The song, while believed by some to typify a Sea shanty , predates the emergence of that genre in the mid-19th century. Further, shanties were the work songs of merchant sailors, while "Spanish Ladies", belonging to the 18th century, was a navy song. However, the popularity of "Spanish Ladies" remained such throughout the 19th century[2][3] that it was sung by merchant sailors, too, for off-duty entertainment. All of the writers on shanties throughout the 19th century and up through the early 20th are clear that it was not a shanty, and only one, Stan Hugill in 1961[4] makes a claim that it, like other borrowed songs from outside the genre, might be used as such.



Several variants exist that utilize the same melody but substitute different lyrics. "Brisbane Ladies " is an Australian variant about drovers instead of sailors; a significantly modified version called "The Ryans and the Pittmans ", widely known as "We'll Rant and We'll Roar", is from Newfoundland; and there is an American variant called "Yankee Whalermen". In other variants the title "Spanish Ladies" is sometimes retained with the appropriate locations changed. Lastly, a version was created especially for the Bluenose - , a famed Canadian ship based in Nova Scotia .
The melody is also used for the later dated "Streets of Laredo", a 19th-century American west ballad.

Brisbane ladies, Bob




799. Brisbane Ladies (Traditional Australian) - YouTube