This is a situation where we have at least two completely different songs that share (at least sometimes) the same title. This thread is about the whaling song, which describes (sometimes in graphic detail) the whaling industry. Another is A Capital Ship a comic song about the Walloping Window Blind, by Charles Edward Carryl. A third is Peter Grey/Gray, which is quite different again. Here's the Digital Tradition version of the whaling song, which I learned (probably from a Burl Ives recording) when I was young:



BLOW YE WINDS IN THE MORNING

       'Tis advertised in Boston, New York, and Buffalo:
       Five hundred brave Americans a-whalin' for to go.

Chorus:
          Singing Blow ye winds in the morning,
          Blow ye winds, heigh-ho!
          Clear away your runnin' gear,
          And blow, boys, blow!
          (or: And blow, ye winds heigh-ho!)

      They send you to New Bedford, that famous whaling port,
      And give you to some land sharks to board and fit you out.

      They send you to a boardin' house, there for a time to dwell;
      The thieves there they are thicker than the other side of Hell.

      They tell you of the clipper ships a-runnin' in and out,
      And say you'll take five hundred sperm before you're six months
       out.

      And now we're out to sea, my boys, the wind comes on to blow;
      One-half the watch is sick on deck, the other half below.

      The skipper's on the quarterdeck a-squintin' at the sails,
      When up aloft the lookout spots a mighty school of whales.

      Then lower down the boats, my boys, and after him we'll travel,
      But if you get too near his tail, he'll kick you to the Devil.

      When we've caught a whale, my boys, we'll bring 'im alongside,
      Then over with our blubber-hooks and rob him of his hide.

      When we get home, our ship made fast, when we get through our
          sailin',
      A brimming glass around we'll pass, and damn this blubber
          whalin'.

    Some singers invariably sing "me boys" for "my boys," and other variations
occur, too.
The song is sometimes called the "Boston Come-Ye-All,"( with the line "Come all
    you bold Americans, a-whalin' for to go." in verse one ) and sometimes
    "Blow, Boys, Blow."

learned, sort-of, from Rusty Thorpe, at Hawthorne. (1966-69)
Recorded by Pete Seeger and others
@sailor @work @whaling
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And the second DT version:

BLOW YE WINDS IN THE MORNING (II)

It's advertised in Boston, New York and Buffalo
A hundred brave Americans, a-sailing for to go.

cho:
And blow ye winds in the morning
Blow ye winds hi oh
It's clear away the running gear
and blow boys blow.

A hundred brave Americans? My God! That is a laugh,
For all of you in the NMU could never sail a raft.

cho:

You call yourselves seamen but I say that is a lie
'Cause greedy little men like you could never qualify,

cho:

In Lunenberg in Canada they build great wooden ships,
And boatswains play guitars instead of cat o' nine tail whips,

cho:

Instead of diesel engines we've got sails and running gear;
The work is hard, but then we don't pollute the atmosphere.

cho:

Now here we are on deck again, now what do you think of that?
And all of you in the NMU can go shit in your hat!

cho:

@parody @sailor @work
(This version was sung on the HMS Rose in Lunenberg, Nova Scotia,
in the spring of 1971. It was a response to an organizing drive
by the NMU)
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[What's the NMU?]

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The third DT version is also related:

BLOW YE WINDS (3)

They've advertised for whalermen, five hundred brave and true,
To fish for sperm on the whaling grounds of Chile and Peru.

cho: Singing blow ye winds in the morning and blow ye winds high, O
Clear away your running gear and blow ye winds high, O.

It's now we are at sea, my boys, the wind comes on to blow;
One half the watch is sick on deck, the other half below.

But as for the provisions, we don't get half enough;
A little bit of stinking beef and a little bag of duff.

Then there's the running rigging which you're supposed to know;
It's "Lay aloft, you son of a whore, or overboard you go!"

The cooper's at the vice bench a-making iron poles;
The mate's upon the mainhatch a-blasting all our souls.

The skipper's on the quarterdeck a-squinting at the sails
When up aloft the lookout sights a bloody school of whales;

"Now clear away them boats, my boys, and after him we'll travel;
But if you get too near his flukes he'll flip you to the devil."

Then our waist-boat got down and we made a good start.
"Lay on me now, you bleeders, for I'm hell for a long dart."

Then the harpoon struck and the whale sped away,
But whatever he done, boys, he gave us fair play.

Now we got him turned up and we towed him alongside,
And we over with our blubberhooks and rob him of his hide.

Now the bosun overside the lift-tackle do haul,
And the mate there in the mainchains so loudly he do bawl.

Next comes the stowing down, boys, to take both night find day
"You'll have a tanner apiece, boys, on the hundred and ninetieth lay."'

Now we're all bound into Tumbez, that blasted whaling port,
And if you run away, my boys, you surely will get caught.

Now we're bound for Talcahuana, all in our manly power,
Where the skipper can buy a whorehouse for half a barrel of flour.

When we get home, our ship fast, and we get through our sailing,
A winding glass around we'll pass, and to hell with blubber whaling.

from the Oxford Book of Sea Songs, Palmer
@sailor @whaling @work
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Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry on this song:

Blow Ye Winds in the Morning

DESCRIPTION: The call is going out for whalermen in New England. The song warns of the conditions the potential recruit will face: Boarding masters, hard times at sea, the dangers of taking the whale. Chorus: "Blow ye winds in the morning, Blow ye winds high-o...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1859 (Journal of the Elizabeth Swift)
KEYWORDS: whaler ship sea work
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Lomax-FSUSA 44, "Blow, Ye Winds in the Morning" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 829-831, "Blow, Ye Winds" (1 text, 1 tune)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 42-46, "Blow Ye Winds" (1 text, 1 tune)
Shay-SeaSongs, pp. 126-128, "Blow, Ye Winds" (1 text, 1 tune)
Colcord, pp. 191-192, "Blow, Ye Winds" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Harlow, pp. 130-131, 211-213 "Blow Ye Winds in the Morning" "It's Advertised in Boston" (2 texts, 2 tunes -- second version has a different chorus, "Cheer up lively lads, in spite of stormy weather. Cheer up...we'll all get drunk together")
Hugill, pp. 219-224, "Blow, Ye Winds" (3 texts plus several fragments, 3 tunes) [AbrEd, pp. 168-171]
Darling-NAS, pp. 318-319, "Blow Ye Winds" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 85, "Blow Ye Winds In The Morning" (1 text)
DT, BLOWYE*
ADDITIONAL: Frederick Pease Harlow, _The Making of a Sailor, or Sea Life Aboard a Yankee Square-Rigger_, 1928; republished by Dover, 1988, pp. 346-347, "Blow Ye Winds in the Morning" (1 text, 1 tune)
Stewart Gordon, _A History of the World in Sixteen Shipwrecks_, ForeEdge, 2015, p. 172, "(no title)" (1 text)
Roud #2012
RECORDINGS:
Almanac Singers, "Blow Ye Winds, Heigh Ho" (General 5015A, 1941; on Almanac02, Almanac03, AlmanacCD1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Coast of Peru" [Laws D26] (floating verses)
cf. "Peter Gray" (chorus lyrics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Blow, Boys, Blow
NOTES: Whalers were considered the lowest sort of sailors; most seamen had to be desperate to ship on a whaler. This song perhaps helps explain why. - RBW
Last updated in version 3.7
File: LxU044

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