The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #94304   Message #1824824
Posted By: GUEST,Rev
01-Sep-06 - 02:59 PM
Thread Name: Stan Hugill - the real words?
Subject: RE: Stan Hugill - the real words?
My time on Sorlandet was almost twenty years ago now so I have to say I don't remember exactly what words I used. I was working at Mystic Seaport at the time so I probably used the standard Hugill versions of songs that were sung by the Seaport's MOD squad at that time.
With a crew of mostly Norwegians, and me singing in English, I found that the most effective chanteys were the most well-known ones. For example I couldn't get many people to sing along on "Paddy Lay Back," or "Old Moke Picking on a Banjo" at the capstan, but everyone knew "Drunken Sailor." On the halyards I think I used "Whiskey Johnny," "Hanging Johnny," and "Blow the Man Down" (most popular), and probably some others. Aloft I used "Paddy Doyle's Boots" and "Boney," for bunting. I also sang some forebitters, accompanying myself on a guitar that belonged to a German fellow named Andreas, during dogwatch. The most popular being my covers of Beatles songs and "Good Lovin'" which got everyone dancing during our May Day celebration.

To connect with the original thread, I did not use any "dirty" lyrics aboard Sorlandet, but the young Norwegians taught me some filthy Norwegian words that I later inserted into a whaleboat demonstration back at the Seaport, but that's another story altogether.

BTW, re. the use of stamp and go at the braces, my old copy of Hugill's Shanties from the Seven Seas (1979 edition), has an illustration of that operation on page 136, to accompany Drunken Sailor.