Hi Azizi,

Sorry for not responding earlier. In answer to your questions I can only give my present opinion, since I don't know that much about the subject: It seems like the "Miss Lucy Long" in the chantey comes in just as a "floating" signifier. As you said, "Lucy Long" was a very popular minstrel song and because of that, it became a trope in many songs. As I understand it, the Miss Lucy Long of the original song was portrayed in stereotypically grotesque terms -- a promiscuous yet not very attractive lady, perhaps crass (as in the children's rhyme). Some of these connotations probably remained linked with the name (i.e. it wasn't just a name, in neutral terms, that appeared in later songs). In this chantey, there is a hint of misogyny, based in the sort of "Jezebel" connotations of "Lucy Long." Also, I feel pretty sure that when one hears the name it is understood that the lady is Black.

More popularly used as a generic name, and usually implying a mixed-race woman, is the ubiquitous "Sally Brown."

Another Lucy, "Miss Lucy Loo" from Trinidad, appears in some chanteys (I'll be posting about one, soon). Note that "Lucy Loo" though has also appeared as a Chinese name in at least one chantey (Lucy Lui?).

These are just my personal impressions.

As to your rhetorical question, I dont know why, but "Lucy Long" just sounds like a cool, alliterative name for a flashy lady. It has the "ring" of a lot of cutesy American names like a "Cindy Sue" or something. Perhaps it just "sounds good" because it has become so culturally ingrained. But I also would guess there is something phonological about it. Could "Looby Loo" (of the children's game-song) have any relation? That's one I remember from when I was little, and it always felt fun to say "looby loo"/"looby lie"!

A request in turn: if you happen to stumble upon any revealing references to Stormalong (a folk-hero that appears in many chanteys of African-American origin) please do let us know, thanks!

Gibb