"Huckleberry Hunting"

Print: Hugill; LA Smith; Davis & Tozer "The Chanty-man's Song"; Bullen "What Did You Give For Your Fine Leg O' Mutton"; Whall; Terry "The Wild Goose Shanty"; Sharp; Colcord; Doerflinger; Harlow "Hilo, My Ranzo Way"

Performers: Forebitter; Johnson Girls; Jerry Bryant; Portsmouth Shanty Men; Carpenter Collection: Jimmie Cronin OR John Ferries, James Wright

Notes:

Wow! It is surprising how many texts this one pops up in --albeit by lots of different names-- given that it is not really widely known so much as other chanteys. What's more, the tunes to all these versions are quite consistent.

As far as aural sources go, it is unclear to me whether the Carpenter Collection examples might be of this chantey, or of one of the others called "Ranzo Ray" (a completely different beast). Though there are now several good recordings, I wonder: who was the link in the chain? Since many of these Northeast folks who have done it in recent years are on Mudcat, perhaps they could chime in with where they learned it from. Did one of the old-timers (say, Stan Hugill at an off-record session at Mystic) pass it on, or was it recently "revived" from texts?

(Incidently, when I tried recording this one, here, I had not heard any aural version and was only using Hugill's text. Had I cross-referenced with other texts at that time, it would have come out better, as Hugill's notation is a bit irregular, I think.)

So, an interesting case, if I'm reading the evidence accurately: A very well-known chantey from the days of sail...more or less ignored during the early revival...only to be revived in recent years.

Also, BTW, here is one mudcat thread on it.

Gibb