Picking up on entries by Tim Jacques and MarcB in the Objectionable Material thread, I would be interested in finding out just how widespresd this practice is. My interest in the sea and sailing is equal to that in folk, and my understanding of shanties is that whilst the basic format remained constant and in some cases "traditional" ie Shenandoah, for yankee packets and Homeward bound for British were always sung when leaving for the home port, the skill of the shanty man was to invent verses appropriate to the current ship, its officers and crew, and the more scurrilous the better. SO, three points -

1. There is no such thing as a "correct" version (this is probably true of all folk song) just the version collected by xxx as sung on the yyyy on the voyage from here to there.

2. With the increasing number of square riggers in use for youth development / sail training there should be ample scope for new verses of the most politically incorrect style to be developed by contemporary singers - ? does this happen at the Mystic festival?

3. I suspect that the verses ommitted and or changed will depend on the country, I've never been aware of any non US singer being concerned about "Bully Hayes the nigger lover" but now we are back to "American cultural oddities" so I'd better shut up before I get too confused!

I'd be very interested in others experience and comments.

Pete M