The versions in the Digital Tradition are from:
- Huntington, Songs the Whalemen Sang - The Coast of Peru (with tune) - this is an accurate transcription of both lyrics and tune.
- Doerflinger, Shantymen and Shantyboys - The Coast of Peru (2) (no tune)
Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry for this song:
Coast of Peru, The [Laws D26]
DESCRIPTION: (The captain promises the sailors that they will spot many whales off Peru.) A whaler spots a whale off the coast of Peru. The crew harpoons the whale and renders it. They look forward to seeing the girls at home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1832 (Journal of William Silver of the Bengal)
KEYWORDS: sea whale whaler return
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (11 citations):
Laws D26, "The Coast of Peru"
Doerflinger, pp. 151-152, "The Coast of Peru" (1 text)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 2-4, "The Coast of Peru" (1 text, 1 tune)
Huntington-Gam, pp. 27-28, "Captain Bunker" (1 text, 1 tune)
Colcord, pp. 194-195, "Coast of Peru" (1 text, 1 tune)
Harlow, pp. 222-223, "Coast of Peru" (1 text, 1 tune)
ThompsonNewYork, p. 194, "The Coast of Peru" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 185-186, "The Coast of Peru" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 91, "Coast of Peru" (1 text)
DT 617, CSTPERU*
ADDITIONAL: Alfred M. Williams, _Studies in Folk-Song and Popular Poetry_, Houghton Mifflin, 1894, pp. 33-35, "The Coast of Peru" (1 text)
Roud #1997
RECORDINGS:
A.L. Lloyd, "The Coast of Peru" (on Lloyd9)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Blow Ye Winds in the Morning" (floating verses)
NOTES: A.L. Lloyd notes that "Mention of the mate 'in the main chains' dates the song from before the 1840s." -PJS
The "Captain Bunker" version in Huntington-Gam is much shorter than most versions of this song, and it doesn't mention the Coast of Peru. But the longer versions sometimes mention Captain Bunker; Roud lumps the two, and I very tentatively do the same. It may be that "Captain Bunker" is a broken-off version of "The Coast of Peru" that picked up some additional material. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.2
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