The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #128220   Message #3064281
Posted By: Gibb Sahib
31-Dec-10 - 02:39 AM
Thread Name: The Advent and Development of Chanties
Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
Capstan shanties. The prose is from 1869 CHAMBERS'S, but the chanty YEO HEAVE HO is a new addition:

//
In the capstan chanties the metre is generally long, and they are of a more pathetic nature than the hauling ones. To those who have heard it as the men run round the capstan, bringing up the anchor from the English mud of a ship outward bound for a two or three years' trip, perhaps never to return, what can be more sad or touching, although sung with a hearty good-will, than "Yo, heave ho!" [with tune]

Yo, heave, ho! Round the capstan go!
Round, men, with a will! Tramp, and tramp it still!
The anchor must be heaved, The anchor must be heaved.
(Chorus.) Yo, ho! Yo, ho! Yo, ho! Yo, ho!
//

This is followed by the 1869 CHAMBERS'S versions of OUTWARD AND HOMEWARD BOUND and SACRAMENTO, then the intro to RIO GRANDE, but with a new tune and more than one set of lyrics. Is this another original? She also mentions SANTIANA and PADDY LAY BACK (though, as Hugill would later note, she notes it as if it were 2 different songs, viz. "Valparaiso" and "Round the Horn" -- merely repeating the mistake in CHAMBERS'S).

//
Another outward-bound chanty is "To Rio Grande we're bound away ;" the tune of this last-named is very mournful, as will be found in the fews bars of the melody which follows:

The ship went sailing out over the bar,
O Rio! O Rio!
They pointed her nose for the Southron Star,
And we're bound for the Rio Grande.
Then away, love, away,
Away down Rio;
Then fare you well, my pretty young girl,
We're bound for the Rio Grande.

"Valparaiso," "Round the Horn," and "Santa Anna," are all much in the same style as "Rio Grande."

Solo.—"Were you ever in Rio Grande?
Chorus.—Away you Rio.
Solo.—O were you ever in Rio Grande?
Chorus.—I am bound to the Rio Grande.
      Away you Rio, away you Rio.
      Fare you well, my pretty young girl,
      I am bound to the Rio Grande.
Solo.—As I was going down Broadway Street,
Solo.—A pretty young girl I chanced to meet,
Chorus.—I am bound to Rio Grande.
Away you Rio, away you Rio,
Fare you well, my pretty young girl,
I am off to Rio Grande.
Solo.—Oh where are you going, my pretty maid?
Solo.—Oh where are you going, my pretty maid?
Chorus.—I am bound to the Rio Grande.
Away you Rio, &c.
Solo.—I am going a milking, sir, she said.
Solo.—I am going a milking, sir, she said.
Chorus.—I am bound to the Rio Grande.
Away you Rio, &c.
Solo.—What is your fortune, my pretty maid?
Solo.—What is your fortune, my pretty maid?
Chorus.—I am bound to the Rio Grande,
Away you Rio, &c.
Solo.—My face is my fortune, sir, she said.
Solo.—My face is my fortune, sir, she said.
Chorus.—I am bound to the Rio Grande.
Away you Rio, &c.
Solo.—What is your father, my pretty maid?
Solo.—What is your father, my pretty maid?
Chorus.—I am bound to the Rio Grande.
Away you Rio, away you Rio.
Then fare you well, my pretty young girl,
I am bound to the Rio Grande.
Solo.—My father's a farmer, sir, she said.
Solo.—My father's a farmer, sir, she said.
Chorus.—I am bound to the Rio Grande.
Away you Rio, &c.
Solo.—What is your mother, my pretty maid?
Solo.—What is your mother, my pretty maid?
Chorus.—I am bound to the Rio Grande.
Away you Rio, &c.
Solo.—Wife to my father, sir, she said.
Solo.—Wife to my father, sir, she said.
Chorus.—I am bound to the Rio Grande.
Away you Rio, &c.
Solo.—Then I can't marry you, niy pretty maid.
Solo.—Then I can't marry you, my pretty maid.
Chorus.—I am bound to the Rio Grande.
Away you Rio, &c.
Solo.—Nobody asked you, sir, she said.
Solo.—Nobody asked you, sir, she said.
Chorus.—I am bound to the Rio Grande.
Away you Rio, &c."
//

The next bit is also lifted from CHAMBER'S:

//
American vessels, I think, may be charged with the following, which are all capstan chanties,—" Oceanida," "Johnny's Gone," " The Black Ball Line," and" Slapandergosheka," the last-named with the incomprehensible title is addressed "To all you ladies now on land," and may be said to be slightly egotistical; it commences—
"Have you got, lady, a daughter so fair? [*"fine" in CHAMBERS'S]
       Slapandergosheka,
That is fit for a sailor that has crossed the Line?
       Slapandergosheka."
//