Hi Dave,

My point is that Zappa bringing up shanties -- more precisely, bringing up his love of the Blow Boys Blow album (the link is to a different Lloyd/MacColl album, but I believe much of that one was reused for BBB, and BBB was the album Zappa actually had?) -- is more of a rhetorical device than any evidence of Zappa's deep or special connection to shanties. He is say, "Look, I have broad musical tastes, and eclectic influences" -- something we know to be true...and notable...and the point is well taken.

I am suggesting that
1) BBB was an album that was actually a quite accessible (e.g. to non-shanty fans -- not at all overly "academic" for that time) and also quite available (i.e. to find, for purchase). Anecdote: A friend of mine, a huge fan of Zappa (but clueless about chanties) was in my car with me a few years back, where I had BBB playing. He recognized it immediately: "Oh, Blow Boys Blow! -- Zappa loved this." My friend also liked it, and that without being indoctrinated (so to speak) into the tastes of "typical" "folk" music fans.
Another weird anecdote: recently I heard my housemate, who is a sort of hippie/stoner sort (sorry for the labels, but they are convenient) was listening to some CD (I don't know who it was) of someone playing an instrumental version of "Handsome Cabin Boy." After the song was over, I jokingly asked, "So how come they didn't sing the lyrics? It's no good without lyrics." He was unaware there were any lyrics. So I am guessing that this song has passed into (crossed over into?) the "rock" world -- again suggesting that BBB may have been listened to by a wider audience than folkies (though then it again it might well have been Zappa who introduced it!).

2) This one album, it seems, is standing in to represent Zappa's alleged interest in chanties. Perhaps he also checked out some other chanty singers. But I suspect that *mainly*, by virtue of enjoying this album, Zappa is stating his love of "shanties" generally. Which is fine -- we do that sort of thing all the time, but we are being disingenuous. It['s like when a person hears the one hit song by an artist and then, when asked what artists they enjoy, they offer up that name -- when they probably don't follow much else the artist has done.

3) The characterization of shanties is "off," revealing that Zappa could not have had any deep familiarity with the genre and probably did not listen to many other performances outside BBB. "replicate the original instrumentation of sea shanties..." just does not make any sense. and "Some of the words were absolutely unbelievable" puts emphasis on a skewed idea (IMO) about the "bawdy" nature of shanties. (Incidentally, I don't remember many/any of the actual shanties on BBB being bawdy, rather there were a couple non-shanty sea songs that were. And they certainly weren't 'unbelievable') People coming from the "rock" perspective (let's say) seem to often take the tack of praising the supposed inherently lewd and outrageous nature of chanties in order to share their interest. Anyways...

Sorry to be so long-winded. My point is that Zappa is speaking in generalities, saying not that he was "into" shanties in any significant way *besides* the significance that other "rock" people might not have opened their ears enough to enjoy an album like BBB, as he did. Others are taking Zappa's vague statements and making more of them than they are, I think. And the people on the side of promoting Lloyd/MacColl seem to be using the quote a little carelessly here. The reissue of BBB, IIRC, did note Zappa's quote -- which made sense in showing how influential that album had been. It was an influential album in both the folk music scene and "even in the rock scene." Quite interesting, I agree. But it's the album that was influential, not the shanty or maritime genre in general.