The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #94304   Message #3381363
Posted By: GUEST,Lighter
25-Jul-12 - 12:59 PM
Thread Name: Stan Hugill - the real words?
Subject: RE: Stan Hugill - the real words?
> leaving many of the working shanties too short to be really singable.

Most of the brevity probably comes from the fact that shanties tended to have only a handful of "standard" verses, to be followed by improvisation and words from other shanties.

As Hugill once said, a sailing ship wasn't "a bloody floating music-hall." It was more like a floating workhouse.