001 - A-Rovin (a)

The only difference between this version and version (a2) from page: 46 of the book, is this melody line of the first verse. I think this melody line changes a lot in the climate of the song, so this is a reason why I decided to record it in full, also tempo will be pumping chantey one.
Still too fast tempo, maybe ok for first 10 minutes work on pumps.
Lyrics from Shanties from the Seven Seas, by Stan Hugill.


A-Rovin'

In Amsterdam there lived a maid,
Mark well what I do say!
In Amsterdam there lived a maid,
An' she wuz mistress of her trade,
We'll go no more a-ro-o-vin' with you fair maid.

A-rovin', a-rovin',
Since rovin's bin my ru-i-in,
We'll go no more a-rovin',
With you fair maid.

One night I crept from my abode,
Mark well what I do say!
One night I crept from my abode,
To meet this fair maid down the road.
We'll go no more a-ro-o-vin' with you fair maid.

A-rovin', a-rovin',
Since rovin's bin my ru-i-in,
We'll go no more a-rovin',
With you fair maid.

I met this fair maid after dark,
An' took her to her favourite park.

I took this fair maid for a walk,
An' we had such a lovin' talk.

I put me arm around her waist,
Sez she, "Young man, yer in great haste!"

I put me hand upon her knee,
Sez she, "Young man, yer rather free!"

I put my hand upon her thigh,
Sez she, "Young man, yer rather high!"

I towed her to the Maiden's Breast,
From south the wind veered wes'sou'west

An' the eyes in her head turned east an' west,
And her thoughts wuz as deep as an ol' sea-chest.

We had a drink - of grub a snatch,
We sent two bottles down the hatch.

Her dainty arms wuz white as milk,
Her lovely hair wuz soft as silk.

Her heart wuz poundin' like a drum,
Her lips wuz red as any plum.

We laid down on a grassy patch,
An' I felt such a ruddy ass.

She pushed me over on me back,
She laughed so hard her lips did crack.

She swore that she'd be true to me,
But spent me pay-day fast and free.

In three weeks' time I wuz badly bent,
Then off to sea I sadly went.

In a bloodboat Yank bound round Cape Horn,
Me boots an' clothes wuz all in pawn.

Bound round Cape Stiff through ice an' snow,
An' up the coast to Callyo.

An' then back to the Liverpool Docks,
Saltpetre stowed in our boots an' socks.

Now when I got back home from sea,
A soger had her on his knee.


About Pump Shanty:
On the sailing ship, there were two types of bilge pumps:
First, the older one was a pump with two handles where pumping happens by crew placed on opposite sites, each site worked two to four sailors. When sailors from one site had a handle above the head, another site was on the level of the ankles on the opposite side. In this case, the pumping shanties pace was as follows: the first tact, pulling the handle to the waist, the second pushing it up, the third pushing down to the waist, the fourth lowering it down to the ankles.
Old Type Leaver Pump


The second type of pump:
it operated on the principle of two flywheels, where the sailors on the opposite side rotated their handles on the flywheels to make the work lighter. This pump calls the Downton pump.

In this type of pump, sailors installed on ends of bars ropes (bell-rope), to make the job easier by taking more sailors involved in pumping. In this 0.25 min of this super unique movie you can watch real pumping with bell ropes: bell ropes pumping work.