The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #31335   Message #619364
Posted By: Dead Horse
01-Jan-02 - 04:19 AM
Thread Name: Origins: Bully in the Alley
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bully in the Alley
All verses from *Sally Brown* is what I usually sing (or as many as I can remember at the time)
Hugill gives it as a halyard shanty, derived from cotton-screwing, so improvisation was the order. With such a good chorus, I should think it could be used for any job - including pumps and capstan. Several other shanties verses would also fit. I suspect that where only a few verses were given to any shanty, that it doesn't mean only a few verses were sung, only that THOSE verses were the ones usually sung, and that innumerable variations existed. They weren't written down as each shanty-man had his own preference. Try lines from Shenendoah, or even the Codfish Shanty. In fact, if you add or subtract the "grand chorus" there aint many shanties wot don't fit.