The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #55682   Message #867572
Posted By: Micca
15-Jan-03 - 01:35 PM
Thread Name: BS: Peg at London Session Tonight
Subject: RE: BS: Peg at London Session Tonight
MMario, the amount of "on the fly" editing that went on as I was singing, to find the LEAST filthy verses, was amazing!! Especially since the Shantyman I met when I was at sea and who is still my Shanty Hero, Bert Grey of Shetland, bless him) always regarded Drunken Sailor as a test piece for Shantymen, He claimed (and he had sailed before the mast in the 1930s in Scandanavian sailing ships) that the First verse was the ONLY one fixed and stayed the same, the skill of the shantyman was to create a new verse each time reviewing the Parentage, sexual proclivities, habits and physical characteristics of the crew, and displaying his versifying skills by his improvisation skills. His version included verses in Russian, Swedish Finnish and a few other languages.