The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #57499 Message #905056
Posted By: Skipper Jack
06-Mar-03 - 04:04 PM
Thread Name: What exactly is a sea shanty?
Subject: RE: What exactly is a sea shanty?
Stan Hugill's book "Shanties of the Seven Seas" is an excellent reference on sea shanties. He explains how the various shanties which were made up and sung by the shantyman to suit the job in hand. They had quite a simple repetitive refrain for the most part. The crew responded by singing and pulling together on specific words to create the maximum effort needed for the extremely heavy work.. The shanty also provided some light relief for the sailors because the verse often consisted of bawdy humour and p**s taking of the "Afterguard" - the captain, officers and the 1st & 2nd mate.