Origins: A Capital Ship (Charles Edward Carryl)

Subject: Lyr Req: childish sailing song (perhaps)
From: tofino_lad
Date: 28 Aug 03 - 07:15 PM

Years ago ,in school, we used to sing a sailing song.I can't remember the name, but I will jot down a few of the lyrics.
" No gale that blew dismayed her crew or troubled the captain's mind"
"the man at the wheel was taught to feel contempt for the wildest blow"
and something about eating rub-a-gub bark . Does this song sound familiar to anyone else ? I would appreciate any and all responses. Thank-you.

Subject: Lyr Add: A CAPITAL SHIP (Charles Edward Carryl)
From:
Date: 28 Aug 03 - 07:29 PM

From http://theworld.com/~dduncan/poetry/capitalship.html

A Capital Ship by Charles Edward Carryl NOTES This delightful piece of nonsense, by the author of Alice in Wonderland, has been combined with the chorus of "A Thousand Miles Away" to produce a moderately popular song - popular enough, at least, to make it into Rise Up Singing. A capital ship for an ocean trip    Was the "Walloping Window-blind"! No gale that blew dismayed her crew    Or troubled the captain's mind; The man at the wheel was taught to feel    Contempt for the wildest blow, Tho' it often appeared when the weather had cleared,    That he'd been in his bunk below.   The bo'swain's mate was very sedate,    Yet fond of amusement, too; He played hopscotch with the starboard watch,    While the captain tickled the crew! And the gunner we had was apparently mad,    For he sat on the after rail, And fired salutes with the captain's boots,    In the teeth of the booming gale!   The captain sat in a commodore's hat    And dined, in a royal way, On toasted pigs and pickles and figs    And gummery bread each day. But the cook was Dutch, and behaved as such,    For the diet he gave the crew Was a number of tons of hot cross-buns    Chopped up with sugar and glue.   And we all felt ill as mariners will    On a diet that's cheap and rude; And we shivered and shook as we dipped the cook    In a tub of his gluesome food. Then nautical pride we laid aside,    And we cast the vessel ashore On the Gulliby Isles, where the Poohpooh smiles,    And the Anagazanders roar.   Composed of sand was that favored land,    And trimmed with cinnamon straws; And pink and blue was the pleasing hue    Of the Tickletoeteaser's claws. And we sat on the edge of a sandy ledge    And shot at the whistling bee; And the Binnacle-bats wore waterproof hats,    As they danced in the sounding sea.   On rubagub bark, from dawn to dark,    We fed till we all had grown Uncommonly shrunk, when a Chinese junk    Came up from the Torriby zone. She was chubby and square, but we didn't much care,    And we cheerily put to sea; And we left the crew of the junk to chew    On the bark of the rubagub tree.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: childish sailing song (perhaps)
From: tofino_lad
Date: 28 Aug 03 - 07:33 PM

Thank-you ever so much. I will try and re-pay your kindness some day and in some way. I have been looking for this song for around 25 years or so. I thought perhaps that I was slowly going crazy with age. Again, thank-you.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: childish sailing song (perhaps)
From: masato sakurai
Date: 28 Aug 03 - 07:51 PM

As a song (also titled "Blow, Ye Winds, Heigh-Ho" or "The Walloping Window Blind"), it is sung with chorus after each stanza:

So, blow, ye winds, heigh-ho,
A roving I will go;
I'll stay no more on England's shore,
So let the music play-ay-ay;
I'm off for the morning train,
I'll cross the raging main,
I'm off to my love with a boxing glove,
Ten thousand miles away.

The score is in Norman Luboff & Win Stracke's Songs of Man (Prentice Hall, 1965, pp. 254-56) and The Book of Navy Songs (Naval Institute Press, 1955, p. 64).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: childish sailing song (perhaps)
From: masato sakurai
Date: 28 Aug 03 - 08:02 PM

A CAPITAL SHIP and TEN THOUSAND MILES AWAY are in the DT. See also this thread: Help: Capital Ship's 'boxing glove'?!?!.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: childish sailing song (perhaps)
From: curmudgeon
Date: 28 Aug 03 - 08:07 PM

I first encountered this song at an early age in an old "song book" that was in the piano bench. My old friend and musical co-conspirator David Behm has been singing this song at our sessions for nigh on twenty years; he learned it from his mother in a version somewhat re-arranged and abbreviated from the one George posted.

While I am in no position to challenge the attribution to Charles Edward Carryl, I can state with confidence that he was not the same person as Charles Ludwidge Dodson (Lewis Carroll).

A great song nontheless -- Tom

Subject: Lyr Add: WALLOPING WINDOW BLIND
From: DebC
Date: 28 Aug 03 - 08:11 PM

This is also a song that I had found in the Flanders Collection sung by Lena Bourne Fish. Her lyrics were similiar to the composed piece by Carryl, but had some very interesting additions. There is still one wee bit that the Flanders text did not have and I haven't had a chance to listen to the recording to sort it out.

Walloping Window Blind

Chorus:

So blow you winds high ho
A roving I will go
I'll stay no more on England's shore
So let the music play
I'm off on the morning train
I'll cross the raging main
For I'm off to my love with the boxing gloves
Ten thousand miles away

A new ship was anchored in the bay
While the captain and mates did dine
And smiled through the cog as they drank their grog
But one thing disturbed their mind
At the mariners' inn while they both sat in
and they thought it quite unkind
For amid their cheers they would often hear
A walloping window blind

Said the captain to the mate it must be fate
For our ship is un-named you know
and the walloping blind disturbs my mind
For the raging winds doth blow
To hell with fate said the sturdy mate
Such trifles we will not mind
For the waves we'll skip and we'll name our ship
The Walloping Window Blind

Now a capitol ship for an ocean trip
Was the Walloping Window Blind
No winds that blew disturbed her crew
Or troubled the captain's mind
The man at the wheel was said to feel
Contempt for the wind that blow.
Tho it often appeared when the weather had cleared
That he'd been in his bunk below.


The bosun and the mate was very sedate,
Yet fond of amusement too;
So they played hopscotch with the starboard watch
While the captain tickled the crew.
And the gunner we had was apparently mad
For hed sit on the after-rail,
And fire salutes with the captains boots
In the teeth of a blowing gale.

The captain sat in a commodore's hat
And dined in a royal way
On roasted pigs and pickles and figs
And gunnery bread each day.
But our cook was dutch and behaved as such
For the diet he gave the crew
Was a number of tons of hot cross buns
Served up with sugar and glue

We laughed and cheered, no storm we feared
With our capitol ship so fine
__________, we laughed at fate
No fear disturbed our mind
When the waves would roll, we'd drink from our bowl
For we knew without fail we could weather the gale
With the walloping window blind

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: childish sailing song (perhaps)
From: masato sakurai
Date: 28 Aug 03 - 08:59 PM

The song is in The Most Popular College Songs (Hinds, Hayden & Eldredge, 1904, 1905, pp. 50-51) as "Blow, Ye Winds, Heigh-Ho!", with 5 stanzas. The 4th has quite a few differences from the version quoted above.

4. All nautical pride we laid aside,
    And we ran the vessel ashore
    On the Gulliby Isles, where the Poopoo smiles,
    And the rubbly Ubdugs roar.
    And we sat on the edge of a sandy ledge
    And shot at the whistling bee-ee-ee;
    And the cinnamon bats wore waterproof hats
    As they dipped in the shiny sea.
       Then blow, etc.

Sigmund Spaeth says: "The ... college song, A Capital Ship, certainly owes its refrain, 'Then blow ye winds, heigh-ho, a-roving I will go,' to that of De Camptown Races" (A History of Popular Music in America, Random House, 1948, p. 107).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: childish sailing song (perhaps)
From: curmudgeon
Date: 28 Aug 03 - 09:07 PM

At some now unremembered juncture, I encountered a version of this song in which the narrator's object of affection was a female transport. Ten thousand miles, in songs anyway, was the distance from England to Australia. Ring a bell with anyone else?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: childish sailing song (perhaps)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 28 Aug 03 - 09:32 PM

Ten Thousand Miles Away (in the DT) is the parent of this parody by Carryl, as has been noted. The Bodleian Library has a broadside of "Ten Thousand Miles Away" that is dated between 1840-1866, Ballads Catalogue, Harding B 11 (3763), J. Harkness, printers, Preston.
Hugill's estimate of early 19th century is a little early, since the chorus mentions the morning train, so I would guess 1860 approx. I would also guess that the song is English; I think Hugill suggested Irish. Bob Bolton mentioned that Australia is ca. 10,000 miles from England, and that there is a version in Australia. In the first verse, "my true love so gay .... She has taken a trip on a government ship,...." (Transportation for offenses?).

Carryl's parody, "A Capital Ship (Was Walloping Window Blind)" is, of course, later, but so far I can't find the date. It is discussed, with Carryl's and one other set of words, in thread 24814, linked by Masato, above.

I remember happily singing this song in grade school, ca. 1930. One of the few I remember (along with "Little Brown Cheursche in the Vale"- we loved messing up that song to the despair of the music teacher).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: childish sailing song (perhaps)
From: LadyJean
Date: 28 Aug 03 - 11:00 PM

The song comes from "Davy and the Goblin", a children's book, written in 1884, by A a New York stockbroker, named Charles E. Carryl. My mother read it to me when I was small, and sang that song with great gusto, including the lines, "The Cook was dutch, and behaved as such, for the food he gave the crew, was tons and tons of hot cross buns, mixed up with sugar and glue."
I think "Davy" is in print, if you want to read it. The Goblin taked Davy on a "believing voyage", where he meets various characters from fairy tales, including Little Red Riding Hood, and her father, Robin Hood.
It is easy to get Charles E. Carryl mixed up with Charles Lewis Dodgeson, aka Lewis Carroll. But Carryl was an American. "Davy was his attempt to write an American "Alice in Wonderland". He wrote another fantasy called, "The Admiral's Caravan".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: childish sailing song (perhaps)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 28 Aug 03 - 11:46 PM

Thanks, LadyJean, you are correct. Checking available copies, used copies of a 1988 reprint available from $5 to $20, with new illus. by G. Hildebrandt and Bacharach. Original illus. by E. B. Bensell, late editions reasonable, Ist Ed. 1st issue,in "good" condition, $400, dated 1985; actual release date was 1886 according to one dealer.

The subtitle was "What Followed Reading "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," which undoubtedly contributed to the confusion with Lewis Carroll's "Alice."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: childish sailing song (perhaps)
From: Mudlark
Date: 29 Aug 03 - 01:10 AM

What a lovely mix of pleasure and erudition is the Mudcat. My Mom sang this to me too, and because she was very fond of G&S and lumped this in with many of theirs, I always thot it was from one of their obscure operettas. It was fun to see all the verses again...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: childish sailing song (perhaps)
From: masato sakurai
Date: 29 Aug 03 - 04:59 AM

"A Capital Ship" as a song with the "Blow, Ye Winds, Heigh-Ho" chorus seems to have started, or to have been popularized, as a college song. The version in The Scottish Students' Songbook (1891; 1897, p. 128) consists of 5 stanzas, as does The Most Popular College Songs, and its credits are: Words from St. Nicholas. Air__"Ten Thousands Miles Away." However, the tune to "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (pp. 126-7) is not the now familar one "A Capital Ship" adpots. St. Nicholas is the magazine where "Davy and the Goblin; or, What Followed Reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" first appeared (St. Nicholas [v12 # 2, December 1884]; Click here). Carmina Princetonia: The Princeton Song Book, 21st ed. (G. Schirmer, 1927, pp. 88) also contains "A Capital Ship" (familar version; with no mention of author/composer).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: childish sailing song (perhaps)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 29 Aug 03 - 05:59 PM

Nice work, gang, tracking down the origin of this song. And I thought I knew all about it!

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: childish sailing song (perhaps)
From: LadyJean
Date: 30 Aug 03 - 12:02 AM

Postponing the inevitable this morning, I found my copy of "Davy and the Goblin" among my books, and the song of the Walloping Window Blind.
It is sung by no less a personage than Sindbad the Sailor. "This here Turk," the Goblin says, "is the most reckless old story teller that was ever born. You can't believe half he tells you."
"I'd like to hear one of his stories for all that,' said Davy".
Sindbad trips over his long beard, and his shoes with the turned up toes, but he sings about the Walloping Window Blind.
Then Davy asks, "If you please sir, what is gummery bread."
"It's bread stuffed with molasses," said Sindbad. "But I never saw it anywhere except aboard the Prodigal Pig."
"But," said Davy in great surprise, "yo said the name of your ship was"-
"So I did and so it was,"interrupted Sindbad, testily. "The name of a ship sticks to it like wax to a wig. You can't change it."
There is much pleasant silliness in "Davy" you would, probably also enjoy Robinson Crusoe's song of his life on the island.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: childish sailing song (perhaps)
From: EBarnacle1
Date: 01 Sep 03 - 10:18 PM

There is a publication of "A Capital Ship" about 10 years ago, fully illustrated and with music. It can be found in the Children's section of Barnes and Noble.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: childish sailing song (perhaps)
From: LadyJean
Date: 27 May 10 - 11:19 PM

Here's the song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: childish sailing song (perhaps)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 28 May 10 - 09:36 PM

LadyJean-

Was there supposed to be a link above? If so, it misfired.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: A Capital Ship (Charles Edward Carryl)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 01 Jun 10 - 09:50 PM

Chapter 6 of "Davy and the Goblin; or, What Followed Reading 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'" by Charles E. Carryl appeared in Vol. 12, No. 3 of St. Nicholas—the issue of January, 1885. The song appears, without a title, beginning on page 168 (click the link).

There are some differences in the wording.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: A Capital Ship (Charles Edward Carryl)
From: LadyJean
Date: 02 Jun 10 - 02:06 AM

I'm not much good with links.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: A Capital Ship (Charles Edward Carryl)
From: GUEST,Kbirdmom
Date: 19 Jul 17 - 11:18 AM

My father, who had served in the US Navy during WWII, sang this song with great gusto, and I learned it from him. Never thought to ask him when and where he learned it, but suspect it was while serving in the 'boats' (aka submarines) in the Pacific. I had forgotten a few of the stanzas, so it was great to see them all listed here. Thanks for some nice memories of singing on long car trips.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: A Capital Ship (Charles Edward Carryl)
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 19 Jul 17 - 03:32 PM

'Ten-thousand Miles Away' has been covered in other threads. It is one of Joe Geoghegan's songs. I have the original sheet music.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: A Capital Ship (Charles Edward Carryl)
From: DebC
Date: 21 Jun 21 - 04:47 PM

Tomorrow (June 22) I'll be singing this song on "the Daily Antidote of Song" that is sponsored by Carpe Diem Arts and the American Folklife Center.

We start at noon EDT and we'll go for about a half hour or so. Here is the Link:

Daily Antidote of Song

Debra Cowan

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: A Capital Ship (Charles Edward Carryl)
From: GUEST,Margot Lane
Date: 11 Oct 21 - 06:41 PM

Funny how many moons and dads sang this song with great gusto to their kids, which is how I recalled it as well…just popped into my head one windy day! My mom was born in 1928.