C. Fox Smith PermaThread

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 21 May 12 - 07:38 AM

It works. Cool!

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Charley Noble
Date: 21 May 12 - 07:36 AM

In the meantime try this link: click here for book cover

Would someone who is not one of my Facebook friends or relatives please confirm whether this link works?

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Charley Noble
Date: 21 May 12 - 07:32 AM

Gibb-

Actually, I'll have to set up the above link as a separate album rather than as my "Facebook Thoughts for the Day." I have more control of the privacy features that way. The CFS should be public but my usual "Thoughts" should only go to my 500 or so "close friends and relations."

And it probably would be better to launch a new thread about the publication of the book here.

I'll do appropriate editing as soon as I can figure out how best to do this.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 20 May 12 - 11:43 PM

Hi Charley,

Thanks for the scans!!

You might want to check on your Facebook gallery of pics. I'm not seeing anything; it might not be set to "public" view.

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Charley Noble
Date: 20 May 12 - 08:02 PM

Here's a link to the cover of The Complete Poetry of Cicely Fox Smith: click here for PIX!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Charley Noble
Date: 20 May 12 - 09:25 AM

Gibb-

I'll send you a JPGs of the relevant two pages via e-mail, assuming you still have the same (gmail) e-mail.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 20 May 12 - 05:35 AM

Any chance to see or hear the tune of "Lowlands Away"? Many other MIDIs are here but not that one. CFS's collection is a bit hard to get a hold of! Thanks.

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Charley Noble
Date: 29 Apr 12 - 08:16 PM

Here's a major update for those interested in this incredible British poet. Late this May The Complete Poetry of Cicely Fox Smith will finally be published, almost 640 poems, by Little Red Tree Publishing in Mystic, Connecticut.

This has been a major international project. Grateful thanks are due to my co-editor Jim Saville (UK), Barrie Mathers (UK), Jake Wade (UK), Chris Roche (UK), Danny & Joyce McLeod (UK), Ian Dye (UK), Margaret Walters, (Australia), Bill Huot and Aziza Cooper (Victoria, BC), Bob Zentz, Mike Kennedy, Margaret McCandless here in the States, and a host of others. Special thanks to Joanie Dimartino who directed me to our intrepid publisher Michael Linnard.

This anthology will run more than a thousand pages, is fully referenced, and profusely illustrated with vintage images. It will be available for download on-line as well as hard copy.

The number of poems that I now know of that have been set to music (some not yet recorded) exceeds 100.

More specific information about ordering this book will be posted to this thread.

Back to final proofing.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Charley Noble
Date: 25 Sep 10 - 09:54 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Charley Noble
Date: 06 Mar 10 - 09:15 AM

The Sea Songs of Cicely Fox Smith songbook may also be purchased from Camsco Music: click here for website

I've also shipped a load to Sydney, Australia, where they may be purchased from Margaret Walters of The Roaring Forties.

Songbooks are also available in the UK from Jim Saville (Shantyfreak) for £15 each.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: shipcmo
Date: 05 Mar 10 - 12:19 PM

All Hands!
Make your way to Charlie Ipcar's site to lay your hands on a copy of "Sea Songs of Cicely Fox Smith", edited by Charlie: click here for website

Captain George

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Charley Noble
Date: 13 Jun 06 - 05:18 PM

Thanks, Peter. We try to please.

We should do another one of these for something that is out of print and relatively expensive to purchase as a used book. Any suggestions?

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: stallion
Date: 13 Jun 06 - 05:26 AM

well done team, credit to you all

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Shantyfreak
Date: 13 Jun 06 - 04:57 AM

You got me Charley. I'm still a novice here and forgot to log in correctly ! !
Rumoured to sing is quite right I make a noise in the back row and occasionally get up front and give renditions, usually CFS.
Hope Mystic is Magic Charley. One of these years. . .
Jim

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Charley Noble
Date: 12 Jun 06 - 06:38 PM

"Shantyfreak" should be identified as Jim Saville who began the Cicely Fox Smith anthology on the Oldpoetry website, where there we have now posted more than 600 of this poet's poems. It's rumoured that Jim also sings with the Shellbacks.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: GUEST,SHANTYFREAK
Date: 12 Jun 06 - 11:46 AM

I've just gone through this from top to bottom. Great work guys
Jim

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Charley Noble
Date: 13 Mar 06 - 10:19 AM

Here's a link to some 600 of Cicely Fox Smith's poems as they were published which are being posted by myself and Shantyfreak on the Oldpoetry website: Click here for website

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Charley Noble
Date: 11 Nov 05 - 01:16 PM

Very true. With our awesome "editing powers" this thread will get even more better and better!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: MMario
Date: 11 Nov 05 - 12:19 PM

Perma-threads and DT study threads it pays to re-read! *grin* the *do* get edited.

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: JohnB
Date: 11 Nov 05 - 11:44 AM

Thanks JudyB (nice name btw) MMario Pm'd me and informed me of the same thing. I had not realized that they were going back in and adding further info, I generally don't go back and re-read posts I have previously read. Amazing the talents at Mudcat.
Thanks to all involved, again, JohnB

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: JudyB
Date: 10 Nov 05 - 02:41 PM

Hi John -

Must admit it's not obvious, but MMario, Joe, Q and Charley are adding the abc's and the "click to play" button at the end of the entry for each song - if you look for "BONEY WAS A WARRIOR" about halfway up, you'll see what I mean. If you scroll through the thread slowly, you'll find a bunch of others.

JudyB
(no relation, as far as I know....)

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: JohnB
Date: 10 Nov 05 - 01:59 PM

I did not mean to be unappreciative, it's just that there was no posting to even acknowledge the request, so I did not know that something was happening. Many many many thanks to all.
ps how do I find them when you have done this, MMario?
JohnB

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 04 Nov 05 - 05:29 PM

So far, scans of 22 have been sent to MMario for ABC and to Joe for Midi. The rest in a day or so. All will show up eventually as these very obliging people get to them, so don't get your knickers in a twist.
Charley is doing the editing.
As resident Luddite of Alley Oop vintage, it took me a while to figure out how to set up the scans.

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Charley Noble
Date: 04 Nov 05 - 04:20 PM

JohnB-

As MMario says above, he and Q are working on scanning the music in one end and generating abc's (musical squiglies) out the other end.

In the mean time, we wait as patiently as we can.

I just re-checked and they have begun!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: MMario
Date: 04 Nov 05 - 10:32 AM

people are working on it - see 'Rio grande'

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: JohnB
Date: 04 Nov 05 - 10:29 AM

Tunes, tunes, tunes,tunes, notes, notes, notes, notes, abc, abc, abc, abc. Please somebody read this thread instead of just posting to it.
Thanks in anticipation of tunes to songs posted which I don't know now.
JohnB not wishing to sound ungrateful.

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Charley Noble
Date: 03 Nov 05 - 08:44 PM

My own copy of this book has an interesting note by one of its previous owners, a Captain G. M. Ruxton, self-described master mariner, Wellington, NZ, 1923:

"Miss Smith is a dry land sailor. So are most nautical writers."

One can almost imagine the good captain bristling as he wrote this.

And so we end our all too brief voyage through this wonderful collection.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Charley Noble
Date: 03 Nov 05 - 08:55 AM

POOR PADDY
(Pumping or Capstan Shanty)

In eighteen-hundred-and-sixty-one
I did as plenty more have done
My corduroy breeches I put on
To work upon the railway…the ra-ailway…
I'm weary of the ra-ailway,
Oh poor Paddy he works on the railway!

In eighteen-hundred-and-sixty-two
I joined up with an Irish crew,
I got a job of work to do
To work upon the railway…the ra-ailway…
I'm weary of the ra-ailway,
Oh poor Paddy he works on the railway!

In eighteen-hundred-and-sixty-three
I sailed away across the sea,
I sailed to North Amerikee
To work upon the railway…the ra-ailway…
I'm weary of the ra-ailway,
Oh poor Paddy he works on the railway!

In eighteen-hundred-and-sixty-four
I landed on Columbia's shore,
I had a pickaxe, nothing more,
To work upon the railway…the ra-ailway…
I'm weary of the ra-ailway,
Oh poor Paddy he works on the railway!

In eighteen-hundred-and-sixty-five
When Daniel O'Connell was alive,
I thought it time no more to strive
To work upon the railway…the ra-ailway…
I'm weary of the ra-ailway,
Oh poor Paddy he works on the railway!

In eighteen-hundred-and-sixty-six
I said good-bye to spades and picks,
I chucked my job and carried bricks
But not upon the railway…the ra-ailway…
I'm weary of the ra-ailway,
Oh poor Paddy he works on the railway!

Notes by CFS, p. 56:

This is no doubt an example of a shore song converted into a shanty, and for that reason some of the purists exclude it from their pages. But since – as I have suggested elsewhere – the likelihood is that nearly every shanty under the sun, if the truth were known, comes under the same category, and since, moreover, "Poor Paddy" has certainly been long forgotten except as a shanty, and has been for years a universal favourite afloat, I take leave to accord a place here to his Odyssey.

Captain W. H. Angel calls it a hoisting shanty: but every other writer I have consulted classes it with the capstan songs, and its form seems to indicate that it was so used as a general rule.
X:1
T:Poor Paddy
C:C. Fox Smith 'A book of Shanties' p 57
M:6/8
L:1/8
K:F
z6(c B)|A2A A G F|G2G c2c|F2F B2A|
w:In_ Eight-een hun-dred and six-ty one I did as plen-ty
G2G C2c|A3/2 A/2 A (A G) F|G2G c2B|
w:more have done My cord-u-roy breech_-es I put on to
A2F G2E|F3F2F|(E2D) C2C|E2F G2A|
w:work up-on the rail-way the rail_-way I'm wea-ry of the
B2d c3|c2B A/2 G/2 G2|F3G2E|F3F
w:ra-ail-way Oh poor pad-dy he works on the rail-way

---

Click to play

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 02 Nov 05 - 11:12 PM

PADDY DOYLE'S BOOTS
(Bunt Shanty)

To my way-ay-ay-ah-yah,
We'll pay Paddy Doyle for his boots.

We'll all drink brandy and rum,
And pay Paddy Doyle for his boots.

We'll all shave under the chin,
And pay Paddy Doyle for his boots.

We'll all throw dirt at the cook,
And pay Paddy Doyle for his boots.

Notes by CFS:

Paddy Doyle was consecrated to one occasion, and one alone- namely, getting the bunt - or middle part - of a large sail, generally a course, but sometimes a topsail, on to the yard. In furling, it may be added, the strongest and most experienced seamen were at the bunt; in reefing the exact contrary was the rule.

When it is remembered that one of these big sails would probably contain about five hundred yards of Number One canvas, it will readily be believed that it took a hefty combined heave to get it, rolled into a solid bundle, on to the yard. The big effort came at the word "Boots," which was shouted rather than sung.

Who Paddy Doyle was and why he was specially associated with boots I have not been able to discover; unless, indeed, he was a euphemism for the Duke of Hell, whose riding boots every old sailor was acquainted with. Opinion seems to be divided as to whether this shanty had a solo part or was an "all hands" affair right through. Bullen and Whall favour the latter view: Patterson, also a practical seaman, says that all hands came in on "Boots." No doubt both opinions are right, and custom varied in individual ships.

The tune bears a striking resemblance to the closing bars of "The Queen's Jig," and may have been picked up from the ship's fiddler.

The shanty from Colcord is in the DT. See thread 37570 for other versions: Paddy Doyle

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 02 Nov 05 - 10:26 PM

LOWLANDS AWAY
(Halliard Shanty)

Lowlands, lowlands, away my John!
Lowlands away, I heard them say,
Lowlands, lowlands, away my John!
Lowlands away, I heard them say-
My dollar and a half a day!

A dollar a day is a hoosier's pay-
Lowlands, lowlands, away my John!
A dollar a day is a hoosier's pay-
My dollar and a half a day!

Oh my old mother wrote to me-
Lowlands, lowlands, away my John!
She wrote to me to come home from sea
My dollar and a half a day!

Lowlands away, I heard them say-
Lowlands, lowlands, away my John!
Lowlands away, I heard them say-
My dollar and a half a day!

Alternative Version (beginning at A)

I dreamed a dream the other night-
Lowlands, lowlands, away my John!
I dreamed a dream the other night-
My lowlands away!

I thought I saw my own true love-
Lowlands, lowlands, away my John!
I thought I saw my own true love-
My lowlands away!

I thought my love was drowned and dead-
Lowlands, lowlands, away my John!
I thought my love was drowned and dead-
My lowlands away!

CFS: ""Lowlands Away" is the classic example of one of the outstanding characteristics of the shanty; namely, the way in which the most trivial and indeed meaningless words are wedded to haunting and beautiful melodies.
The more modern words- and that they are really very modern, since they were already well known in the 'fifties and practically extinct before the 'eighties, very few of the younger generation of sailing ship men having ever heard the shanty- are a debased version of a still older song. The horribly material refrain of "A dollar and a half a day," which is so hopelessly out of keeping with the sad, lingering cadence of the melody, and the references to "hoosiers" and such strange wildfowl, are quite obviously later interpolations. The old version is on the familiar theme of the dead lover, so popular with the folk singer, to whom and to whose audiences a thoroughly miserable story was as the breath of life; and the "Lowlands" refrain is found in more than one old song and ballad, like the well-known "Golden Vanitee," and that which tells how
   "the lowlands of Holland
   Have twinned my Love and me."

See the DT for other verses, "Lowlands of Holland," and "Golden Vanity."

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 02 Nov 05 - 08:42 PM

LEAVE HER, JOHNNIE
(Capstan Shanty)

Oh the times are hard and the wages low-
Leave her, Johnnie, leave her?
And now ashore again we'll go-
It's time for us to leave her?
The grub was bad, the voyage long-
Leave her, Johnnie, leave her?
The seas were high, the gales were strong-
It's time for us to leave her?

She would not wear, she would not stay-
Leave her, Johnnie, leave her?
She shipped it green, both night and day-
It's time for us to leave her?
She would not stay, she would not wear-
Leave her, Johnnie, leave her?
She shipped it green and she made us swear-
It's time for us to leave her?

The sails are furled, our work is done-
Leave her, Johnnie, leave her?
And now ashore we'll take a run-
It's time or us to leave her?

CFS: "When the packet rat references became out of date, the tune, being too good to be lost, survived with a new set of words as the familiar "Leave her, Johnnie, leave her!" which was generally sung at the capstan, and only at the end of a voyage.
"Some writers take the disparaging references to the ship, the Old Man, the mates, the cook, the weather and the rate of pay very seriously. As a matter of fact, this shanty always strikes me as an excellent example of a thorough-going shellback "grouse." A sailorman of the old school was never happier than when he was enjoying a growl with a shipmate at "this sorry scheme of things." But it didn't follow in the least that he wouldn't extol the very ship he was abusing as a sort of floating Eden when she had become his "last ship.""

Two versions in the DT. See thread 2407: Leave Her

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 02 Nov 05 - 07:54 PM

I'M BOUND AWAY
(Capstan Shanty)

For the sake of you, my lassie,
I'm bound away, my lassie,
For the sake of you, my lassie,
I'm bound away.

Far across the sea, my lassie,
I'm bound away, my lassie,
Far across the sea, my lassie,
I'm bound away.

Gold to win for you, my lassie,
I'm bound away, my lassie,
Gold to win for you, my lassie,
I'm bound away.

Notes by CFS:

This rather pretty little anchor song, which I think does not appear in any other collection, dates back to the early fifties, when it was a favourite in ships outward bound from the London River. "It used," said my informant, "to sound peculiarly pathetic when one knew the circumstances- the men who were singing it had probably wasted a year's hard-earned pay in a few days ashore, and were leaving home perhaps for years, penniless and full of the feelings of depression and despair left behind when the drink was just out of them.

The words seem to indicate that it may have been originally an emigrant song. The first verse only is traditional: the friend from whom I had it could remember no more. I have taken the liberty of acting as shantyman for once and improvising a couple more to make more of a song of it.

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 02 Nov 05 - 05:58 PM

HOLYSTONING

Notes by CFS:

The sailor had a song for everything. "When we were holystoning the decks." an old sailor once told me, "we would sing:"

Leave her, Johnny and away we'll go,
Leave her Johnny.

"Leave Her Johnnie" is included in this collection.
X:1
T:Holystoning
C:C. Fox Smith 'A Book of Shanties' p 85
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:Bb
F2B2B B c d|c2B2F4|B2d6|c2B6
w:Leave her John-ny and a-way we'll go, leave her John-ny.

---

Click to play

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Charley Noble
Date: 02 Nov 05 - 02:01 PM

THE RAMBLING SAILOR


I am a sailor stout and bold,
And oft have ploughed the ocean,
I serve my King and country too
For honour and promotion:
My shipmates all, I bid you adieu,
I'll go no more to sea along o' you,
I'll travel the country through and through,
And I'll still be a rambling sailor!

And if you want to know my name,
My name it is young Johnson,
I've got a commission from our King
To court all gals is handsome:
With my false heart and flattering tongue,
I courts 'em all both old and young:
I courts 'em all but I marries, marries none,
And I'll still be a rambling sailor!

Oh first I came to Plymouth town,
And there were lassies many,
I boldly stepped unto a one,
To court her for her money.
Says I, "My dear, be of good cheer,
I will not leave you, do not fear,
We'll travel the country far and near,
And I'll still be a rambling sailor!"

Oh next I came to Portsmouth town,
And there were lassies plentry,
I boldly stepped unto a one,
To court her for her beauty.
Says I, "My dear, what do you choose?
Here's ale and wine and rum punch too,
Besides a pair of silk satin shoes,
If you'll travel with a rambling sailor."

Oh then I rose up with the dawn,
Just as the day was peeping,
On tiptoe down the stair I went,
And left my love a-sleeping.
And if she waits until I come,
She may lie there till the day of her doom;
I'll court some other girl in her room,
And I'll still be a rambling sailor!

Notes by CFS, p. 91:

I am not really quite sure whether this song ought to be included in this collection, because I have no direct evidence of its having been sung at sea. I remember it from childhood as part of my father's repertoire on festive occasions; where he got it from I don't know, since it is at any rate unquestionably an old sea song, if not actually a sailor's song, but I am tempted to give it a place here.

Mr. Cecil Sharp has a version in his "Folk Songs from Somerset."

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Charley Noble
Date: 02 Nov 05 - 01:11 PM

REUBEN RANZO
(Halliard Shanty)

Oh poor old Reuben Ranzo –
Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!
Oh poor old Reuben Ranzo –
Ranzo, bo-oys, Ranzo!

Oh Ranzo was a tailor –
Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!
Oh Ranzo was no sailor –
Ranzo, bo-oys, Ranzo!

Oh Ranzo was a tailor ––
Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!
He shipped on board a whaler –
Ranzo, bo-oys, Ranzo!

Oh Ranzo took a notion –
Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!
To sailk upon the ocean –
Ranzo, bo-oys, Ranzo!

He shipped on board the "Beauty" –
Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!
And did not know his duty –
Ranzo, bo-oys, Ranzo!

They set him holystoning –
Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!
And did not mind him groaning –
Ranzo, bo-oys, Ranzo!

They said he was a lubber –
Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!
And made him eat whale-blubber –
Ranzo, bo-oys, Ranzo!

They gave him lashes twenty –
Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!
He thought it more than plenty –
Ranzo, bo-oys, Ranzo!

The captain gave him whiskey –
Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!
Which made him rather frisky –
Ranzo, bo-oys, Ranzo!

He taught him navigating –
Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!
And gave him extra rating –
Ranzo, bo-oys, Ranzo!

He made him the best sailor –
Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!
Sailing in that whaler –
Ranzo, bo-oys, Ranzo!

Ranzo now is skipper –
Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!
Of a China Clipper –
Ranzo, bo-oys, Ranzo!


Notes by CFS, p. 46:

But who really was Reuben Ranzo?

The obvious answer is that he was a "Dago," by name Lorenzo, a view to which the description of his personal habits lends likelihood. But then obvious solutions are seldom correct, as careful perusal of detective fiction effectually demonstrates, and a closer consideration suggests several objections to this one. In the first place, Reuben isn't a Dago name at all: and secondly, who ever heard of a Dago tailor? If he had been an ice-cream merchant or an organ-grinder, now – but a tailor, no! My own private idea is that Ranzo was one of the small and select band, of which the Marquess of Reading is the most eminent representative, of Jews afloat. He may have been a Russian or Polish Jew named Ronzoff or something of the kind, in which case he would very likely be a tailor, and the fact of his presence in the whaler would be sufficiently remarkable to be worth making a shanty about. It may also be observed that he displays the characteristic national tendency to get on in the world…Anyhow, whoever and whatever Reuben Ranzo may have been, his name will endure as long as the shanty which celebrates his misfortunes and never was topsail yard hoisted to a more rousing chorus!

X:1
T:Reuben Ranzo
C:C. Fox Smith 'A Book of Shanties' p 47
M:2/4
L:1/16
K:F
z6c2|A2 c2 B2 A2|G4A4|G2 G2 (G2 F2)|
w:Oh poor old Reu-ben Ran-zo Ran-zo, boys,_
A2 G2 z3G|F2 G2 F2 D2|F4C4|F2 A2 (c2 A2)|G4F2
w:Ran-zo! Oh poor old Reu-ben Ran-zoRan-zo, boys,_ Ran-zo!

---

Click to play

Subject: ADD: Rio Grande (from Fox Smith)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 02 Nov 05 - 11:34 AM

RIO GRANDE
(Capstan Shanty)

Oh say were you ever in Rio Grande? –
Awa-ay Rio!
It's there that the rivers run down golden sand –
And we're bound for the Rio Grande.

And awa-ay Rio – oh, you Rio –
Sing fa-are you well, my bonny young girl,
For we're bound for the Rio Grande.

So pack up your donkey and get under way –
Awa-ay Rio!
The girls we are leaving can have our half-pay,
And we're bound for the Rio Grande.

And awa-ay Rio – oh, you Rio –
Sing fa-are you well, my bonny young girl,
For we're bound for the Rio Grande.

You Liverpool ladies, we'd have you to know,
Awa-ay Rio!
We're bound to the South'ard, oh Lord let us go!
And we're bound for the Rio Grande.

And awa-ay Rio – oh, you Rio –
Sing fa-are you well, my bonny young girl,
For we're bound for the Rio Grande.

And now fare you well, all you girls of the town,
Awa-ay Rio!
The pay we have left you will buy a silk gown –
And we're bound for the Rio Grande.

And awa-ay Rio – oh, you Rio –
Sing fa-are you well, my bonny young girl,
For we're bound for the Rio Grande.


Notes by CFS, p. 18:

This, with "Blow the Man Down," is probably the most generally known of all the shanties, both ashore and afloat.

I find that the air is practically identical in nearly all the collections…The words, on the other hand, very a great deal…The accepted version, however, is – with slight variations – generally on the lines of that which I give.

The identity of the "Rio Grande" referred to affords ground for interesting speculation.

The reference to the rivers which "run down golden sands" rather suggests the Mexican Rio Grande: but the gold discoveries there were not made until the 'sixties (1860's), and the shanty was, I believe, known long before that date. There seems, then, just a possibility that it may go back to the eighteenth century, when crowds of gold-seekers were flocking to the south of Brazil: in which case it must be one of the oldest of the shanties.

And oh! one word, please! "Ry-o," not "Ree-o" – and "Grande" to rhyme with "sand."

---

Click to play

ABC of music - p. 19

X:1
T:Rio Grande
C:C. Fox Smith 'A BOOK OF SHANTIES' p.19
M:6/8
L:1/8
K:Eb
z4zE|GGG GFE|(FG)F E2E|B3-B Gc|
w:Oh say, were you ev-er in Ri_-o Grande? A-wa_-ay Ri
B3z2B|cde BAG|ABA GEF|GGE F B2|
w:-o! It's there that the riv-ers run down gol-den sand And we're bound for the Ri-o
E3E2F|G3-G2F|F E2z3|B3-B2G|c B2z2B|
w:Grande. And a-wa_-ay Ri-o, Oh_ you Ri-o; Sing
(cd)e (BA)G|ABA GEF|G3/2G/2G F B2|E3-E2
w:fare_ you well,_ my bon-ny young girl, For we're bound for the Ri-o Grande._

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Charley Noble
Date: 02 Nov 05 - 08:47 AM

ROLL THE COTTON DOWN
(Halliard Shanty)

Oh roll the cotton down, my boys –
Roll the cotton down!
Oh roll the cotton down, my boys,
Oh roll the cotton down!

Oh once we lay in Mobile Bay –
Roll the cotton down!
Oh once we lay in Mobile Bay –
Oh roll the cotton down!

A dollar a day is a negro's pay –
Roll the cotton down!
A dollar a day is a negro's pay –
Oh roll the cotton down!

Two dollars a day is a white man's pay –
Roll the cotton down!
Two dollars a day is a white man's pay –
Oh roll the cotton down!

I thought I heard the old man say –
Roll the cotton down!
"Another pull and then belay!"
Oh roll the cotton down!


Notes by CFS, p. 54:

Why was the shantyman so enamoured of Mobile Bay? Possibly because of the sound of it; possibly because it fitted in well with the usual shanty rhythms. There must have been some such reason: otherwise why should the name of a comparatively unimportant place appear in the shanties more frequently than any other? It is one of the minor puzzles of the subject.

"Roll the Cotton Down" is a jolly little tune which deserves a wider popularity among the shanty revivalists than it has so far enjoyed.

Notes by Stan Hugill: SHANTIES FROM THE SEVEN SEAS, p. 125

This hoosier version probably stemmed from the Negro one. The white cotton-stowers used it for screwing the huge bales of cotton into place down in the dark holds of the cotton droghers, heaving at the levers of the screws…Once the cotton season was over these men would ship "foreign," taking these "cotton chants" with them for use at halyard and capstan, hence a new infusion of shanty blood – coloured blood – entered into the field, which perhaps up till then had been dominated mainly by Irish-shaped work-songs.

X:1
T:Roll The Cotton Down
C:C. Fox Smith 'A Book of shanties' p 55
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:G
z6(B A)|G3D (E D) (B, D)|G2G2G3z|A3A B B3|
w:Oh_ roll the cot_-ton_ down, my boys, roll the cot-ton
A6(c A)|B3D (E D) (B, D)|G2A2B3c|B3B A A3|G6z2
w:down Oh_ roll the cot_-ton_ down my boys oh roll the cot-ton down.

---

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Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 01 Nov 05 - 10:04 PM

HANGING JOHNNIE
(Halliard Shanty)

They call me Hanging Johnnie-
Away-ay-i-oh!
Because I hang for money-
Oh hang, boys, hang!

Oh first I hanged my mother-
Away-ay-i-oh!
And then I hanged my brother-
Oh hang, boys, hang!

A rope, a beam, a ladder-
Away-ay-i-oh!
I'll hang you all together-
Oh hang, boys, hang!

Notes by CFS:

Both the air and the words of "Hanging Johnnie" (concerning which Mr. John Masefield has a fine descriptive passage) have a curiously haunting qualiy of almost macabre irony which is not found in any other shanty.

It was a general favourite, I think, in most ships, and survived to the end of the sail era.

Was the original "Hanging Johnnie" actually Jack Ketch? It is quite possible, and if so, the date of the shanty may be fixed within a few years.

See thread 72779 for other interpretations of "Hanging Johnny": Hanging Johnny

X:1
T:Hanging Johnnie
C:C. Fox Smith ' A Book of Shanties' p 45
L:1/8
K:Eb
z6zF|G2G F2E|G B2-B2f|c3-c B G|
w:They call me Hang-ing John-nie_ A-way_-ay-i
B3-B (G B)|c2c B2G|F E2-E2E|G3F3|E3-E
w:-oh!_ Be_-cause I hang for mon-ey_ Oh hang, boys, hang!_

---

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Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 01 Nov 05 - 09:28 PM

FARE YOU WELL
(Capstan Shanty)

I thought I heard the old man say-
"Good-bye, fare you well, good-bye, fare you well!"
I thought I heard the old man say-
"Hurrah, my boys, we're homeward bound!"

The anchor is weighed and the sails they are set-
Good-bye, fare you well, good-bye, fare you well!
The girls we are leaving we'll never forget-
Hurrah, my boys, we're homeward bound!

She's a Liverpool clipper and bound for to go-
Good-bye, fare you well, good-bye, fare you well!
With the girls on her towrope she cannot say no-
Hurrah! my boys, we're homeward bound!

Notes by CFS:

The homeward bound anchor song had for the sailor a sentimental fascination peculiarly its own, and "Good-bye, fare you well," with its wistful, haunting cadence, occupied a high place in his affections until in later years it became to a considerable extent superceded by "Rolling Home."

See thread 72670, for a link to Capt. Leighton Robinson's version of "Good-bye, Fare You Well," with a link to audio at American Memory (California Gold, Cowell). Good-bye Fare You Well

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Charley Noble
Date: 01 Nov 05 - 08:18 PM

ROLLING HOME
(Capstan Shanty)

Call all hands to man the capstan,
See the cable run down clear,
Heave away, and with a will, boys,
For old England we will steer!

Rolling home, rolling home,
Rolling home across the sea,
Rolling home to merrie England
Rolling home, dear land, to thee!

Up aloft amidst the rigging,
Sings the loud exulting gale,
Straining every spar and backstay,
Every stitch in every sail.

Rolling home, rolling home,
Rolling home across the sea,
Rolling home to merrie England
Rolling home, dear land, to thee!

Many thousand miles behind us,
Many thousand miles before,
Ancient ocean heaves to waft us
To the well-remembered shore.

Rolling home, rolling home,
Rolling home across the sea,
Rolling home to merrie England
Rolling home, dear land, to thee!

Notes by CFS, p. 79:

I suppose some people would say that "Rolling Home" is not a shanty at all, but a popular song converted into a shanty. But it was well-known right up to the end of the windjammer period, and so high a favourite with every shellback –"the best of the blooming lot," I have heard many an old sailorman say of it, with that sentimental affection usually reserved for the "homeward bound" shanty – that no collection would be complete which did not include it. It has, moreover, rather a special interest because it affords an excellent example of the shanty in the making, and the process of its development from the song upon which it was founded…The version I give is, I think, that known to most sailormen. It was sung to me by a man who was in sail right up to the finish of the windjammer. His last ship was the "William Mitchell," one of the half-dozen survivors of Britain's age of sail.

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Charley Noble
Date: 01 Nov 05 - 08:00 PM

SAILOR LIKES HIS BOTTLE
(Halliard Shanty)

Oh the mate got drunk and went below
To take a swig at his bottle oh!
So early in the morning
The sailor likes his bottle oh!

A bottle of wine and a bottle of beer
And a bottle of Irish whiskey oh!
So early in the morning
The sailor likes his bottle oh!


Notes by CFS, p. 42:

This must be a real old stager. It was sung in the Blackwallers three quarters of a century ago, but it was probably an old song then. I have never come across a modern sailing ship man who knew it.

There is a version in Mr. Sharp's collection and another in Ferris and Tozer, both differing slightly from that given here.

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Charley Noble
Date: 01 Nov 05 - 06:11 PM

SALLY BROWN
(Capstan Shanty)

Sally Brown, she's a bright mulatto –
Way-ay, roll and go!
She drinks rum and chews tobacco –
Spend my money on Sally Brown!

Sally Brown, she's a Creole Lady –
Way-ay, roll and go!
I guess she's got a nigger baby –
Spend my money on Sally Brown!

For seven years I courted Sally –
Way-ay, roll and go!
She said, "Oh boy, why do you dally?" –
Spend my money on Sally Brown!

The sweetest flower of the valley –
Way-ay, roll and go!
Is my dear girl, my pretty Sally –
Spend my money on Sally Brown!

For seven years she wouldn't marry –
Way-ay, roll and go!
I said, "I will no longer tarry" –
Spend my money on Sally Brown!

So off I sailed across the water –
Way-ay, roll and go!
And now I'm courting Sally's daughter –
Spend my money on Sally Brown!


Notes by CFS, p. 20:

It was usually sung when getting up the anchor; in Mr. Cecil Sharp's collection it is given as a hauling shanty, but I have never come across a sailor who had heard it so used. Quite possibly Mr. Sharp's informant, who was most likely a very old man, may have been mistaken, or Mr. Sharp himself, who had, comparatively speaking, no nautical knowledge, may have misunderstood him.

X:2
T:Sally Brown
C:C. Fox Smith 'A Book of Shanties' p 21
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:C
C2C2C2c B|A2G2E2G2|c4(d3c)|e3d c4|
w:Sal-ly Brown she's a bright mu-lat-to wa-ay,_ roll and go!
c2B2A2G2|E2D2E2C2|G2G2G/2 G3/2 G2|D2E2C4
w:she drinks rum and chews to-bac-co Spend my mo-ney on sal-ly brown.

Alternate last measure
A2B2c4

---

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Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 01 Nov 05 - 03:30 PM

CHEERLY MEN
(Halliard Shanty)

Oh Nancy Dawson-
I-oh-cheerly men!
She's got a notion-
I-oh-cheerly men!
She'll have our bosun-
I-oh-cheerly men!
Oh hauly-i-oh, cheerly men!

Oh pretty Kate-
I-oh-cheerly men!
She likes our mate-
I-oh-cheerly men!
Early and late-
I-oh-cheerly men!
Oh hauly-i-oh, cheerly men!

Haul all together-
I-oh-cheerly men!
Haul for good weather-
I-oh-cheerly men!
Oh now belay there!
I-oh-cheerly men!
Oh, hauly-i-oh, cheerly men!

Notes by CFS:

This is one of those shanties regarding which collectors are wont to drop such dark hints as to the "unprintable nature" of its words, that one might think the mere mention of it in a mixed gathering would be calculated to bring a blush to the manly cheek of the embarrassed sailorman.

In point of fact, as is very often the case, its Rabelaisian character has probably been very unnecessarily emphasized. No doubt there were dirty words sung to it, but not always. The fact that it was sung in the passenger ships of John Company, and, later, of Green and Wigram, proves it beyond a doubt, since indecent shantying was always taboo in the presence of passengers. In this view I am confirmed by Mr. Ridley James, who often heard it sung in Green's ships.

The tune is one which lends itself very readily to improvisation, and any little happening which took the fancy of the crew was liable to be embodied in it by the shantyman- sometimes in rather embarrassiing fashion. On one occasion, for example, a young woman passenger named Kate had been noticeably "éprise" with one of the officers. Imagine her confusion when she came on deck one day in time to hear the topsail being mastheaded to the strains of:

Oh pretty Kate
She loves our mate-
O-illi-i-o-cheerly men!"

This is probably a very old shanty; it is certainly one of the most primitive of all, being only one stage further developed than the 'strange wild cries" of the men hauling on the ropes alluded to by Dana.

[Richard Henry Dana, 1869, TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST, Ch. 29

The sailors' songs for capstans and falls are of a peculiar kind, having a chorus at the end of each line. The burden is usually sung, by one alone, and, at the chorus, all hands join in, - and the louder the noise, the better. With us, the chorus seemed almost to raise the decks of the ship, and might be heard at a great distance, ashore. A song is as necessary to sailors as the drum and fife to a soldier. They can't pull in time, or pull with a will, without it. Many a time, when a thing goes heavy, with one fellow yo-ho-ing, a lively song, like "Heave, to the girls!" and "Nancy oh!" "Jack Crosstree," etc., has put life and strength into every arm. We often found a great difference in the effect of the different songs in driving in the hides. Two or three songs would be tried, one after the other, with no effect; - not an inch could be got upon the tackles- when a new song, struck up, seemed to hit the humor of the moment, and drove the tackles "two blocks" at once. "Heave around hearty!", "Captain gone ashore!" and the like, might do for common pulls, but in an emergency, when we wanted a heavy, "raise-the-dead" pull, which should start the beams of the ship, there was nothin like "Time for us to go!", "Round the Corner," or "Hurrah! my hearty bullies!" ]

X:1
T:Cheerly Men
C:C. Fox smith 'A Book of Shanties' p 41
M:3/4
L:1/8
K:F
A2A2G2|F2F2F2|(F4G2)|D3E F2|
w:Oh Nan-cy Daw-son I-oh_-cheer-ly men!
C2E2F2|G2c2A2|(G4B2)|A3G F2|C2F2G2|A2c2B2|
w:She's got a no-tion I-oh_-cheer-ly men! She'll have our bo-sun I-
A6|B3A G2|c4-c2|c2B2A2|(g4B2)|A3G F2
w:oh-cheer-ly men!Oh_ haul-y-i-oh,_ cheer-ly men!

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Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: MMario
Date: 01 Nov 05 - 10:40 AM

If the music can be scanned I would be happy to convert to ABC and post in the thread and also send midi's off to Joe for posting.

[e-mail]

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: JohnB
Date: 01 Nov 05 - 10:36 AM

One of the early postings states that this book include the music.
If this is so, is there any chance of including it in some way shape or form. I know most of them so far but do I know them to the "original" (at least printed) tune?
Thanks for all the hard work JohnB.

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Snuffy
Date: 01 Nov 05 - 08:27 AM

The Tapscott verses seem to have been fitted to any number of songs, such as >Yellow Girls, or Yellow Meal, Lay Me Down, Across The Western Ocean, The Irish Emigrant or just plain Tapscott - many with a tongue-twister of a chorus ending with something like "Fire away, Bridget, I'm bully for you"

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 31 Oct 05 - 10:54 PM

CAN'T YOU DANCE THE POLKA
(Capstan Shanty)

One day as I went walking
Down by the Clarence Dock,
It was there I spied an Irish girl
Converwing with Tapscott!
And away, you santy,
My dear honey,
Oh! you New York girls,
Can't you dance the polka!

"Good morning, Mr. Tapscott!
Good morning, Sir," said she,
"And have you got a packet ship
To carry me across the sea?"

"Oh yes," said Mr. Tapscott,
"I have ships of mighty fame,
And one now in the Waterloo Dock,
And the 'Dreadnought' is her name."

Oh my flash man is a packet rat,
He sails in the Black Ball Line,
And he's a saucy son of a gun
That will hurt that man of mine.

I went to the Fulton ferry
But I couldn't get across,
So I jumped on the back of a ferryboat man
And rode him like a hoss!
And away, you santy,
My dear honey,
Oh you New York girls,
Can't you dance the polka.

Notes by CFS:

The words of shanties, as we have already seen, are very often interchangeable. Those I give here are practically identical with those usually sung with the refrain "Heave away, my Johnnie boys, we're all bound to go!" The latter has become rather popular with the modern concert shanty singer, but was never, I think, very general afloat, at any rate in more recent times.

There is another set of words belonging to "Heave away," adapted from the old ballad of "Undaunted Mary" or "The Banks of Sweet Dundee," and beginning;

It's of a farmer's daughter
So beautiful I'm told,
Her father died and left her
Five hundred pounds in gold,

which may quite likely have been the original version.

This is, of course, a song of the Liverpool emigrant days. Mr. Tapscott, whose name occurs in several shanties, was the Liverpool agent for some of the American packet companies. The name of the ship varies according to the singer's fancy- sometimes the "Henry Clay" is given, sometimes another- and the name of the dock, too, is not always the same.

[Many copies of "Undaunted Mary," or "The Banks of Sweet Dundee" in the Bodleian Library; the oldest c. 1819-1844, Harding B 11(3942). Also see "The Banks of Sweet Dundee" (2) in the DT.]
Information in thread 72420, "Can't You Dance the Polka," and "New York Girls" in the DT. Can't You Dance

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Charley Noble
Date: 31 Oct 05 - 07:47 PM

THE STATELY SOUTHERNER
(Forebitter)

She was a stately Southerner
And flew the Stars and Bars:
The whistling wind from the west-north-west
Blew through her pitchpine spars.
And like an eagle swiftly on
She flew before the gale,
Till late that night she raised a light,
The Old Head of Kinsale.

No thought was there of shortening sail
By him who trod the poop,
Though by the weight of her ponderous jib
The boom bent like a hoop.
The groaning chess-trees told the strain
That bore the stout maintack,
But he only laughed as he gazed abaft
At her bright and silvery track.

It was a fine and cloudless night,
The breeze held steady and strong,
As gaily o'er the shining deep
Our good ship bowl'd along:
In foam beneath her trampling bows
The mounting waves did spread,
As stooping low her breast of snow
She buried her lee cathead.

The mid-tide met in the channel waves
That rolled from shore to shore,
The mist lay thick along the land
From Featherstone to Dunmore.
Yet gleamed the light at Tuskar Rock
Where the bell still tolled the hour,
But the beacon light that shone so bright
Was quenched on Waterford Tower.

The canvas that our good ship bore
Was topsails fore and aft,
Her spanker too and standing jib,
For she was a stiffish craft.
Then "Lay aloft," the captain cried,
"Loose out your light sails fast!"
And to'gal'n's'ls all and royal sails small
Soon swelled upon each mast.

What looms upon the starboard bow?
What hangs upon the breeze?
'Tis time the packet hauls her wind
Abreast the old Saltees.
For by her mighty press of sail
That clothed each ponderous spar,
That ship we spied on the misty tide
Was a British man-of-war.

"Out booms! Out booms!" our skipper cried,
"Out booms and give her sheet!"
And the swiftest ship that ever was launched
Shot away from the British fleet,
As 'midst a murderous hail of shot,
His stunsails hoisting away,
Down channel clear Paul Jones did steer
Just at the break of day.

Notes by CFS, p. 86:

When he (the sailor) did sing a sea song, it had, above everything else, to be correct – its seamanship like Caesar's wife, its use of technical terms beyond cavil…"The Stately Southerner" meets the most critical requirements in this respect, and it is also a jolly good rousing ballad and goes to a stirring tune…

Mr. Prosser, who sang the song for me, could only recall the words of the first two verses, so I have completed it from other sources. It appears without the music in the late Mr. J. E. Patterson's "Sea Anthology," and with the music, in Miss Joanna Colcord's American collection.

Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 31 Oct 05 - 05:54 PM

BOUND TO CALIFORNIA
(Capstan Shanty)

Good-bye, my lads, good-bye,
No one can tell me why
I am bound to California
To reap the shining gold!
Good-bye, my lads, good-bye
No one can tell me why
I am bound to California
To reap the shining gold!

Notes by CFS:

This shanty...refers to the California gold rush of the eighteen forties and fifties. I have not heard it in any other collection.

Captain J. L. Vivian Millett, from whom I had it, remembers hearing it sung at Algoa Bay, in the days when the anchorage off that port was still crowded with sailing ships. A big vessel was just getting up her anchor; she had a good shanty crowd, and the chorus roared out by a score of voices came over the waters of the open roadstad with an unforgettable effect.

Captain Millett could only give me the chorus: perhaps someone who reads this may be moved to recollections of the solo part.

[Hugill reproduces the shanty, but adds no further information.]

Algoa Bay- an inlet on the eastern coast of South Africa, where Port Elizabeth stands.
There is a poem called "The California Emigrant" with the lines

I'm bound to California mines,
To find the Golden Fleece;

but no other similarity.

X:1
T:Bound to California
C:C. Fox Smith 'A Book of Shanties' p 28
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:D
z6A2|F3F F2A2|E6E2|A2B2c2(d B)|c6A A|
w:Good-bye, my lads, good-bye. No one can tell me_ why I am
F3F D2D2|E2E4d2|c2(d B) ^G2G2|(A2B2c2)A2|
w:bound to Cal-i-for-nia to reap the_ shin-ing gold.__ Good
F3F F2A2|E3E2|A2B2c2(d B)|c6A A|
w:-bye, my lads, good-bye, No one can tell me_ why I am
F3F D2D2|E2E4d2|c2(d B) A2^G2|A6z2
w:bound to Cal-i-forn-iato reap the_ shin-ing gold.

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Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 31 Oct 05 - 04:29 PM

BONEY WAS A WARRIOR
(Halliard Shanty)

Oh Boney was a warrior-
Way-ay-oh!
Oh Boney was a warrior-
Way-ay-oh!

First he fought the Rooshians-
Way-ay-oh!
And then he fought the Prooshians-
Way-ay-oh!

Moscow was a-burning-
Way-ay-oh!
A-blazing and a-burning-
John Frans-waw!

He went to Saint Helena-
Way-ay-oh!
He broke his heart and died there-
John Frans-waw!

Oh Boney was a warrior-
Way-ay-oh!
Oh Boney was a warrior-
John Frans-waw!

Notes by CFS:

Some authorities define the time-honoured ditty of "Boney" as the sailor's "generous tribute to a fallen foe." Of course it would be very nice if such were true, but I am inclined to doubt it. The sentiment was rather too high-falutin' for an age which had not developed tolerance to the pitch it has attained at the present day, or learned to win a war only to make the enemy a free gift of the peace. It strikes me as far more likely that the shanty was to a certain extent writ sarcastic. As for the tune, we had rather a habit of borrowing from our opponents in those days in such matters as the build of frigates, which may quite conceivably have been put into practice here. The ironical humour of the proceeding would have been exactly calculated to appeal to the sailormen of the period.

Colcord version in the DT.

X:1
T:Boney Was A Warrior
C:C. Fox Smith 'A Book of Shanties' p 33
M:6/8
L:1/8
K:Eb
z4zB|B2A B2c|B2A E3|B3c3|A4zA|
w:Oh! Bo-ney was a war-ri-or Way-ay-oh! Oh
A2G F2E|D2F c3|B3B3|G6
w:bo-ney was a war-ri-or John Frans-waw!

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