Help: sea shanties and maritime folk stuff

Subject: RE: Help: sea shanties and maritime folk stuff
From: Lesley N.
Date: 27 Oct 99 - 10:55 PM

If you need the music you can find midis with lyrics at my Songs of the Sea (http://www.contemplator.com/sea.html) page. It will also give you some of the stories and history behind the shanties (which reminds me I have stuff to add on Paddy West.) There should be several there to suit.

As sailors often added their own verses it might be fun to have the kids make up some of their own too! You could have them make up their own verses to Leave Her Johnny (if they get some background into how hard life was on a sailing ship). Or to illustrate how shanties took on a life of their own you could have them think about how much they *like* about school - school food for instance, and put those sentiments into Leave Her Johnny...

I also agree with Sean, clean them up to suit your needs as well. Most of the authors of the books I took the shanties from cleaned them up for their works!

Have fun!

Subject: RE: Help: sea shanties and maritime folk stuff
From: SeanM
Date: 27 Oct 99 - 10:26 PM

Sorry...

Should have added that all of the songs that I listed in bold are in the database... if you'd like lyrics, just type the name into the search box in the upper right corner.

M

Subject: RE: Help: sea shanties and maritime folk stuff
From: SeanM
Date: 27 Oct 99 - 10:16 PM

I'm gonna get beaten for this, but...

Just about any of the 'call and response' shanties (Haul away Joe, Paddy Doyle's Boots, One More Day, etc., etc., etc...) can be cleaned up for children. I've sung all of these and several more, and we sing them as straight improvisational songs, with the chorus being sung by the group, and the verses being made up on the spot. They can be as dirty or clean as you want them.

If you're looking for straight, traditional shanties, then the pickings are a bit more lean. The Dead Horse shanty comes to mind... Paddy West should work (depending on the version, there may be one or two alcohol references, but there are plenty of bowdlerized ones as well), and a personal favorite of mine is Leave Her, Johnny, which most versions I've seen have very little in the way of "objectionable" material. Actually, another good song that may or may not be considered a "shanty" is Rolling Home. It apparently existed on shore first, but was picked up as a forebitter by the sailors.

Hope this helps...

M

Subject: RE: Help: sea shanties and maritime folk stuff
From: John Hindsill
Date: 27 Oct 99 - 09:52 PM

You might try looking at www.ucs.mun.ca/~andrew/shanty/

Can't vouch for suitability for young ones, but about 75 songs are listed, plus lots of other information.

Subject: sea shanties and maritime folk stuff
From:
Date: 27 Oct 99 - 09:33 PM

I am looking for info on any sea shanties that might be fun to teach children. I have found a few interesting ones but they nearly all have liquor, sex or racist remarks in their lyrics. I am looking for stuff that may be suitable for elementary children. Thanks!