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ADD: Survivor Leave - songs by Ken Stephens
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Subject: ADD: Survivor Leave (Ken Stephens) From: Bugsy Date: 31 Oct 22 - 01:13 AM I came across this powerful song in another thread and wondered if anyone knew the background to this song. Not the meaning of "Survivor Leave", but the narrative of the song. Is it based on a particular tragedy, or a generalization. SURVIVOR LEAVE (Ken Stephens)(Ken Stevens) I never really reckoned the ship would die in seconds - No time to think or fight or even grieve - And for some the smoke and fire became a funeral pyre, And I'm lucky to be on survivor leave. CHORUS: Survivor leave, survivor leave, And I'm lucky to be on survivor leave. It isn't so surprising when you scan the bare horizon And death's arrived before you've time to breathe. Ship's discipline can't waver when there's no way left to save her, And I'm lucky to be on survivor leave. Now, me mates that caught the blow never had a chance to know, And the aftermath just makes my stomach heave. We could only call the roll, and attempt some fire control, And I'm lucky to be on survivor leave. Now, those moments of pure strife, they're going to last me all my life, Though the family's glad I've got this special leave. There's nothing more I'm dreading, now I've come from Armageddon, And I'm lucky to be on survivor leave. Oh, there's got to be a reason to heal all the hurts and lesions, On the killing ground, it's too bad to believe. What's the use of disagreeing, when you're fighting and not seeing, And the whole world can't be on survivor leave? (Final chorus, sung twice:) Survivor leave, survivor leave, And the whole world can't be on survivor leave. Cheers Bugsy Boarding Party Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x_K8sgDcpQ |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Survivor leave -Ken Steven From: DaveRo Date: 31 Oct 22 - 03:54 AM I googled 'survivor leave' and came across this from Hansard - the record of the House of Commons, 1939: TORPEDOED SHIPS (SURVIVORS' LEAVE). |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Survivor leave -Ken Steven From: cnd Date: 31 Oct 22 - 08:09 AM Here is a link to a short bio of Ken Stevens. Here is the notes on the song from Fair Winds and a Following Sea by The Boarding Party (Folk-Legacy FLG00109) In August of 1982 we spent a few weeks touring England and Wales, performing in folk clubs and festivals. It was raining when we drove into Portsmouth for a concert that night, and took a ride down by the harbor where the ships of the Royal Navy had returned only a few days earlier from participating in the Falkland Islands crisis. The battered vessels appeared to show signs of damage considerably more extensive than had been reported by newspapers in the United States.(link) |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Survivor leave -Ken Steven From: Charley Noble Date: 06 Nov 22 - 08:37 PM cnd, You certainly have that right. The song was inspired by the Falklands War but resonates with the sea battles in all previous wars. Great song! Charlie Ipcar |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Survivor leave -Ken Steven From: Herga Kitty Date: 08 Nov 22 - 10:48 AM It might help if Ken Stephens' name was spelt correctly in the title of this thread - could a Mudelf please oblige.... ? Kitty |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Survivor leave -Ken Steven From: Bugsy Date: 14 Nov 22 - 11:11 PM Herga Kitty, that's the spelling I was given with the lyrics. I've been trying to google him without much success, only finding the lyrics again. is he from UK, Canada or USA? CHeers Bugsy |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Survivor leave -Ken Steven From: The Sandman Date: 15 Nov 22 - 05:13 AM He was from the UK, he played concertina [anglo] I knew him and his wife Lee, I Thin he was from either Portsmouth or Southampton. He was a friendly pleasant man and a good performer. I have a recollection of playing music and he joined in with a harmonica |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Survivor Leave (Ken Stevens/Stephens) From: Joe Offer Date: 15 Nov 22 - 05:32 AM Folk-Legacy has the name as Ken Stevens in the album notes. The Miskinfok Website refers to the songwriter as both Ken Stephens and Ken Stevens. So, I'll include both in the thread title. -Joe- |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Survivor Leave (Ken Stevens/Stephens) From: The Sandman Date: 15 Nov 22 - 05:43 AM He and Lee ran a folk club, which I played at. In correspondence betwen us , I am fairly sure he signed Ken Stephens. He was playing at Harwich Shanty Festival in 2021. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Survivor Leave (Ken Stevens/Stephens) From: Herga Kitty Date: 16 Nov 22 - 06:48 PM Definitely Stephens, and I've seen him recently. He lives in Southampton and has written a number of songs including Herzogin Cecile and Rattling Winches as well as Survivor Leave. Kitty |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Survivor Leave(Ken Stephens-alt: Stevens) From: Joe Offer Date: 16 Nov 22 - 06:54 PM Thanks, Kitty. Stephens it is. But since Folk-Legacy and Smithsonian Folkways identify him as "Stevens," I'm going to leave the alternate spelling of "Ken Stevens" for the benefit of those who search for the name under that spelling - this incorrect spelling skipped past even the very watchful eyes of the legendary Sandy Paton, who published the recording. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Survivor Leave (Ken Stevens/Stephens) From: Bugsy Date: 16 Nov 22 - 06:57 PM Thanks everyone for the background on Ken Stephens Cheers Bugsy |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Survivor Leave (Ken Stephens) From: Joe Offer Date: 04 Dec 24 - 12:02 AM from email - can anybody identify the Ken Stephens song about the Union Castle ships leaving Southampton Here's the letter: Hi Joe In the early 1980’s I worked at Netley Waterside House, Southampton where Ken and colleagues would entertain guests on a regular basis with wonderful folk songs. It was here I first heard’ Survivor Leave’ He did make a CD of his songs which I have for years been trying to get hold of to no avail. One song in particular I would love to hear was about the Union Castle ships leaving Southampton. In the song he refers to her lavender hull and the day ( I think Thursday) that she sailed for South Africa. My late husband was in the Merchant Navy for many years ,mainly on the Union Castle Line. I remember us going to Southampton to see the Edinburgh Castle at the end of her service. I would love to hear this song and I am hoping someone in your group may have heard of this. The CD it was on also had Survivor Leave. My son has just sent me a link to your website which plays Survivor Leave as he remembers it so well and he was only a youngster at the time. I have continued to love folk music . Cyril Tawney was a family friend whom I am sure you know well his songs about the Royal Navy. Five Foot Flirt is one of my favourites. Kind regards Christine C age 83 Greenwich London |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Survivor Leave (Ken Stephens) From: cnd Date: 04 Dec 24 - 10:38 AM Stephens seems to have been a part of a benefit band called Solent Breezes, which dedicated its income to the Jubilee Sailing Trust. They put out a cassette (SEAWHEELS) which has images of its liner notes online. From this cassette, it appears the song you're after is entitled "4 O'CLOCK ON THURSDAYS". This cassette seems to me to be the most complete list of Stephens' songs and their themes, so I'll reproduce it below. The only problem is that the most complete images of the liner notes of I've been able to find are from the Polish edition of the release and are, unsurprisingly, in Polish. I used Google Translate to convert them to English, and made minor corrections to obvious typos/translation errors, but I speak no Polish, so I won't pretend it's authoritative. This was supplemented with the English song descriptions I was able to find in brackets -- [[ ]] -- after each entry from the translation. We are pleased to present to lovers of shanties and sea songs a cassette by the English band SOLENT BREEZES. This group has been associated with the musical traditions of the Solent region from the very beginning, and with the activities of the Jubilee Sailing Trust. The income from numerous SOLENT BREEZES concerts is entirely allocated to the implementation of the goals of this institution. The leader of the group is a talented musician, instrumentalist and vocalist -- already known among Polish sailors -- Ken Stephens.* The English version of the cassette does have an active listing on eBay (click) for only 3 pounds -- someone that side of the water should snatch that up. I'm tempted to, but the shipping is more than quintuple the cost. Still may, though... |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Survivor Leave (Ken Stephens) From: Charley Noble Date: 05 Dec 24 - 01:52 PM Our folk club hosted Ken Stephens (that's the way he spelled his name on some of the song sheets he gifted me) and we spent a pleasant morning afterwards discussing his songs. I still have about a dozen of them in his own handwriting, some with graphics. There was one new song he created while he was there titled "Machine Madness," having to do with answering machines. I'll have to transcribe it and post it later. |
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Subject: ADD: Machine Madness (Ken Stephens) From: Charley Noble Date: 05 Dec 24 - 02:37 PM There were two other songs that Ken left us that were not listed in and's post above: Ike Hvaal and Shellback which I could transcribe and post. Here's my transcript of "Machine Madness": By Ken Stephens, June, 1991 Portland, ME MACHINE MADNESS (Ken Stephens) The machine went "click" and I felt sick As the tape had just erased on replay— I've left a message myself on someone else's tape But I don't know if they phoned me back today. So I got out the phone and tried to reach my friend But as usual no one was in at home; So I left them word on their answering machine And invited them to ring me on my phone. I'd set my machine to answer all their calls And gone about the schedule of my day, But my tape is short and half the calls I'd bought(?) Were lost when I erased that tape today. I forget when I had a personal phone call, And from my machine to your machine I say, "Don't call me back as the machine is now trashed out back And I'll write or call and see you any day. But I expect, that machine went "click" and they're all feeling sick As the tape had just erased on the replay; I'd left a message myself on someone else's tape But I don't know if they phoned me back today. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Survivor Leave (Ken Stephens) From: cnd Date: 06 Dec 24 - 07:58 AM That's a good one, Charley, thanks for sharing. I'd be interested to see the other two songs if it's not too much trouble. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Survivor Leave (Ken Stephens) From: Charley Noble Date: 06 Dec 24 - 09:05 PM I'll transcribe the other two songs this weekend. Can you do a short bio for Ken Stephens? I'm thinking the group he was touring with in the States in 1991 was called Spindrift. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Survivor Leave (Ken Stephens) From: cnd Date: 07 Dec 24 - 09:10 AM Charley, I'm more than happy to put it together, but since I haven't ever met him it'd just be based on things I've read online. Maybe I could PM you to get some particulars? |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Survivor Leave (Ken Stephens) From: Charley Noble Date: 08 Dec 24 - 11:41 AM cnd, We only shared one weekend with Ken and his trio, so I'm afraid I can't be much help. I bet someone else at Mudcat knew him much better. |
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Subject: ADD: Shellback (Ken Stephens) From: Charley Noble Date: 08 Dec 24 - 01:09 PM Here's Ken Stephen's shellback song: SHELLBACK (Ken Stephens, ©1985) He's been too long on the beach with the ocean out of reach, Shellback, shellback, oh! First he spent his time at fishing, long beach walks and reminiscing, Shellback, shellback, oh! But the sea is in his blood, the tide is at the flood; He's looking for a chance to sail away, For salt in the blood never goes away He's just got to go to sea one day. He's seen clippers off the Horn as on the storms they're borne… He's seen St. Elmo's lights on a misty tropic night… He's seen the Southern Stars and been in all the dives and bars… Sometimes he'd wish that he was back at home, For salt in the blood never goes away He's just got to go to sea one day. He'd sail on anything on Earth if he only had a berth… He should be warping through the locks instead of walking up the docks… But along the Quay he'll pace, the wind is in his face… He's looking for a chance to sail away, For salt in the blood never goes away, He's just got to go to sea some day. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Survivor Leave (Ken Stephens) From: cnd Date: 09 Dec 24 - 10:02 AM Well I tried my hand at a biography, but I was able to find scarce little information about him besides his songwriting. I've been unable to find a birthday or birthplace, but Stephens has lived in Southampton since the early 1980s. He was in the group Solent Breezes by 1987, and has also performed in the groups Spindrift and Windwytch, and most recently as a duo called Bosun's Call with Geoff Payne, Fiona Murfitt, and Sophie Wright. He's performed as recently as 2020. He seems to have been particularly well regarded in the Polish shanty scene, where he performed periodically in the 1980s-1990s. Below is a list of known songs, with source info if not listed above. I've also found a handful of lyrics, which I'll be posting separately. 4 O'clock On Thursdays Atlantic Conveyor Birkenhead Drill Diamonds Dancing Drowned Horses of Ameland (listen) Fluke Alley Grease the Ways Herzogin Cecilie (listen) Ike Hvaal Machine Madness Magnificent Muskoga One More Pull Boys [1] (listen) Rattle the Winches / Rattling Winches [2] (listen) Rainbow Warrior [3] Seawheels Shellback Ships In Bottles [4] The Stones Of Eling Mill [5] Survivor Leave Tides Away Working On a Foreign Sea [2] (listen) Wreck of the Clarendon [1] Ten Years Before The Mast (The Exmouth Shanty Men), NOT ON LABEL ESM006 - 2017 [2] I Thought I Heard The Old Man Say... (Compagniezangers, Shanty Jack & Ken Stephens), Bakkerji CD BCD 970419 [3] Cztery Refy - Ken Stephens [4] Almost Live (Ken Stephens & Cztery Refy), AKZ 05 - 1991 [5] The Flour Of The Forest (Various Artists), Forest Tracks FT1017 - 1980 |
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Subject: ADD: Drowned Horses of Ameland (Ken Stephens) From: cnd Date: 09 Dec 24 - 10:14 AM Drowned Horses of Ameland (source - with minor corrections) DROWNED HORSES OF AMELAND (Ken Stephens) The last launch of 'De Reddingboot', the Horse-drawn lifeboat of Ameland Netherlands The wind blew high above the dunes And the wild, white breakers roared The cry went up: "A German yacht It's stranded near the shore The lifeboat must be launched at once They need us desperately" Refrain: And parts of the heart of Ameland Went galloping to the sea The harness creaked, the whistles blew The trailer rumbled on The lifeboat must be launched in haste Or else the yacht is gone From the farms all over Ameland The farmers brought their steeds The shining suns of Ameland Are beautiful to see But around the island all the sand Is moving ceaselessly It piles up to create the shoals And opens up the deep And sometimes it creates shoals Where nothing can escape The breakers ran high to the beach As the gale tore at the shore The lifeboat and the team flinched not As to the seas they bore The boat was launched for rescue And went successfully The heavy trailer foundered And took the horses down The harness held them in the sea Soon, the horses drowned The men worked hard but had no chance To cut the animals free People now remember that night That night of seventy-nine When the lifeboat team from Ameland Launched for their final time On the island winds, their manes are blown For they're now running free |
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Subject: ADD: Herzogin Cecilie (Ken Stephens) From: cnd Date: 09 Dec 24 - 10:17 AM HERZOGIN CECILIE (source) The Loss of the Famous Windjammer Herzogin Cecilie in 1936 / A ballad by Ken Stephens HERZOGIN CECILIE (Ken Stephens) Sounding down the Baltic where the wreck-mark buoys all peal She's the mighty, full-rigged ship, Herzogin Cecilie Gusting down the Channel, where the steamers never yield She's the mighty, full-rigged ship, Herzogin Cecilie Herzogin Cecilie, Herzogin Cecilie She's the mighty, full-rigged ship Herzogin Cecilie Leaning down through Biscay, where no watches get no meals Dawdling through the Doldrums, though the slightest breeze she feels Roaring through the Forties with her yards stretched up like steel Tacking in the Tasman Sea where the squalls upon her steal Running, easting for the Horn where the giant sperm-whales squeal Gale-bound off the Falklands where the Albatrosses wheel Shipboard straining in her hull as the hurricane she feels Falmouth bound for orders where her passage time's revealed Run upon the Bolt Tail in a mist to test her steel Hard ashore in Soar Mill Cove on the rocks that broke her keel She was the mighty, full-rigged ship, Herzogin Cecilie Written by Ken Stephens of Southampton in 1981 and published in ‘Songs of the South Devon Coast’ by Rumpus, Dartington Hall Studio, 1986 *The four-masted barque Herzogin Cecilie stranded off Soar Mill Cove on 25 April 1936 shortly after she had won the Australian Grain Race from Port Lincoln to Falmout |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Survivor Leave (Ken Stephens) From: cnd Date: 09 Dec 24 - 10:18 AM ONE MORE PULL BOYS (source) Two quite different versions exist of this fairly recently written song. Ken Stephens, of Southampton, whose words we sing, told us "mine is the fishy version and a Navy version was done by Ian Woods (Suffolk folksinger and song writer) on the same day in the Kings Arms at Wareham some years ago - we both had a lot of beer and good old Rod Sheringham challenged us to write a song for a bottle of rum". Giant comers, ocean rollers, Living waves upon the sea. But for us, boys, there's no future. It's not like it used to be. One more pull, boys. That'll do, boys. Soon we'll draw alongside. Hoist her upwards. Swing her inboard, For the journey's nearly o'er. Iceland's dangers, Greenland's fog banks, Northern storm's intensity, It's all gone now. Turn her homeward, For the market won't reach the fee. No more codfish off Newfoundland Dancing silver down the hatch. Drifters, trawlers and purse seiners All laid up or sold for scrap. So heave the line, boys, one last time, now. Then we'll have the final trawl. No need to wonder where it's all gone to. Only time to heave 'n' haul. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Survivor Leave (Ken Stephens) From: cnd Date: 09 Dec 24 - 10:20 AM RAINBOW WARRIOR (source) "Rainbow Warrior" - a contemporary song by Ken Stephens dedicated to the famous trawler belonging to "Greenpeace". The song was written 2 days after its sinking in New Zealand. The ship was sailing on a mission to stop French nuclear tests in the Pacific. The French secret service arrested 3 people, who were quickly found guilty and sentenced to prison. Only after the verdict was sent to France were they acquitted. The original last verse contains a wish to rebuild the ship ( "we will rebuild "Rainbow Warrior" ). Ken dedicates this song to the organization "Greenpeace International". An iridescent ship upon the sea, A symbol that oppression shall not be, Now the world's a little sadder, And the earth's a little sorrier, But we will remember "Rainbow Warrior". Internationally manned she sails the seas for all. Stopping sealers blows and nuclear out-falls. Now the world's... She saved the whales within her Greenpeace guise And kept pollution from the seas and skies. Now the world's... Sunk in Auckland Harbour by a cowardly mine Her cause goes on because its yours and mine Now the world's... Until nature's back in charge again And the world is safe for ever more We will remember "Rainbow Warrior". Until nature's back in charge again And the world is safe for ever more We will rebuild "Rainbow Warrior". |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Survivor Leave (Ken Stephens) From: cnd Date: 09 Dec 24 - 10:24 AM SHIPS IN BOTTLES (source) A couple of weeks ago at a birthday-party of a friend of mine. I met his brother-in-law. This man happened to be a singer in a Chanty-choir (they sing old and new sailors songs) in Schagen in Noond-Holland (a province in the NE of the Netherlands). During our conversation we came to speek [sic] about bottleships. Than he told me that they had a song about bottleships in their repertoire. I told him that it would nice to publish the text in Welkom aan Boond. He sent me the text. Maybe You are interested in putting it in your magazine as well. Here it Is. Enjoy it. I did! Met vriendelijke flessegroet (with kind botleship greetings) Hans de Haan Refrain: Little ships that sail in bottles, who can never feel the wind. Little ships with glass horizons, put there by the hand of man. Though narrow necks are found on bottles, see inside the sails unfurled Spreading masts and yards so lofty, in this tiny curving world. Spidery rigging blocks and pulleys, detailed flags fly high above. The old sailors lasting tributes, to the vessels that they loved. Many hours of skill and patience, go into the craft you see. To remind him of her glory, when she sailed upon the see. When the sailor he stops sailing, than he has a lot of time. So he makes poetry in bottles, like the ancient mariners rime. So salute the ships in bottles, and the hands that built them there. Though it started as a pastime, it's a beauty we can share. |
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Subject: RE: ADD: Survivor Leave - songs by Ken Stephens From: Charley Noble Date: 10 Dec 24 - 03:45 PM cnd, Nicely done! I'll get around to transcribing "Ike Hvaal" tomorrow. |
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Subject: RE: ADD: Survivor Leave - songs by Ken Stephens From: Charley Noble Date: 11 Dec 24 - 09:53 AM Words and music by Kern Stephens, ©January 10, 1980 Ike Hvaal Well, there's no more whales in the cold grey sea, Ike hvaal! Ike hvaal! Ike hvaal! Writhing to death in agony, Ike hvaal! Ike hvaal! Ike hvaal! There's no more soundings to the harpoon's thud— There's no more blows of bright red blood— There's no more blubber in the flenser's tubs, Ike hvaal! Ike hvaal! Ike hvaal! In many countries and many lands… There's murder at the hands of man… From Greenland to the Coast of Perth, The largest mammals of the Earth, Are slaughtered before they could give birth… Sperm and Right and giant Blue… Cachalot and Humpback too… For ambergrease and blubber and bone, They've been hunted from their ocean homes, And all their ancient breeding zones… Now there's no more giants in the early morn… Cruising for krill off the craggy Horn… Mammoths with their giant span, Who knew no fear and never ran, Their fight for life just never began… I hoped I'd never hear the cry… The last large whale was here to die… Gentle giants of the fin, Forty tons with larger kin, In two hundred years we've finished them… |
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Subject: RE: ADD: Survivor Leave - songs by Ken Stephens From: Bill D Date: 12 Dec 24 - 09:54 AM The Boarding Party group was in a pub in England years ago when the author sang this: They immediately got permission to sing it. Survivor Leave |
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