The Advent and Development of Chanties

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 30 Jan 11 - 03:42 PM

Thanks, Snuffy. That's exactly the kind of info that I, for one, am looking for!...or *will* be looking for when I get far enough along to critique Carpenter's singers. Unfortunately I've been overloaded with masses of data so far yet in the recently-published material through the 1880s. I can't wait, however, to study the Carpenter stuff more closely and see how it might fit. We do have one published source, albeit from the 1880s, that also attributes "Bully in the Alley" to the 50s, which is great corroboration. I do maintain, however, that it is *generally* difficult to trust the shanty knowledge of someone interviewed in the 1920s, even if they went to sea in the 50s/60s, that the shanties they know weren't necessarily learned afterwards. In this case, the date they *left* the trade becomes equally important. The exception is when they do specify when they learned the song, as in the examples you provided.

John - Big thoughts! Too bad not too many of the "general" folk music people are reading this (I'm sure we lost them long ago...the posts are too long, and there is not enough bickering :) ). Otherwise you'd be blowing their minds, ha!

Leadfingers-- Uh, yeah? What's more, all the posts have been substantial. Thanks for giving the old "Mudcat blessing" of a one-word random post! ;D

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: GUEST
Date: 31 Jan 11 - 09:30 AM

"John - Big thoughts! Too bad not too many of the "general" folk music people are reading this (I'm sure we lost them long ago...the posts are too long, and there is not enough bickering :) ). Otherwise you'd be blowing their minds, ha!"

That's not to say we aint reading it all, rather that we aint got nothing constructive to post and maybe we dont want to muddy the waters for them what has. :-)

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 02 Feb 11 - 12:15 AM

GUEST -- You're always welcome!

*****

I was just rereading over some sources and kind of struck by the similarity in phrasing here. Probably means little, but still interesting.

So, a 1775 essay "On Musical Time" states,

Seamen at the windlass, and on other occasions, sing, that they may all act together.

Then Dana in 1840 (I forget wish edition exactly) says,

Sailors, when heaving at a windlass, in order that they may heave together, always have one to sing out.

I can't help but think that, even if Dana had not read (and unconsciously paraphrased) the first, these two statements support each other -- Specifically, they support the idea that was was being done at the windlass in those times was certainly a "sing-out," not a "song" (or chanty). It's interesting because Dana of course talks about his "songs for capstan and falls," but nothing for windlass. Anyways, if anyone cares :) I am thinking about this in terms of the role the *new* windlass (brake/pump style) may have had in the development of chanties.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 13 Feb 11 - 03:11 AM

1900        Mather, Fred. _In the Louisiana Lowlands: A Sketch of Plantation Life, Fishing and Camping Just After The Civil War, and Other Tales._ New York: Forest and Stream.

The narrator is on a steamboat journey down the Red River at Natchitoches, Louisiana in 1860. He has come upon a White banjo player in the saloon. A song called "The Lowlands" is requested: (pg 9)

//
I was not surprised when I saw a young white man at the end of the saloon just winding up an obligate and retiring for a rest. But he was vociferously recalled and "The Lowlands" was demanded. The air was a singular one, with a refrain that began slowly and ended fast; it was:

"In the Louisiana lowlands, lowlands, lowlands, In the Louisiana lowlands, low."

And from this song the title of this sketch was chosen.

Later in the night at a landing for wood I heard one of the negro roustabouts singing of old Gen. Andrew Jackson:

"Gen'el Jackson mighty man—
Whaw, my kingdom, fire away!
He fight on sea an' he fight on lan'—
Whaw, my kingdom, fire away!

"Gen'el Jackson find de trail—
Whaw, my kingdom, fire away!
He make a fort wid cotton bale—
Whaw, my kingdom, fire away!"

There was more of it, for all these songs are spun out to cover the time of wooding up or of heaving up the levee. A livelier song was sung in the morning as we rounded to. It had a refrain of:

"Heave away! heave away!
I'd rather court a yallow gal
Dan work fo' Henry Clay!"
//

"Louisiana Lowlands" is a local or parody variation of the "Golden Vanitee" ballad. The work-songs are of more interest here. First is MARENGO, then the relative of HEAVE AWAY MY JOHNNIES. The account is supposed to be based on the author's notes on the journey. Both songs are problematic, however, because they appeared in comparable versions in print earlier. The first was as early as 1855 and the second was in Allen's SLAVE SONGS from 1867. So I can't tell if he is making it up, or if he is using published material to refresh the memory.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 13 Feb 11 - 03:58 AM

1898        Whitmarsh, H. Phelps. _The World's Rough Hand._ New York: The Century Co.

Author born 1863. Clipper ship Bosphorus bound out of London to Adelaide ca. 1884.

"Singing-out" is decribed, Pg 5:

//
When I reached the pierhead, it was nearly high water; the dock gates stood wide open; and the Bosphorus, with a gang of riggers aboard, was hauling briskly through the still water of the basin toward the river. Upon her forecastle-head, a bunch of men, bending almost double over the bow line, surged rhythmically back and forth to the quaint, nautical "singing out" of the leader; and the rope plashed in the water ahead of them after each pull.
The hauling-song began something like this: "Way-ho!" (jerk), "Way-ho-hu!" (jerk), "O-le-obo-ho!" (jerk), increasing in sound, volume, and power as it progressed; then running into a wordless chant,—a vowel song,—which, with a pulling emphasis, and a melody as weird as a Gaelic psalm-tune, rose and fell like the song of the shrouds when the wind pipes strong.
//

They haul out of the dock to HEAVE AWAY MY JOHNNIES at the capstan, pg7:

//
The gangway was withdrawn, the lines cast off, the order given to "Heave away on your capstan!" and we hauled slowly through the gates to the tune of the favorite outward-bound chantey:

Sometimes we 're bound to London town, 

Sometimes we 're bound to France,
Chorus: Heave away, my bullies, heave away.
But now we 're bound to Adelaide, 

To give those girls a chance!
Chorus: Heave away, my bully boys; 
         
We 're all bound to go.
//

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Dead Horse
Date: 13 Feb 11 - 06:41 AM

Duh! Last 'Guest' was me, without noticing that cookie had been filched.

The stuff collected in Louisiana particularly interested me as Cajun music is my favourite genre after shanties. Mebbe I could now combine the two with "Heave away, ma Jolies" :-)
The wife dances Appalachian flatfooting so I am often called upon to sing some really fast stuff for her to hoof to.
You aint lived til you have heard "Johnny come down to Hilo" or "South Australia" sung at a speed that would enable the off duty crew to go water skiing to........

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: John Minear
Date: 13 Feb 11 - 07:21 AM

DH, I'd love to find some instances of "White" Appalachian influence on the advent and development of sea chanties. This could be dance tunes (fiddle & banjo), ballads, "love songs", work songs, and religious songs. So far as I know and can remember, we've not had any examples of this kind of influence. I am talking here about influence moving from the mountains to the sea, rather than vice-versa. Or, possibly, just shared material.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: John Minear
Date: 13 Feb 11 - 12:33 PM

Gibb, I found some references to "In the Louisiana Lowlands". It appears to have been minstrel song that was popular with the Northern troops during the Civil War. Here are the lyrics from SONG-BOOK OF THE COMMANDERY OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA (1902):

http://books.google.com/books?id=LMYVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA24&dq=%22In+the+Louisiana+lowlands%22&hl=en&ei=EP5XTfDcDIjrgQerwaCWDQ&sa=X&oi

And here is a reference to it in relation to the war - 1882 (scroll up a page for the beginning }:

http://books.google.com/books?id=2JIvAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA310&dq=In+the+Louisiana+Lowlands,+lowlands,+low&hl=en&ei=FgxYTdK_IonEgAel76Wf

Here is a parody using "In the Virginia lowlands low" (1893 & 1864):

http://books.google.com/books?id=UsESAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA96&dq=%22In+the+Louisiana+lowlands,+lowlands,+low%22&hl=en&ei=ogtYTaKIFIndgQe

and,

http://books.google.com/books?id=ND09ZBPerW8C&pg=PA14&dq=In+the+Louisiana+lowlands,+lowlands,+low&hl=en&ei=sAxYTaeMM4L2gAfgjJnHD

And another parody using "In the Shenandoah lowlands, low" (1886):

http://books.google.com/books?id=_tbNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA562&dq=%22In+the+Louisiana+lowlands,+lowlands,+low%22&hl=en&ei=bgtYTfrkLoyr8A

And finally, a mention of the song in the context of a campfire sing around in Florida. Here the song is being sung by local (?) black folks (1882). I'm not clear if this was being sung also as a rowing song or a chanty.

http://books.google.com/books?id=Cs3UAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA64&dq=%22In+the+Louisiana+lowlands%22&hl=en&ei=rf5XTcrEH4LagAfcw7nUDA&sa=X&oi

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Lighter
Date: 13 Feb 11 - 02:01 PM

Don't stop now!

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 13 Feb 11 - 05:48 PM

Thanks, John M. neglected to note, too, that the song *with score* was in Mather's book.

(Scroll up a page or 2:)
http://books.google.com/books?id=ZKQcAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA1&dq=%22louisiana+lowlands%22

From the score, one can see that it did indeed go to the tune (or at least one of the well known tunes) of the "Golden Vanitee" ballad.

***

On another note --
I have decided to keep going with this thread to round out at least the 19th century -- I have an itch for some kind of "completion" like that. From me you'll most likely see more published references through the 1890s (I have a load of them to follow up on in my notes, which I've not yet read). Then, I will probably shift to trying to work in the recorded or other archived info. As usual, any and all contributions (don't mind my own, somewhat arbitrary structure) are welcome.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 14 Feb 11 - 02:20 AM

1876        Warner, Charles Dudley. _My Winter On the Nile, Among the Mummies and Moslems._ Hartford, CT: American Publishing Company.

Preface dated Oct. 1875. Warner is on a sail-boat on the Nile in December 1874. Some of the chants of Egyptian boatmen are mentioned, e.g. "Yah! Mohammed!" In one of the descriptions, he indicates that the English would refer to the singer as "shanty man." It would seem that he heard this in use; it is possible he also read the term in an earlier work—though only N. Adams (1971) had previously used that orthography.

Pp153-154:

//
The morning finds us still a dozen miles from Asioot where we desire to celebrate Christmas; we just move with sails up, and the crew poling. The head-man chants a line or throws out a word, and the rest come in with a chorus, as they walk along, bending the shoulder to the pole. The leader—the "shanty man" the English sailors call their leader, from the French chanter I suppose—ejaculates a phrase, sometimes prolonging it, or dwelling on it with a variation, like "O ! Mohammed!" or "O! Howadji!" or some scraps from a love-song, and the men strike in in chorus: "Ha Yalesah, ha Yalesah," a response that the boatmen have used for hundreds of years.
//

http://books.google.com/books?id=mFYoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA153&dq=sailors'+%22chants%22&

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 14 Feb 11 - 03:09 AM

1894[1889] No author. _More Maritime Melodies._ Second edition. San Francisco: Commercial Publishing Co.

I believe only the Second edition of this is available. However, the first, it seems, had no chanties, anyway. The preface explains:

//
In 1889, as a Christmas greeting to the friends of the Commercial News and the Commercial Publishing Company, Maritime Melodies, edition 1,000 copies, was launched. The demand exceeded the supply, as is usually the case when good things are given away, and this Christmas a new edition, entirely changed, and it is hoped, improved, is put forth, and a copy sent you with the compliments of the season.
//

It is mostly sea-related poetry, though it also contains a version of "The Dreadnaught" (pp.21-23). The Appendix conatins a section called "Chanties" with texts (pg. 60ff).

The blurb is interesting for its positive assertion that chanties originated with Black cotton-stowers and that, moreover, they were French (i.e. Creoles). Was this something "generally known" at the time, or did the author read of it? Alden (1882) did give a statement that connected chanties to cotton stowers, and L.A. Smith repeated that. I believe that, if anywhere in print, this is where the author would have gotten the idea from. S/he mentions an English chanty collection, which may have been Smith's or Davis/Tozer's—I'd guess Smith's, for this reason. But now where does the French/Creole idea come in? Is it conjecture based on the presumed French etymology of 'chanty'? Or did this author, closer to the historical events, have some better sense than we do nowadays that the cotton-stowers may have actually been Creoles?

Interesting that it uses both (ch/sh) spellings of shchanty.

It quotes a verse from SACRAMENTO, the exact form of which does not show up previously.

//
IT WAS the intention to give in this edition of "Maritime Melodies" a number of chanties, but without the music, the action and the very spirit of the sea, words are feeble.

The "Chanty," a corruption of the French verb to sing, came from New Orleans, where the French darkies made up songs to suit the occasion as they loaded the Yankee clipper ships with cotton. The Yankee sailor in turn "caught on" and calling their songs "Shanties," made rhymes and fitted them to music that assisted in heaving anchor, setting and furling sails, pumping out the ship, etc. And now the "motif" is explained.

With the decadence of the American marine since "the late unpleasantness" between the brethren North and South, who, before and since that episode have dwelt together in unity, it has been an unfortunate fact that the American Mercantile Marine is more of a theory than a condition. With the ship, the American sailor has also disappeared. But the Shanty remains. Listen. The fine 100 AI British ship California, a good ship with a good name, but flying the flag of Great Britain, instead of the Stars and Stripes, officered and manned by lusty Britons, good fellows all, but unfortunate in not being born here: The fine ship California is leaving the State for w hich she is named, and on the order to heave up. anchor, the Chanty man starts in:

"As I was walking down the street,
   Hoodah, to my Hoodah; 

A charming girl I chanced to meet,
   Hoodah, Hoodah day.

Blow ye winds, heigho,
        For California, O,
There's plenty of gold,
       So I've been told,
On the banks of Sacramento.

While there is much about the Yankee skipper, the Yankee clipper, the famous Black Ball line, in every chanty sung aboard any ship, American or foreign, the only collection of Chanties is an English edition in which these references are generally eliminated, while as sung aboard ship, there is so much that while forcible is hardly polite, it is impossible to reprint those particular chanties having reference to the past glories of American shipping. Therefore Chanties cut no further figure in this book, but songs with the sea for their subject are again used in Maritime Melodies.
//

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 14 Feb 11 - 03:39 AM

1897        Carstensen, A. Riis. _Over Viden Strand._ Copenhagen: Gad.

The book is in Danish.

As far as I can tell, it is 1868 and the U.S. frigate (?) LADOGA is sailing from Copenhagen to New York. On leaving, the narrator hears (sings at?) the anchor being raised to the lyric from CLEAR THE TRACK:

//
»A high rig a jig and a low beggar

»Oh clear the track let the bullgine run.«
//

http://books.google.com/books?id=4IkBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA69&dq=%22let+the+bullgine%22&

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 14 Feb 11 - 04:00 AM

1898        Oscar, Alan. "A Messenger from the Dead." _Chambers's Journal_ 18(1) (April 1898): 284-7.

This work of fiction has as its setting a ship "Armenian" going from Liverpool to Halifax. A French Canadian is aboard. It seems to give –made up, or once heard?—a French version of SACRAMENTO:

//
Vannes, who was said to be a French Canadian, …He was a favourite amongst the seamen on account of his simplicity and good nature, and also because he had a fund of French songs, some of which the rough fellows had turned into chantys or hauling choruses, by adding an uncouth burden of their own. One in particular appeared to be a favourite, and in constant use when the topsails were to be hoisted:

Joliette, ma Joliette—
   And a hoodah, and a hoodah;
Qu'elle est belle, ma Joliette— 
   
   And a hoodah, hoodah day.

And so forth.
//

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 14 Feb 11 - 04:21 AM

1899[1894]        Hains, T. Jenkins. _The Wind-jammers._ Philadelphia & Lond: J.B. Lippincott.

A work of fiction, ascribes the following verse to use at windlass:

//
"A Bully sailed from Bristol town, 

Singing yo, ho, ho, oh, blow a man down; 

A Bully sailed, and made a tack, 

Hooray for the Yankee Jack, 

Waiting with his yard aback, 

Soo-aye! Hooray! Oh, knock a man down."
//

Seems contrived.

http://books.google.com/books?id=l9AYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA125&dq=%22blow+a+man+down%22&

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 14 Feb 11 - 04:55 AM

1900[1899]        Hains, T. Jenkins. _Mr. Trunnell: Mate of the Ship Pirate._ Boston: Lothrop Publishing.

Another work of fiction by Hains.

At some point, the off-duty crew is singing 'to the tune of "Blow a man down,"'.

Interesting to see how BLOW THE MAN DOWN starts becoming one of the most well-known chanties to landlubbers. Growing up, "Blow the Man Down" was central to my idea of a chanty.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 14 Feb 11 - 06:09 AM

1893        Barra, E.I. A Tale of Two Oceans. San Francisco: Eastman & Co.
PDF

"An Account of a Voyage from Philadelphia to San Francisco, Around Cape Horn, Years 1849-50, calling at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and at Juan Fernandez, In the South Pacific."

The first chanty is cited from aboard a ship "Sweden" bound out of Boston for California. Feb. 1849. It's only our second appearance (i.e. since Olmsted 1841) of HAUL HER AWAY. It certainly seems authentic to the period (along with the parody of "Oh! Susanna"):

//
The mate sung out to the men aloft, "Drop the bunts of the fore and main top-sails." Then to the men on deck—"Sheet home!" "Now man the halyards and hoist away!" "Aye, aye, sir!" "Give us a shanter, somebody," sung out the men, at which one of the sailors struck up a hoisting song:

"Nancy Banana she married a barber!"
CHORUS."Haul her away, boys! Haul her away!" 

"She married a barber who shaved without lather!"
CHORUS. "Haul her away, boys! Haul her away!"

When the top-sails were mastheaded, the pilot sung out to cast off the bow line. "Now run up your jib, Mr. Mate. Now ease away on your spring line;" and the vessel began to move from the wharf. Then the pilot sung out, "Let go your spring and stern lines!" Then the good ship began to forge ahead; and the last cord that held the ship tied to the land was cast off and she was as free as the bird that flew around her masthead. Just then a number of the passengers mounted the quarter-deck and struck up a song that was then quite in vogue in minstrel exhibitions, changing a few words of the chorus to suit the occasion. It ran thus:
"I dreamt a dream the other night when everything was still; 

I dreamt I saw Susanah, a coming down the hill. 

She had a pancake in her mouth ; a tear was in her eye; 

Says I, ' O Susanah, dear; Susanah, don't you cry.'"
CHORUS. "O! Susanah, don't you cry for me! 
 For I'm bound to California with my washbowl on my knee."
//

Next, the narrator is on the packet ship "Samson" out of Philadelphia (Oct '49). The ship had been in the cotton trade. In Dec. 1849, they were anchored off Rio de Janeiro. They hoist a boat to another "old" chanty, BOTTLE O:

//
We furled the sails, and then rigged the tackles to hoist the longboat, as she was large and heavy. When everything was ready, the mate sang out, ''Hoist away!" As the tackles were drawn taut, the men called to Stanwood: "Give a shanter, old boy ! " And he sang the following hoisting song, which was chorused by the men:
"The ladies like Madeira wine, 

The gents they like their brandy oh! 

So early in the morning— 

The sailor likes his bottle oh! 

His bottle oh! his bottle oh! 

The sailor likes his bottle oh!
CHORUS.
So early in the morning—

The sailor likes his bottle oh!"

The longboat was lowered into the water…
//

A curious thing about this text is the word "shanter." Certainly the author, by 1893, had access to the "standard" term "shanty"—yet he does not acknowledge it. I can't help but think, despite the time gap, his "shanter" reliably reflects *something* historical about the term in 1849-50.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Charley Noble
Date: 14 Feb 11 - 07:31 AM

Odd little bits and pieces but interesting as usual.

I haven't run into "shanter"but doesn't "chanter" harken back to Nordhoff, or at least to one edition of his book? My edition, The Merchant Vessel (1895), actually has "chanty-man."

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Lighter
Date: 14 Feb 11 - 07:46 AM

Scrolling down, James Runciman's "Hurrah for the next that dies" is elucidated into the ground, here, by me:

http://wiki.folklore.ms/index.php?title=Stand_to_Your_Glasses

(John Patrick and Lydia Fish suggested it.)

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 14 Feb 11 - 06:40 PM

1864        Fanny, Aunt. _Good Little Hearts._ Vol. 4. New York: Hurd and Houghton.

The setting is a plantation near the Ashley River near Charleston, SC "many years ago" (i.e. before 1864). An enslaved Black man named Jupiter has been asked to row a boat. On the journey, he is requested to sing. Pp. 60-61:

//
…then, in a fine, clear voice, he broke out in a long-shore melody, keeping perfect time with the beat of his oars: —

"Ole maum Dinah, she hab 'leben chillen, 
   
        Fol de rol de ri, oh, fol de rol de ray.
One he was a stevedore, an 'toder was a barber, 
      
      Fol de rol de ri, oh, fol de rol de ray.
Wid a head like a tin pan, a back like a crowbar, 
      
      Fol de rol de ri, oh, fol de rol de ray.
He done row dis boat so bad, boys, he could n't make it go far,
      Fol de rol de ri, oh, fol de rol de ray.

And it's hurrah! massa barber, wen did you get to Charleston,
      Fol de rol de ri, oh, fol de rol de ray. 

An he row to de landin', wid tank you berry much, sar,
      Fol de rol de ri, oh, fol de rol de ray."
//

It's a version of the song MUDDER DINAH that Hugill and Bullen later published as chanties.

http://books.google.com/books?id=crMaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA60&dq=stevedore+songs&hl=en&e

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 14 Feb 11 - 06:57 PM

Here's an insightful quote from the previously reviewed A JOURNEY IN THE SEABOARD SLAVE STATES Frederick Law Olmsted, 1856, that I don't believe we mentioned earlier. Pg. 26:

//
He concluded by throwing a handful of earth on the coffin, repeating the usual words, slightly disarranged, and then took a shovel, and, with the aid of six or seven others, proceeded very rapidly to fill the grave. Another man had, in the mean time, stepped into the place he had first occupied at the head of the grave; an old negro, with a very singularly distorted face, who raised a hymn, which soon became a confused chant—the leader singing a few words alone, and the company then either repeating them after him or making a response to them, in the manner of sailors heaving at the windlass. I could understand but very few of the words. The music was wild and barbarous, but not without a plaintive melody.
//

In several places in the book, Olmsted refers to African-American singing as "wild." We are also familiar with "plaintive." Here, however, he is making a comparison between this singing and and the singing of sailors at the windlass.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 14 Feb 11 - 07:46 PM

1899        Boyd, Alex J. _The Shellback._ Ed. by Archie Campbell. New York: Brentano's.

Or "At Sea in the 'Sixties"

Describes Yankee "hellships" of the 1860s. The ship ALTAMONT from Melbourne bound to West coast of South America. The comments on chanties seem pretty original.

At the windlass, SHENANDOAH:

//
The work is always accompanied by a song called a "shantey" (probably from the French word chanter, to sing).* Now, as our anchor chain was coming in, I stood by the men, listening to the grand chorus "Rolling River" and to the clank, clank of the ponderous chain as it passed in, every clank seeming to me a step nearer home and the coveted commission,…
//

And at the topsail halliards, WHISKEY JOHNNY:

//
The topsails had been loosed and sheeted home, so "Hoist away the topsail yards!" was followed by the lively shantey, "Whisky Johnny," whilst the huge yards rose…
//

Pg 305 starts a sort of appendix titled "SHANTEYS":

//
Some of the "shanteys" are very musical, but the words are generally absurd. Take, for instance, the following:—

"Bony was a general,
Way hay yah! 

Bony licked the Rooshians,
   Jean Francois.

Bony licked the Rooshians,
    Way hay yah! 

Bony licked the Rooshians,
Jean Francois," etc.

Here is another good topsail-halliard "shantey" :—

"Oh! whisky is the soul of man,
                Whisky, Johnny. 

Oh! whisky is the soul of man,
               Whisky for my Johnny. 

Whisky tried to make me drunk,
                Whisky, Johnny. 

Oh! whisky tried to knock me down,
      Whisky for my Johnny.
"Whisky hot and whisky cold,
      Whisky, Johnny. 

Oh I whisky for a sailor bold,
       Whisky for my Johnny. 

Whisky's gone, what shall I do?
       Whisky, Johnny.

Oh! whisky's gone, and I'll go too,
       Whisky for my Johnny," etc.

A man with a good voice leads off with a line of the song, and the others join in the chorus, which is made to time with the pull on the halliards, or the stroke of the pump brakes. Sometimes a single and sometimes a double pull is required, and the choruses vary as given above. There are "shanteys " adopted for almost all "pully-hauley" work on board ship; some slow and drawling, others smart and lively. I shall never forget the "shantey," I heard once, when I went aloft in a heavy blow for the first time to assist in furling the foresail. The sail was stiff and frozen, and when at last we were ready to haul up the bunt, the shanteyman broke into song.

All hands took a good grip, and waited. There we lay along the yard, the gale howling in our teeth, our fingers freezing, listening to a soug. It seemed to me a dreadful waste of time, especially as we were wet and cold, and I wanted to get below out of the cutting wind and sleet The "shanteyman," however, drawled out clear enough, in spite of the howling of the wind—

"Who sto-o-ole my b-o-ota?
That dirty Blackball sailor. 

Who sto-o-ole my b-o-ots?
   Ah—ha!!"

With the "Ah—ha!" chorused by all hands, the sail was rolled up in a jiffy, the gaskets passed, the bunt neatly made, and we got down from aloft far quicker than if we had fumbled about in a disconnected "Pull you, Johnny, I pulled last" kind of fashion.
//

So, BONEY is there, too. Most unique is the last, bunting chanty. This is one that Whall offered as a sing-out, "St. Helena Soldier"

rendition of St. Helena soldier

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 14 Feb 11 - 08:29 PM

1899[Sept.]        Bullen, Frank T. _The Log of a Sea-Waif._ New York: D. Appleton and Company.

"Being Recollections of the first 4 years of my sea life." = age 12-16. Bullen sailed for 15 (?) years in British ships.

On his first trip out of London, on arrival at Demerara, he describes the chanties of stevedores unloading the cargo. I guess this would be 1869, if that's when Bullen first sailed? His later work says he sailed from 1869-1880 = 11 years. But here he says 15, and these are his first 4 years. Was it that this first 4 he was not a "proper" seaman or something? The date here could then be 1865.

//
Streaming with sweat, throwing their bodies about in sheer wantonness of exuberant strength as they hoisted the stuff out of the hold, they sometimes grew so excited by the improvisations of the "chantey man," who sat on the corner of the hatch solely employed in leading the singing, that often, while for a minute awaiting the next hoist, they would fling themselves into fantastic contortions, keeping time to the music. There was doubtless great waste of energy; but there was no slackness of work or need of a driver. Here is just one specimen of their songs; but no pen could do justice to the vigour, the intonation and the abandon of the delivery thereof.

[with score – includes a harmony lines]

Sister Seusan, my Aunt Sal,
Gwineter git a home bime-by – high!
All gwineter lib down shin bone al,
Gwineter git a home bime-by.
Gwineter git a home bime-by-e-high,
Gwineter git a home bime-by.
//

Later, at age 13, Bullen is in Mobile Bay, where his ship is being loaded with cotton for Liverpool. Pg. 91:

//
A fine fleet of ships lay here, all loading cotton for Liverpool. Nor, in spite of the number of vessels, was there any delay in commencing our cargo, for the next day, after mooring, a gang of stevedores came on board and set to work, with characteristic American energy, to prepare the hold….

Then the cotton began to come in. The great loosely pressed bales, weighing some six hundredweight each, were whipped on board like magic by a single-purchase steam-winch on board the steamer, and tumbled into the hold as fast as they came. Below, operations commenced by laying a single tier of bales, side by side across the ship, on the levelled ballast, leaving sufficient space in the middle of the tier to adjust a jack-screw. Then, to a grunting chantey, the screw was extended to its full length, and another bale inserted. The process was repeated until at last long wooden levers were attached to the iron bars of the screw, and the whole gang "tallied" on until the last possible bale was squeezed into the tier, which was then almost as solid as a beam of timber built into the ship. It was a point of honour among stevedores to jam as many bales into a ship as she could possibly be made to contain, and restraint was often needed to prevent the energetic workers from seriously injuring vessels by the displacement of deck-planks, stanchions, bulkheads, and even beams.
//

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 14 Feb 11 - 08:50 PM

Two entries in slang dictionaries. (Lighter must know these!) Perhaps notable (but not surprising) that "shanty" is being considered "slang" at this point.

1874[Dec. 1873]        Hotten, John Camden. _The Slang Dictionary._ New edition, revised. London: Chatto and Windus.

"Shanty" appears for the first time in this edition.

Pg. 284:

//
Shanty, a song. A term in use among sailors. From CHANTER.
//

1890        Barrere, Albert, and Charles G. Leland, ed. _A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant._ Vol. 2. The Ballantyne Press.


The entry includes a quotation from a newspaper. Pg. 224:

//
Shanty… (Nautical), a song.
It was a tough pull, as the shark was over fifteen feet in length, until the mate suggested a shanty, or sea-song, a corruption of the French word chanter, which a fo'cs'le Mario commenced, and the rest joined in vigorous chorus. So Carcharias vulgaris, as naturalists call the white shark, left his native element to the rousing strains of—

"Were you ever in Quebec, 
   
   Ho, la! ho, la! 

Hoisting timber on the deck! 
   
   Ho, la! ho, la! 

With a will now—Heave, oh!" 
   
   
—Detroit Free Press.

A contributor to a London journal declares that this is not a true sailor's word, but of literary origin, and only of late years.
//

I guess the example most resembles HIGHLAND LADDIE. And I presume they are referring to W. Clark Russell.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 14 Feb 11 - 09:21 PM

1844        "The Poor Scholar." "The Flower Girl." The Ladies' National Magazine 6(2) (Aug. 1844): 46-54.

A story about (set in?) New Orleans in 18-- (prior to 1844). Note the time period, when stevedores singing was evidently still "strange" and "wild."

//
Farther up [the river] could be heard the strange, wild song and chorus as the crew of the stevedore freighted the merchant ship for the ports of distant lands!
//

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 14 Feb 11 - 11:14 PM

1861        'Spunyarn', Percival. "Sketches: Personal, Nautical, and Tropical." _Entertaining Things_ 2(8): 41-4.

Narrator's ship had left London in March 1837. The setting here relates to the timber industry in Belize. It is Christmas, and festivities are going on among the locals. Although not sung at work, the "row row" in the song suggests that it could be, and it uses the phrase of "Round the corner, Sally." By "especially composed" surely we are to understand that the song represents a prior "framework" but that new "extempore" lyrics are being fitted to the solo. It seems the author maybe doesn't quite "get" the nature/style of the song.

//
After the singing and dancing had lasted about four hours, I was honoured by a song, especially composed, I was told, by my friend Dingo for the occasion.

"Massa com from London town, 

Where all de gala now cry for me— 
            
Row, row, row, row! 
            
Don't ye cry, Miss Sally, O!
Massa got one hansome faee, 

He lub de gals in ebbery place—
Row, row, row, row!
Round de corner, Sally, O!
Buckra kin 'em lily white,
De gals dey say him eyes dem bright—
Row, row, row, row!
Take you care, Miss Sally, O!
Pickaniney him cum to town.

Him kin it ony leetle brown—
Row, row, row, row!
Where you bin, Miss Sally, O?
Niggah like one drop o' grog, 

No gete drunk, like one hog—
Row, row, row, row!
Why you laugh, Miss Sally, O ?
Massa smoke him bacca, too— 

Dingo like one bit to chew—
Row, row, row, row!
Round de corner, Sally, O!"

The remaining twenty verses I do not remember; but they were very similar in character, and all ended with some allusion to Miss Sally, O.
//

There is also a call and response style song mentioned with the chorus of "and a one lime!"

http://books.google.com/books?id=fWgEAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA1-PA43&dq=%22round+de+corner%

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 15 Feb 11 - 01:02 AM

1900        Patterson, J.E. "Sailors' Work Songs." _Good Words_ 41(28) (June 1900): 391-397.

The century has turned, and here is a substantial article devoted to chanties, in a British publication. This may be the first chanty article to include the idea of "folk-songs," but it does not call chanties them, only compares them, as folklore. The author reckons that most laypeople are not familiar with chanties.

//
That the deep-water sailor—as is termed the one who keeps to far-going sailing vessels —has a song for almost every piece of work wherein four to a dozen men are engaged is probably news to thousands who can claim to have been beyond the shores of this "right little, tight little island." Aboardship these songs are known by the name of "chanties"—which is, in all probability, either a sailor's pluralising of our word "chant," or a corruption of the French "chanson."
//

We are taken through a mock sequence or where and what chanties might be used, with illustrations. Joe Stead came out with an album that did this sort of sequential outward/homeward bound thing. I could swear there was another writer who followed this pattern though, but I can't remember who.

First there is SANTIANA at the capstan for warping out of the dock.

//
We will take a set of these songs in order, as on a voyage, and begin with the crew on their turning-to after joining the ship in the East India Dock. The command has come to move her to the lockpit; the mate passes it forward; the bo'sun yells it in at the fo'c'sle doorway, and the men—all in some degree sober—appear on deck. The shore-boatmen pull away with the line; it is made fast to a bollard on the quay, its in-board part taken to the capstan; the bars are shipped, and round we go—sullenly, for this is the initial note of some eighteen months' comparative isolation. Then the bo'sun—that connecting link between men and officers—cries out, "A song, boys, a song! Come, isn't there a 'chanty-man' in the crowd?" In response a negro—he being of a livelier temperament than his white shipmates, despite the fitting melancholy air of his farewell—begins:—

We're on the plains of Mexico, 

(Chorus.) Away Santa Anna!
We're on the plains of Mexico 
   
Hurrah for Santa Anna!
Santa Anna fought his way, 

All on the plains of Mexico;
Santa Anna gained the day. 
   
Hurrah for Santa Anna!

How Santa Anna came to be spoken of in a masculine sense is a mystery that cannot be solved by the writer, in spite of the considerable time he has spent in endeavouring to arrive at the sources of these old work-songs. In the chorus all men at the capstan join. In "chanties" proper never more than three, generally but one or two, lines are sung by the soloist. As may be expected, the airs, like the words, are of a shoddy kind. Very often the singer will introduce lines of his own making, either out of conceit, or because he has forgotten the acknowledged ones; yet the chorus ever remains the same. Rarely does it happen that, however moody the men commence a piece of work, if a song be started they do not finish it lustily, and in a better frame of mind.
//

(Evidently s/he didn't know about the General DE Santa Anna!) Treats variation as conceit or memory lapse – rather than the idea that one is *supposed* to vary the text. Next comes DREADNAUGHT.

//
Now, while more of the above has been sung—capstan and hauling "chanties " being usually of a considerable length—the vessel has shortened-in her heaving line. Here the end is taken to the lock-head; the bars are again manned, and—this time from a British throat—we move around to the old balladlike tune of:

"Tis of a flash packet of bully-boy fame;
She sails from the Mersey, and the Dreadnought's her name,
(Chorus). Bound away, bound away!
She sails from the Mersey, where the broad waters flow;
Then away to the west'ard, oh God let her go!
Bound away, bound away, where the stormy winds blow;
She's a Liverpool packet—oh, God let her go!
//

For fore topsail halyards, it's WHISKEY JOHNNY:

//
By the time the "Dreadnought " is concluded, the ship is taken in tow, her tug-boat being of a large and powerful make; for clippers, unless the breeze be a steady easterly one, are usually towed well down Channel. We will suppose that the wind is fair. The lower topsails are loosed and sheeted home; the foresail and lower staysails follow; then all hands—cook included—man the fore-topsail halyards, the "chanty-man" standing up and pulling on the downward part with the second or third officer, and we get:

Whisky is the life of man,
(Chorus.) Whisky, Johnny! *
[*With this word, and at every recurrence of it, all pull together.]
Whisky is the life of man, 

Whisky for me, Johnny!
Whisky made me go to sea,
Whisky, Johnny!

Whisky made me go to sea,
Whisky for me, Johnny!

If the singer be of the common order he will here tell what he would do were the ocean made of whisky; how, if he had a "whisky-shop," he would hang it on a halyard-block and haul the men up to it; and more of the same kind until the mate cries "Belay!" But occasionally a man will give the remainder of this song its proper version —that is, the evil of its subject.
//

"Proper version"?
Next, RIO GRANDE at the main topsail halyards. The form is modified accordingly.

//
After the fore, the main-topsail will be hoisted, and with the work we shall probably hear another outward-bound ditty, such as:
Oh, where are you going to, my yaller gal?
(Chorus.) Away to Rio! [All pull together.]
Oh, where are you bound to, bully-boys all?
We're bound to the Rio Grande! [Pull.]
//

Here then, comes the heaving form:

//
The above is also used as a windlass "chanty" when heaving up the anchor to leave home. The wording then generally runs:
Oh, where are you bound to, sailor boys all?
(Chorus.) Heave-o, Rio I
Oh, where are you bound to jolly Jack-tars? 
      
We're bound to the Rio Grande! 
   
Then it's heave-o, Rio! heave-o, Rio! 
   
And fare you well, my bonny young girl, 
   
For we're bound to the Rio Grande!
Oh, what to do there, my sailor-boys all?
       Heave o, Rio! 

Oh, what do you there, my jolly Jack-tars? 

In that far-away Rio Grande?
Then it's heave-o, Rio! &c.

After a stanza on the fever, this song goes on to say what the vessel will load according to probability—how she will return home, and what the "sailor-boys" will do on arrival—if they live to come back; and its air is as near as can be that of the independent milkmaid, whose face was her fortune.
//

In the next passage, SACRAMENTO seems to be used for sweating-up. Weird form.

//
Thus the heavy sails are set, and lighter ones follow; the tow-line is cast off; England's white cliffs fade away astern, as the sun sinks below the horizon ahead; night comes down, with its vague fear for the new voyager's heart, its commonplaceness to the ocean's wanderers, and we are alone to do our business on the waters. Now day slips by on the heels of night; night goes as uneventfully after it; they stretch into weeks; the breeze freshens, and we taughten halyards to the somewhat lively tune of "The Banks of Sacramento" the first part being:

Now, my lads, get your beds and lie down,
[Chorus.) With a hoo-dah! [All pull together.]
Now, my lads, get your beds and lie down, 
      
With a hoo-dah, hoodah-o! [Pull.]
Blow, boys, blow for Californio,
       With a hoo-dah! 

There's plenty of gold, so I've been told, 

On the banks of Sacramento,
With a hoo-dah, hoo-dah-o!
We came to the river where we couldn't get 
across,
       With a hoo-dah! 

And the plenty of gold, as you'll now be told, 

Was a bully, bully, bully loss.
With a hoo-dah, hoo-dah-o!
The third line of this last stanza gives a good idea of what is to follow.
//

MR. STORMALONG for pumping:

//
Here let us suppose that the weight of wind increases so that we must shorten sail. Later on it freshens, breaks into a gale, and we are soon afterwards lying-to under a reefed maintopsail. Then, as the ship is found to be slightly leaking, we man the pump-wheels while we sing:

Storm along, and round we go,
[Chorus.) To me way storm along!
Storm along, and round she'll go,
To me hi-hi-hi, Mister StormalongI
Storm along through frost and snow,
   To me way storm along!
Storm along through frost and snow,
To me hi-hi-hi, Mister Stormalong!

The above is succeeded by a piece of flattery paid to the personified storm. Next, the singer works in the style of how he would have a ship built, rigged and manned; how he would feed the men on "cake sand wine," what he would load her with, and the wonderful places to which they would sail. By this it will be seen that one with sufficient imagination and flow of words can draw out the pump-song into an interesting ditty, and if he has the gift of satire—which is usually his in some crude form—he will indirectly let the officers know how they should comport themselves and govern the vessel.
//

SALLY BROWN at halliards:

//
However, the breeze slackens; more canvas is needed, and the topsails again go up, the first to the lively strains of:
Sally Brown is a nice old lady,
(Chorus.) Away-aye, roll and go! [All pull together.]
Sally Brown is a nice old lady,
Spend my money on Sally Brown! [Pull.]
Sally, Sally, why don't you marry? 
   
Away-aye, roll and go! &c.
The remainder tells how "for seven long years they have been a-courting," and that Sally will not marry until he stops on shore to work by the dock-side.
//

BLOW BOYS BLOW:

//
Then, on the next set of halyards, this song is most likely followed by:
Blow, my boys - I long to hear you—
(Chorus.) Blow, boys, blow I [Pull.]
Blow, my boys—I long to hear you—
Blow, boys, bully boys, blow! [Pull.]
A Yankee ship came down the river,
    Blow, boys, blow!

Oh, how do you know she's a Yankee clipper?
Blow, boys, bully boys blow!
Here "Blow, boys, blow" develops into a description of the differences in food and appearance that marks the American from the British vessel, and is often made to contain some arrant nonsense.
//

JOHNNY BOWKER and BOWLINE:

//
Now we find the wind has gone ahead, and brace up our yards, then flatten the sheets as we chant:
Little Johnny Boker, what made you go to sea?
(Chorus.) Do, my Johnny Boker, do! [Pull.]
Little Johnny Boker, in Liverpool you ought to be,
Do, my Johnny Boker, do!
This, too, has more stanzas, though sung to no other kind of work. But the officer has cried "Make fast !" which we do and leave it. Then, as the mainsail is shaking in the wind, we reeve a bowline and shout:

The bully ship's a-rolling,
(Chorus.) Haul away the bowline! [Pull.]
Its a-raining and a-snowing, a-snowing, a-snowing; 

It's a-raining and a-snowing,
The bowline haul! [pull.]
//

Bunting to PADDY DOYLE:

//
Thus is the outward passage made. The anchor is dropped at, say Garden Reach, below Calcutta; and while the heavy sails are being rolled on to their yards the banks of the Hoogly resound with:
Aye, aye—aye, aye, and we'll pay Paddy Doyle for his boots!
Aye, aye—aye, aye, and we'll have no slop-chest suits!
At the end of each line the sail is bunted a little higher, until it finally rests on the yard. The foregone is given entire, and is evidently the shortest song, good or otherwise, in our language. Its first half seems to hint of some Irish shoe-maker who was paid for his boots with the tiller-rope, or with a "stern course," i.e., not paid; while the second half refers to the inferior clothing sold at high rates by most captains.
//

ROLLING HOME at the windlass. I believe this is the first attribution of "Rolling Home" to a work task in the literature. Luce, in 1902 (i.e. after this article), adds that it could be used as a chanty, but in his earlier edition, not so. Come to think of it, the same seems to be true with "The Dreadnaught," which is only first here called a chanty, if I'm not mistaken.

//
Then comes the weighing of the anchor to return home, naturally a joyous day; a day when every hand goes lightly to its work, and scarcely feels tired when night and "all sails set" put an end to the long task. Now we all warm to our work on the windlass-bars, and in the crowd there is barely a heart that does not swell as the links come in to the words:

Pipe all hands to man the windlass, 

See your cables stowed all clear:
We to-day set sail from India, 

And for English shores we'll steer.
(Chorus.) Rolling home, rolling home.
Rolling home across the sea; 

Rolling home to dear old England, 

Rolling home, sweetheart, to thee.
If you all heave with a will, boys, 

Soon our anchors we will trip;
And we'll cross the briny ocean 

In our good and gallant ship. 
         
Chorus.

Of the above there are but eight more lines. It is one of the very few "chanties" without nonsense of some kind, and it is best rendered when divided between the watches, one watch singing the stanzas, and the other the chorus. Unless the cable has been previously shortened in, one song will not last till the anchor is apeak. Thus "Rolling Home " will probably be followed by "Roll the Cotton Down "—a "chanty" that is only suitable for capstan and windlass work, and is a great favourite with the negro cotton-stowers on the Mississippi—or "The Australian Girl," or "Bound to Western Australia," which are also heaving "chanties" only.
//

That last bit was a doozy. So, a chanty "without nonsense," eh? Again the author shows his preference/bias. When he mentions ROLL THE COTTON DOWN, he must mean the version with the grand chorus (i.e. "Roll the cotton, Moses!). This is the first published mention I remember seeing of this chanty, in any case. He speaks in present tense about the cotton-stowers of New Orleans. This info is unique. I don't recognize 'The Australian Girl," but should we assume the other is SOUTH AUSTRALIA?

Seems to mess up on REUBEN RANZO:

//
Next, when the tug-boat leaves us off the long and dangerous Hoogly, we spread our canvas for home under such lusty airs as:
Sing a song of Ranzo. boys, 

(Chorus.) Ranzo, boys, Ranzo! [Pull.]
Sing a song of Ranzo, boys,
Sing a song of Ranzo! [Pull.]
Ranzo took a notion to cross the briny ocean,
Ranzo boys, Ranzo!
He was a New York tailor, but he thought he'd be a sailor.
Sing a song of Ranzo!

Thus night and day, in foul weather and fine, fore and aft, the work is made light by songs which have a long and curious history, yet are barely dreamt of outside the life that keeps them alive. But, like all else, they must die, and the beginning of their death has begun. The modern spirit, its materialism, stress, and poor dignity are silencing them in small ships; while the same added to the power of steam-winches for raising top sails, anchors and the like, are killing these old ditties even in the descendants, so to write, of the once famous "Black Ball liners."

Warping into dock, w/ LEAVE HER JOHNNY:

//
Here, completing our voyage, we will—for variety's sake—suppose her to have been an unpleasant vessel, and warp her into dock while singing:
Leave her, Johnny, leave her,
(Chorus) Leave her Johnny! [Pull.]
Now we'll sing you a farewell song, 

Leave her, Johnny, leave her! [Pull.]
Leave her, Johnny leave her,
Leave her, Johnny!
Pack your bags and go on shore,
For it's time for you to leave her!
Leave her, Johnny, leave, her
Leave her, Johnny

For the grub was bad, and the wages low.
So it's time for you to leave her!
Leave her, Johnny, leave her,
Leave her, Johnny!
For the mate's a terror, and the "old man"'s worse.
So it's time for you to leave her!

Now, with our bags on our shoulders, we bid her good-bye, knowing her to be as good as many, and better than some, and rather regretfully picturing the day when an old negro was allowed to sit and fiddle to the "chanty-singers."
//

I don't understand the last phrase!

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 15 Feb 11 - 01:44 AM

Correction on the last: "Roll the Cotton Down" had previously appeared in Davis/Tozer.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 15 Feb 11 - 01:48 AM

1900[Oct.]        Lahee, Henry C. "Sailors' Chanteys." _The Sea Breeze_ 13(1) (Oct. 1900): 13-14.

This next article for the new century is from an American perspective, the Boston Seaman's Friend Society. It laments the passing of chanteys, too. Beginning to treat them as folklore.

Begins noting the dearth of prior literature.

//
Steam has almost entirely displaced the sailing ship, has changed the life and conditions of the sailor, and has rendered the chantey a thing of the past.
Now that the thing has gone by, we are alive to the fact that an old and romantic custom is dead or dying. Its rope is rapidly running through the block, and unless some one puts an overhand knot in the end, it will soon unreeve itself and be lost forever. During the past twenty years there have been a few magazine articles on the subject, one or two collections of chanteys in book form, and several allusions to the custom in various novels. Previous to that time it is not easy to find much allusion to the subject in literature. Not many knights of the pen went to sea, and of the few who did, scarcely any took notice of a custom which was as much a matter of course among sailors as going to the galley with a hookpot at seven bells. I do not mean to say that there is nothing on the subject, for I have found several allusions, but they are few in comparison to the number of books about the sea, and this leads us to imagine that many sea novels have been written by people whose knowledge of the mighty deep and its strenuous life is as fictitious as the stuff they write about it. And some of them have written books which, although they may be admired from a purely literary point of view and please the business man and his family, would be considered in the forecastle as more funny than the comic papers.
//

//
Singing is one of the most powerful stimulants known to mankind, and it would be strange indeed if sailors had been different from all other people in this respect. These chanteys were not always sung as an expression of joy. Quite the contrary. The sailors had before them weary tasks which sometimes required twice as many men as the crew comprised. They sang in order to lighten their work, — to concentrate their efforts; and the songs which they sang were (some of them) wild and weird. Many familiar chanteys have been used in the more modern days as college songs. There is a song, "There's plenty of gold, so I've been told, on the banks of the Sacramento," which can be found in many college song books. I remember the same tune sung by negro minstrels under the name of " Campdown Races." The tune is lively and a good one. The words of the chantey evidently originated after 1849.

Then there is a rousing good song called "Sally Brown," and another, "Blow, boys, blow." These originated in the southern cotton ports, and there are several of the same kind, all good stirring chanteys, but of comparatively modern origin.
//

So, mentions SACRAMENTO, SALLY BROWN, and BLOW BOYS BLOW. How did he know the last two originated in cotton ports?

//
The Mexican war left a legacy to the chanteyman. There are two or three songs bearing the marks of that war, and of these the best and the most frequently sung was " Santa Anna."

Solo: "Santa Anna's dead and gone."

Chorus: "Away, oh, Santa Anna." 

Solo: "Oh, Santa Anna's dead and gone." 

Chorus: "All on the plains of Mexico."

Santa Anna was pronounced Santiyanna. There are several verses, but in the chantey the tune and the chorus are the important parts. Neither the words nor the music of these choruses are difficult to learn, otherwise there would have been no chantey singing. "Santiyanna" is a solemn dirge, but a fine, lung-expanding song when you are pushing a capstan bar, or heaving away at the pumps on a stormy night, with an occasional great hoaryheaded comber breaking over the bulwarks and swashing about the decks. But since the days of the iron and steel ship there is no pumping. They are as tight as a "soup and bully" tin, and when they spring aleak they generally go down and settle the question without any chantey singing.
//

That was SANTIANA. Incidently, Luce in 1902, changed his lyrics to match this set.
Then, BLACKBALL LINE:

//
Several of the finest and most characteristic chanteys are associated with the old transatlantic packets, -— the forerunners of the Cunard, White Star, Inman, Guion lines, etc. One of the breeziest of these is called the " Black Ball Line ":

Solo: "In the Black Ball Line I served my time." 

Chorus: "Way-ay-ay-oh, the Black Ball Line." 

Solo: "The Black Ball Line is a bully line."

Chorus: "Hurrah for the Black Ball Line."

Neither Tennyson, Longfellow, nor any of the great poets wrote the words of any of these chanteys. With the exception of a few lines and the words of the chorus, which are peculiar to each, chanteys are nothing but a string of doggerel dependent upon the wit of the chanteyman.
//

HEAVE AWAY MY JOHNNIES

//
The great poets of those days have all passed away without realizing their opportunity. What better subject could one have than the stately, full-rigged ship, at anchor in the river or harbor, her topsails loosed and hanging in graceful draperies from the yards, the shore with its outline, perhaps of wharves and warehouses, softened by the gray mist of early morning, the smoke curling up from the galley funnel, and on the forecastle head a dozen or more men, more or less picturesque, heaving away on windlass or capstan and singing their chantey, —

"Sometimes we're bound for England, sometimes we're bound for France.
Heave away, my bullies, heave away — away.
Sometimes we're bound for England, sometimes we're bound for France,
Heave away, my bully boys, — we're all bound to go."
//

DEAD HORSE:

//
And go they did, setting topsails to the tune of
"Poor old man, your horse will die, 

And we say so, — and we hope so. 

Oh, poor old man, your horse will die, 

Oh, poor — old — man.
"For thirty day I've ridden him, 

And we say so, — and we hope so. 

For thirty days I've ridden him, 

Oh, poor — old — man.
"And when he dies I'll tan his hide. 

And we say so — and we hope so. 

Oh, when he dies we'll tan his hide, 

Oh, poor — old — man." (Belay.)

Up go jibs and staysails, topgallants and royals, with now and then a short song, suitable for a short drag, and the beautiful ship glides away almost imperceptibly on her long and perilous voyage, leaving to the spectator a memory, and much to think of.
This song about the dead horse refers to the thirty days' wages which have been advanced at the time of signing articles, and which has generally been squandered, and thus the sailor has a month's work to do before his pay begins to accumulate. This is the " Dead Horse." At the end of the first month the horse used to die, and its funeral was conducted with much ceremony,—an old sea custom, possibly as dead now as the horse itself.
//

Possibly? Does he have no knowledge?

MR. STORMALONG at pumps:

//
Some of the chanteys, and those I consider the most valuable, contain a poetical idea, — such a one in fact is "Poor Old Man." But of all these, the song which has always appealed most strongly to me is " Storm Along." Many a dismal spell at the pumps has been enlivened by this dirge:

"Old Storm Along is dead and gone. 
   
To my way, oh. Storm Along. 

Old Stormy's dead, he'll storm no more, 
   
Ay, ay, ay, Mr. Storm Along."

Other verses follow:

"When Stormy died, I dug his grave." 

"I dug his grave with a silver spade."

"I lowered him down with a golden chain." etc.

It was a wild old dirge, suitable for stormy weather, and more characteristic of the sea than any other chantey. So far as the tune is concerned, it is perhaps exceeded in quaintness and "atmosphere" by one which went by the name of ''Lowlands," and of which the chorus ended up with "five dollars and a half a day," — which might just as well be any other price you like to mention, as it was the sailor's dream of the pay which he could get in some other place where he was not. These dreams come to all of us, and if we merely sing about them and still go on with our daily work, they are all right, — otherwise they are all wrong.
//

That was LOWLANDS AWAY. I am getting a weird feeling from this article – like the author is familiar with this stuff, but is writing through the voice of Alden or Smith. It's all so standard, and a bit generic.

The next phrase is curious. Does it really mean it was hard to find people who knew many chanties? Or was it just that *he* was making up a story?

//
For many years I have not found a sailor who could sing "Lowlands." The old-time deepwater men are scarce. It is not very easy to find men who know any reasonable number of chanteys, except perhaps some of the modern and more frivolous ones. The modern sailor sings sentimental songs, not at his work, but for his amusement, —"Put my little shoes away," and appropriate songs of that kind. But they all sing, whether they have voices or not. Singing is the great outlet for human energy. Even the Puritans enjoyed what they called singing. Everywhere people gather together, in church, in choral societies, glee clubs, etc.,— they all like to sing.

The poor, weatherbeaten, half-starved physically and wholly starved mentally, sailors gathered together at the capstan and sang their chanteys, — wild chants with doggerel words, — and the anchor came quickly to the hawse-pipe, the topsail yard capered nimbly to the masthead, the leaky, overloaded, ill-found windjammer was kept afloat to make more money for the owner, because the songs gave heart and purpose to the men. A good old custom has gone.
//

The best definition of chanty I've ever read: "wild chants with doggerel words"!!

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 15 Feb 11 - 02:06 AM

1892[1890]        Richards, Laura E. _Captain January._ Boston: Estes & Lauriat.

Novel, mentions/quotes a few chanties:

//
But she loved the scraps of sea-song that the old Captain still hummed over his work: "Baltimore," and "Blow a Man Down," and half a dozen other salt-water ditties: and it might have been strange to less accustomed ears than Bob Peet's to hear the sweet childvoice carolling merrily: —

"Boney was a warrior, 

Weigh! heigh! oh! 

Boney was a warrior, 

John Francois!
Boney whipped the Rooshians, 

Weigh! heigh! oh! 

Boney whipped the Prooshians, 

John Francois! 

Boney went to Elba, 

Weigh! heigh! oh!" etc.

Bob's oars kept time with the song, and his portentous voice thundered out the refrain with an energy which shook the little skiff from stem to stern. By the time that "Boney " was safely consigned to his grave…
//

Not sure which is "Baltimore". Hugill gives a chanty called "Baltimore", and "Baltimore Belle" (Belle of Baltimore?) has been mentioned in this thread as a title. BLOW THE MAN DOWN had appeared in that phrased form earlier. BONEY.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 15 Feb 11 - 02:22 AM

1902        Keeler, Charles. _A Wanderer's Songs of the Sea._ San Francisco: A.M. Robertson.

Composed poems/songs inspired by chanties. The preface says,

//
Only on deep-water sailing vessels do the sailors still sing chanties. When a ship has been laboring through a storm under shortened canvas and the wind abates, the skipper, anxious to make a quick voyage, gives the command to set more sail. Men are ordered aloft to free the lashings and the heavy spar must then be hoisted to its place. The full watch take hold of the halyard, a rope on which the spar is suspended, and which passes through a pulley on the deck. Then the leader of the crew commences a chanty. All hands join in the refrain, pulling in unison at every accented syllable of the chorus. With the wind humming and whistling through the rigging, the ship tossing in the great ocean rollers, and the muffled thud of crashing waves upon its sides, the setting is a wildly picturesque one for the stirring rhythm of such well-known chanties as "Blow the Man Down," "Ranzo," or "Whiskey For My Johnnie," sung with lusty voices by the crew bending in their sou'westers over the wet rope. In a few chanties of this collection, notably "South Australia," "Storm Along," and "Haul Away, Joe," I have preserved the refrain of the sailors, and in all of them I have aimed to give something of the spirit of the men who go down to the sea in ships.
//

So, it's all composed stuff. Some of the choruses are there, but the forms aren't really preserved. His "South Australia" has both "heave away" and "haul away." Since that song has only turned up in print once so far (with "heave" consistently), he either made this up (e.g. after reading Smith) or is actually providing evidence of a heard version that actually mixes the two.

Notably funny is a version of "Haul Away Joe" in an Irish eye-dialect. When did that chanty start taking on connotations of Irishness?

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 15 Feb 11 - 02:55 AM

1903        Unknown. Review of B. Lubbock's Round the Horn before the Mast. _The Anthenaeum_ no. 3929 (14 Feb. 1903): 296.

Notes that though Lubbock (1902) mentioned several chanteys,

//
It contains many chanties, but seagoing readers will miss such old favourites as "Roll, Alabama, roll," and "We'll roll the old chariot along."
//

This is the first we read of ROLL ALABAMA ROLL and ROLL THE OLD CHARIOT, though the writer calls them old favourites.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 15 Feb 11 - 03:09 AM

1903        Rideout, Henry Milner. "Wild Justice." The Atlantic Monthly 92(552) (Oct. 1903): 496-

Story in which BLOW THE MAN DOWN is quoted, outside of any functional or maritime context, as:

//
"Wey, hey, blow a man down.
An' they all shipped fer sailors aboard the
Black Ball. Oh give the wind time fer to blow a man down."
//

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 15 Feb 11 - 05:20 AM

1902        Lubbock, A. Basil. _Round the Horn Before the Mast._ London: John Murray.

First signed on as a sailor in July 1899 at San Francisco, in a 4 masted barque ROYALSHIRE of Glasgow, to go East around the Horn.

First mention of a chanty happens before he even ships out, July 1899, in Frisco at the Institute to British Seamen. He attends a weekly concert series there that involves sailor performers. BLOW BOYS BLOW is being used as entertainment.

//
It was a very amusing concert, and ended with a hauling chanty, that good old stager "Blow, Boys, Blow," all hands tailing on to the end of the rope, and running three fat apprentices up by means of a hook in the ceiling and a block and tackle.
//

He finally leaves Frisco in August:

//
The longbars were put into the capstan, and we were soon tramping drearily round in the raw, misty, morning air. As no one felt equal to a chanty, we hove her short to occasional "Heave, and she comes!" "Heave, and break her out!" "Heave, and she must!" "Heave, and bust her!"…
//

GOODBYE FARE YOU WELL is quoted:

//
Good-bye, Frisco, we shall ever have pleasant memories of you; but, as the good old chanty goes—

"Our anchor we'll weigh, and our sails we'll set,
Good-bye, fare-ye-well!
Good-bye, fare-ye-well! 

The friends we are leaving, we leave with regret, 

Hurrah! my boys, we're homeward bound!"
//

October, in the South Atlantic. The following passage satisfies some curiosity as to what role chanteys had at this late date.

//
Scar is an authority on chanties, and he says that the real old chanties are very seldom heard now; all the same, we have had a good number of fine chanties sung on board.
//

He seems to be talking of "blue notes" here:

//
The thing to hear is a nigger crew chantying. They sing most beautifully, with splendid minor and half notes; they cannot do the least little bit of work without chantying.
//

Hmm, BOWLINE for setting sail?

//
A celebrated chanty, which I am very fond of, is "Haul on the Bowlin'," which is a setting sail chanty, and runs thus :—

Solo. "Haul on the bowlin', the fore and maintop bowlin',"
Chorus. "Haul on the bowlin', the bowlin' haul!"
Solo. "Haul on the bowlin', the packet is arolling,"
Chorus. "Haul on the bowlin', the bowlin' haul!"
Solo. "Haul on the bowlin', the skipper he's agrowling,"
Chorus. "Haul on the bowlin', the bowlin' haul!"
Solo. "Haul on the bowlin', to London we are going,"
Chorus. "Haul on the bowlin', the bowlin' haul!"
Solo. "Haul on the bowlin', the good ship is abowling,"
Chorus. "Haul on the bowlin', the bowlin' haul!"
Solo. "Haul on the bowlin', the main-topgallant bowlin',"
Chorus. "Haul on the bowlin', the bowlin' haul!"
//

MR. STORMALONG, also not with much authority? Later, this is Hugill material.

//
A real good old-time chanty is "Storm along, Stormie!" which runs thus :—
Solo. "Stormie's gone, the good all man,"
    Chorus. "To my aye, Storm along!"

Solo. "Oh, Stormie's gone, that good old man,"
Chorus. "Aye! aye! aye! Mister Storm along!"
Solo. "They dug his grave with a silver spade,"
    Chorus. "To my aye, Storm along!" 

Solo. His shroud of finest silk was made,"
Chorus. "Aye! aye I aye! Mister Storm along!"
Solo. "They lowered him with a golden chain,"
    Chorus. "To my aye, Storm along!" 

Solo. "Their eyes all dim with more than rain,"
Chorus. "Aye! aye! aye! Mister Storm along!"
Solo. "He was a sailor, bold and true,"
    Chorus. "To my aye, Storm along!" 

Solo. "A good old skipper to his crew,"
Chorus. "Aye! aye! aye! Mister Storm along!"
Solo. "He lies low in an earthen bed,"
    Chorus. "To my aye, Storm along!"

Solo. "Our hearts are sore, our eyes are red,"
Chorus. "To my aye, Storm along!"
Solo. "He's moored at last, and furled his sail,"
    Chorus. "To my aye, Storm along!"

Solo. "No danger now from wreck or gale,"
Chorus. "Aye! aye! aye! Mister Storm along!"
Solo. "Old Storm has heard an angel call,"
    Chorus. "To my aye, Storm along!" 

Solo. "So sing his dirge now, one and all,"
Chorus. "Aye! aye! aye! Mister Storm along!"
This is a pumping chanty.
//

BLACKBALL LINE is "celebrated." But did Lubbock use it much? A capstan chanty? "14 verses in the original"? huh?

//
One of the most celebrated chanties is "The Black Ball Line," the first verse of which runs thus :—

Solo. "In the Black Ball Line I served my time," 
   
Chorus. "Hurrah for the Black Ball Line!"
Solo. "In the Black Ball Line I served my time," 
   
Chorus. "Hurrah for the Black Ball Line!"
This is a long capstan chanty, and has fourteen verses in the original words; of course you hardly ever hear two men sing the same words in the solo of a chanty, though the choruses are always the same.
//

Concludes with a "such as" section: BLOW BOYS BLOW, LONG TIME AGO, DEAD HORSE, SANTIANA, JOHN BROWN'S BODY (good original version), BONEY, BLOW THE MAN DOWN, REUBEN RANZO, RIO GRANDE, WHISKEY JOHNNY and GALS OF DUBLIN TOWN – first time mention of this last one.

//
Chanties such as "Blow, my bully boys, blow!" "A long time ago!" "A poor old man," "The plains of Mexico," "John Brown's whisky bottle's empty on the shelf," "Boney was a warrior," "Blow the man down," "Reuben Ranzo," "Away for Rio!" "Whisky for my Johnnie," we were constantly singing.
"The Girls of Dublin Town" is also a very popular chanty.
//

RIO GRANDE at a capstan:
//
We took the halliards to the small capstan forward, and mastheaded the yard to the chanty of "Away for Rio!" Jamieson singing the solo. It was pretty bad weather for chantying, but there is nothing like a chanty to put new life into a man, and we roared out the chorus at the top of our pipes….
Of all the chanties, I think "Away for Rio!" is one of the finest, and I cannot refrain from giving you the words.

CHANTY.—"AWAY FOR RIO!"
Solo. "Oh, the anchor is weigh'd, and the sails they are set,"
Chorus. "Away, Rio!"
Solo. "The maids that we're leaving we'll never forget,"
Chorus. "For we're bound for Rio Grande, 
      
And away, Rio! aye, Rio! 
         
Sing fare-ye-well, my bonny young girl, 
      
We're bound for Rio Grande!"
Solo. "So man the good capstan, and run it around,"
Chorus. "Away, Rio!"
Solo. "We'll heave up the anchor to this jolly sound,"
Chorus. "For we're bound for Rio Grande, 
      
And away, Rio!" etc.
Solo. "We've a jolly good ship, and a jolly good crew,"
Chorus. "Away, Rio!"
Solo. "A jolly good mate, and a good skipper too,"
Chorus. "For we're bound for Rio Grande, 
      
And away, Rio!" etc.
Solo. "We'll sing as we heave to the maidens we leave,"
Chorus. "Away, Rio 1"
Solo. "You know at this parting how sadly we grieve,"
Chorus. "For we're bound to Rio Grande, 
      
And away, Rio!" etc.
Solo. "Sing good-bye to Sally and good-bye to Sue,"
Chorus. "Away, Rio 1"
Solo. "And you who are listening, good-bye to you,"
Chorus. "For we're bound for Rio Grande, 
      
And away, Rio!" etc.
Solo. "Come heave up the anchor, let's get it aweigh,"
Chorus. "Away, Rio!"
Solo. "It's got a firm grip, so heave steady, I say,"
Chorus. "For we're bound for Rio Grande, 
      
And away, Rio!" etc.
Solo. "Heave with a will, and heave long and strong,"
Chorus. "Away, Rio!"
Solo. "Sing a good chorus, for 'tis a good song,'
Chorus. "For we're bound for Rio Grande, 
      
And away, Rio!" etc.
Solo. "Heave only one pawl, then 'vast heaving, belay!"
Chorus. "Away, Rio!"
Solo. "Heave steady, because we say farewell to-day,"
Chorus. "For we're bound for Rio Grande, 
      
And away, Rio!" etc.
Solo. "The chain's up and down, now the bosun did say,"
Chorus. "Away, Rio!"
Solo. "Heave up to the hawse-pipe, the anchor's aweigh!"
Chorus. "For we're bound for Rio Grande, 
      
And away, Rio! aye, Rio! 
         
Sing fare-ye-well, my bonny young girl, 
      
We're bound for Rio Grande!"

Of course the words are not exactly appropriate in the present occasion, but the chorus is one of the best I have ever heard, with its wild, queer wail.
//

Off the Horn…

SHENANDOAH (for capstan to hoist yards):
//
Although we were all pretty well worn out, we managed to ring out a rare good chorus, chantying up the topsails.
Jamieson sang the solo of "The Wide Missouri," a very celebrated chanty.

CHANTY.—"THE WIDE MISSOURI."
Solo. "Oh, Shenadoah, I love your daughter," 
      
Chorus. "Away, my rolling river!"
Solo. "Oh, Shenadoah, I long to hear you."
Chorus. "Ah! ah! We're bound away 
         
'Cross the wide Missouri I"
Solo. "The ship sails free, a gale is blowing," 
      
Chorus. "Away, my rolling river I"
Solo. "The braces taut, the sheets a-flowing,"
Chorus. "Ah! ah! We're bound away 
         
'Cross the wide Missouri!"
Solo. "Oh, Shenadoah, I'll ne'er forget you," 
      
Chorus. "Away, my rolling river!"
Solo. "Till the day I die, I'll love you ever,"
Chorus. "Ah! ah! We're bound away 
         
'Cross the wide Missouri."
//

SACRAMENTO continues it…
//
It's wonderful how a chanty will get a topsail mastheaded. We sent the mizen upper-topsail up to the tune of

"ON THE BANKS OF THE SACRAMENTO."
Solo. "Sing and heave, and heave and sing,"
    Chorus. "Hoodah, to my hoodah;" 

Solo. "Heave, and make the handspikes spring," 
   
Chorus. "Hoodah, hoodah day.
And it's blow ye winds, heigh-ho,
For Cal—i—for—ni—o;
For there's plenty of gold, so I've been told,
On the banks of the Sacramento!"

It is rather difficult for a landsman to understand the sense of the words in some of the chanties, and no doubt in most cases they need some explanation. Some of them refer to people and events long since gone and forgotten.
//

The popular authored-song HOME DEARIE HOME is called a chanty here.
//
There is one chanty, however, which is, perhaps, as well-known ashore as afloat, and few songs have more beautiful words than "Hame, dearie, Hame," and I cannot resist from giving the first verse.

Solo. "I stand on deck, my dearie, and in my fancy see,
The faces of the loved ones that smile across the sea; 

Yes, the faces of the loved ones, but 'midst them all so clear, 

I see the one I love the best, your bonnie face, my dear."
Chorus. "And its hame, dearie, hame! oh, it's hame I want to be,
My topsails are hoisted, and I must out to sea;
For the oak, and the ash, and the bonnie birchen tree,
They're all agrowin' green in the North Countree."
This is, of course, a capstan chanty, and it takes some beating when sung by a good chantying watch.
//

Here's an addition to the repertoire: OFF TO THE SOUTHARD
//
As we were chantying up the main upper-topsail to the tune of "As off to the Southard we go," a big sea fell aboard and washed Higgins and Bower into the lee scuppers.
Solo. "Sing, my lads, cheerily, heave, my lads, cheerily,"
Chorus. "Heave away, cheerily, oh, oh!"
Solo. "For the gold that we prize, and sunnier skies,"
Chorus. "Away to the south'ard we go." 

Solo. "We want sailors bold, who can work for their gold,"
Chorus. "Heave away cheerily, oh, oh!" 

Solo. "And stand a good wetting without catching cold,"
Chorus. "As off to the south'ard we go—o, 
      
As off to the"

Crash! bang! fizz ! — " Hang on all!"— "Damn !" — " South'ard we go !" — " Curse you, get your boot out of—" (splutter) — " Blasted fool! "—(puff, splutter)—" O Lord!"—"Lost my only sou'wester, curse it!"—"Where's Bower?"— (coughing, panting, blowing, as the water begins to roll off)—

"In the lee scuppers with old Higgins, clasped in each other's arms."
"Ha! ha! ha!"
"Hallo, Rooning, bleeding?"
"Some one kicked me in the face."
"Now then, tune her up, boys, give her hell!"

"Give us a chanty some one."
//

In the Western Ocean…
REUBEN RANZO:
//
With all hands on the halliards, we hoisted the yard to the chanty of " Reuben Ranzo."

"REUBEN RANZO."
Solo. "Hurrah! for Reuben Ranzo," 
   
Chorus. "Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!"
Solo. "Hurrah! for Reuben Ranzo," 
   
Chorus. "Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!"
Solo. "Ranzo was no sailor,"
Chorus. "Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!"
Solo. "Ranzo was a tailor,"
Chorus. "Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!"
Solo. "Ranzo joined the Beauty" 
   
Chorus. "Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!"
Solo. "And did not know his duty," 
   
Chorus. "Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!"

It is too long to give in full, so I will leave out the chorus, which comes in like thunder between each line, the haul coming each time on the "Ranzo."

"His skipper was a dandy, 
 And was too fond of brandy.
"He called Ranzo a lubber, 
 And made him eat whale blubber.
"The Beauty was a whaler, 
 Ranzo was no sailor.
"They set him holy-stoning, 
 And cared not for his groaning.
"They gave him 'lashes twenty,' 
 Nineteen more than plenty.
"Reuben Ranzo fainted, 
 His back with oil was painted.
"They gave him cake and whisky, 
 Which made him rather frisky.
"They made him the best sailor, 
 Sailing on that whaler.
"They put him navigating, 
 And gave him extra rating.
"Ranzo now is skipper 
 Of a China clipper.
"Ranzo was a tailor, 
 Now he is a sailor."

So runs the queer story of Reuben Ranzo, a rare old hauling chanty.
//

"Rare" in what sense?

Arrival in Liverpool…

//
"Man the capstan!"
Round we tramped, making the Mersey ring with our chanties.
We started the ball with "Sally Brown."

    CHANTY.—" SALLY BROWN." 

Solo. "I love a maid across the water,"
    Chorus. "Aye, aye, roll and go!" 

Solo. "She is Sal herself, yet Sally's daughter,"
Chorus. "Spend my money on Sally Brown."
Solo. "Seven long years I courted Sally,"
    Chorus. "Aye, aye, roll and go!"

Solo. "She called me ' boy, and Dilly Dally,'"
Chorus. "Spend my money on Sally Brown."
Solo. "Seven long years and she wouldn't marry,'
    Chorus. "Aye, aye, roll and go!" 

Solo. "And I no longer cared to tarry,"
Chorus. "Spend my money on Sally Brown."
Solo. "So I courted Sal, her only daughter,"
    Chorus. "Aye, aye, roll and go!" 

Solo. "For her I sail upon the water,"
Chorus. "Spend my money on Sally Brown."
Solo. "Sally's teeth are white and pearly,"
    Chorus. "Aye, aye, roll and go!" 

Solo. "Her eyes are blue, her hair is curly,"
Chorus. "Spend my money on Sally Brown."
Solo. "The sweetest flower of the valley,"
    Chorus. "Aye, aye, roll and go!" 

Solo. "Is my dear girl, my pretty Sally,"
Chorus. "Spend my money on Sally Brown."

And so it runs on into a number of verses. How we did sing it out! It is something to hear a deepwater crew, in high spirits at getting into port, ring out a chanty. The tugmen came aboard and watched our enthusiasm as we almost ran round the capstan at times.
//

LEAVE HER JOHNNY at the end:
//
Then old Foghorn struck up, "Leave her, Johnnie," a great chanty.

CHANTY.—" LEAVE HER, JOHNNIE."
Solo. "I thought I heard the skipper say,"
Chorus. "Leave her, Johnnie, leave her!"
Solo. "To-morrow you will get your pay," 
   
Chorus. "It's time for us to leave her."
Solo. "The work was hard, the voyage was long," 
   
Chorus. "Leave her, Johnnie, leave her!"
Solo. "The seas were high, the gales were strong," 
   
Chorus. "It's time for us to leave her."
Solo. "The food was bad, the wages low,"
Chorus. "Leave her, Johnnie, leave her!"
Solo. "But now ashore again we'll go,"
Chorus. "It's time for us to leave her."
Solo. "The sails are furled, our work is done," 
   
Chorus. "Leave her, Johnnie, leave her!"
Solo. "And now on shore we'll have our fun," 
   
Chorus. "It's time for us to leave her."
//

Wow, Hugill really did harvest a lot of lines from this book.

One last passage of interest:

//
Some Yankee ships have what is called "checkerboard" crews, that is to say, niggers in one watch, white men in the other, and I believe the competition between the two watches is tremendous. There are some deep voyagers that go in for entirely nigger crews.

They are said to be rather unruly at sea, though good and fearless sailors. The great point about a negro crew is their "chantying." They do nothing without a chanty, and their chantying is a real musical treat, which, if put on the stage, I am very sure would draw immensely.
//

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Lighter
Date: 15 Feb 11 - 03:14 PM

The Matura [N.Z.] Ensign, Aug. 13, 1896, ran an article on "The 'Chanties' of Sailors."

After noting that shanties are "unknown" to "the great majority" of people, and that they are not used in the Royal Navy, the writer gives a few examples:

Our anchor's weighed, our sails unfurled;
Good-bye - fare you _well_ - goodbye [sic] fare you _well_.
We're bound across the watery world,
Hurrah! my boys, we're outward bound.

[One of Carpenter's shantymen also sang an "outward bound" form of what's usually "homeward bound.]

"At each italicized word there is a pull on the ropes."

"'Bunting topsils' is accompanied by a wild chant, the origin of which is lost in obscurity. But it is specially peculiar, because, amid the roar of wind nd wave, the soundcomes down in weird resonance from the singers aloft.

"Old Tommy Boyd had a good pair of boots - Heigh _ho_! heave _ho_.
Who robbed Tommy Boyd of his _boots_?
'Twas an old thief from London _town_.
Who was used to robbing poor sailormen _down_.
Who had Tommy Boyd and done him quite _brown_.
Who robbed Tommy Boyd of his _boots_.

"The operation of hoisting yards...is effected to the following lyric:

"Oh, poor Ruben Ramsell!
_Ramsell!_ boys, _Ramsell!_
Ramsell was no sailor,
_Ramsell!_ boys, _Ramsell!_
He shipped on board of a whaler,
_Ramsell!_ boys, _Ramsell!_
The captain's name was Taylor,
_Ramsell!_ boys, _Ramsell!_"

...

"Oh! whisky is the life of man!
_Whisky! Johnnie!_
Oh! whisky killed my poor old dad,
_Whisky_ for my _Johnnie_.
Oh! Whisky gave me a red nose,
_Whisky! Johnnie!
Oh! whisky made me pawn my clothes,
_Whisky_ for my _Johnnie!.

"And various other verses of the same kind....

"I thought I heard the chief mate say,
_Whisky! Johnnie!_
Just one more pull then we'll belay,
Give _whisky_ to my Johnnie_."

"When in roughest weather storm-stay-sails are hoisted, and short, heavy pulls are needed, they are given to the following curious and very ancient chantie....:

"Poor old man! his horse will die,
And the _say_ so, and they _hope_ so!
       _Poor old man!_

If he dies I'll tan his hide,
And I _say_ so, and I _hope_ so,
If he lives I'll ride him again,
       Oh _poor old man._"

...

"In fairer weather hauling out the bowlines (to make the sails draw properly) is done to the accompaniment of:

"Haul on the bowline!
The old man's a _growlin'_.
Haul on the bowline,
The bowline _haul!_

"And when the homeward voyage is over...the crew have to wash her down and pump her out....The particular chorus runs thus:

"I've earned all my money, and I worn out my clothes,
Leave her, Johnnie! leave her!
Oh! shake her up and away we goes.
Leave her, Johnnie! leave her!
We'll shake her up from down below,
Leave her, Johnnie! leave her!
We've stuck to her through sun and snow,
Leave her, Johnnie! leave her!

"This of all the chanties is sung with the most unanimity and cheeriness..."

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Lighter
Date: 15 Feb 11 - 03:55 PM

In a letter to the Wellington [N.Z.] Evening Post (June 9, 1934), John Hutcheson lists the titles of shanties he learned when he was an "apprentice in a Western Ocean packet-ship (Liverpool-New York)" in 1871:

"Reuben Ranzo"
"Johnnie Boker"
"Paddy Doyle"
"Blow, my Bully Boys, Blow"
"Tom's Gone to Hilo"
"John France Wah"
"Whisky for my Johnnie!"
"Hurrah, My Boys, We're Homeward Bound!"
"Santa Anna"
"Shenandoah"
"Heave Away, My Johnnie, Heave Away-ay"
"Old Stormalong"
"Oh! You New York Girls, Can't You Dance the Polka?"

Besides these "Western Ocean" shanties, Hutcheson mentions that

"I have heard the Mississippi Screwmen (the very aristocrats of labour) screwing cotton in the hold till they raised the decks to the sound of 'Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag that Flies the Single Star!' etc. I've heard the Jamaica niggers sing 'The Saucy Rosabella' or 'Waitin' for de Steamboat,' or 'Jimmy Riley,' etc., as they rolled the big hogsheads of raw sugar or hove at the winch discharging their coastal drogher.; I've heard the coolies in Moulmein chanting as they staged rice over the side; but of all the sea songsn for real life and go,give me the good old vulgar, obscene Western Ocean chanty before them all.

"Although just entering the eightieth lap, I can still think of the good old days:

"'When bending low her bosom in snow,
She buried the lee cathead.'"

The last lines, of course, are from the forebitter "The Stately Southerner."

Hutcheson also mentions that "The language of the average sailorman in those days was, as [the American humorist] Bill Nye puts it, 'painful and frequent and free,' and was scarcely fit for polite society. Some of the most popular chanties just could not be written - they'd set the paper afire!" Concerning sung complaints about the officers, the food, and the treatment, "It's wonderful what they got away with when expressed allegorically to music."

Hutcheson seems unaware that any shanties had ever been printed. "Of course, the music could be scored, but that's a job nobody seems to have done yet."

Mention of "The Saucy Rosabella" is valuable. (Horace P. Beck also found it being sung in the Caribbean in the 1950s.) Hutcheson's 1870s date for "Can't You Dance the Polka?" may be unique. I can't identify "Jimmy Riley" unless (as seems likely) it's a variant of "Old Billy Riley." "Waitin' for de Steamboat" seems like a new title to me. Because they were apparently sung while loading, Hutcheson seems not to think of these Jamaican songs as shanties.

Otherwise all of Hutcheson's titles are attested elsewhere (usually in reminiscence) as having been typical of the 1870s.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 15 Feb 11 - 06:17 PM

"Tommy Boyd"! Wow, first variation I can recall seeing on "Paddy Doyle."

Re: "Jimmy Riley", a corn-shucking song is noted up-thread by John Minear, called "Jimmy My Riley." Based only on text, I think the latter is quite comparable to "Old Billy Riley" the chanty. So the possibility that all three are related indeed seems likely.

Incidentally -- re: chanty/sailors' language -- I have been rereading Harlow and noticing how many of his chanties go with a disclaimer that the actually verses he heard sung were filthy. A lot of his printed texts don't seem bowdlerized per se, but rather just different, clean verses. This raises the question of where they came from. Is Harlow using/selecting clean verses that he heard back in the day? It doesn't seem so. He may have made up the verses anew for publication -- albeit possibly "based on 1870s sensibilities" (to paraphrase Lighter) -- or he got them from other versions of the chanties he'd heard/read since then. I am of the suspicion that a significant portion of Harlow's verses come from a later time then we are led to believe.
The Sailor's Alphabet is a good example. He had said that the word for every letter was unprintable. And yet he gives a different version with every letter clean. If the clean version was also sung in *his* experience, that would belie his statement that chantymen were dirty. So where is he getting the clean version from, and how much historical value is there to it, really?

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Lighter
Date: 15 Feb 11 - 08:44 PM

Here's a hard-to-fnd shanty text that must have been thought charmingly risque' when it was published in 1931, but whose third stanza, I believe would have been considered "unfit for polite ears" fifty years earlier.

On Oct. 13, 1931, the magazine supplement to the Brooklyn Sunday Eagle carried a human interest feature by O. R. Pilat titled "He Sings Old Sea Chanteys." The singer was marine engineer Alexander MacPhedran, 46, whose younger brother (not named) became a shantyman on board "Garnet" and "Hill of Glasgow" beginning about 1906. Alexander learned his shanties from him. Among them:
        
        Oh, Shenandoah, I long to hear you.
                Way, hay, you rolling river.
        Oh, Shenandoah, I long to hear you.
                Way, hay, we're bound away,
                O'er the wide Missouri.

        Missouri she's a mighty river,
        She sets our topsails all a-shiver.

        Oh, Shenandoah, I love your daughter.
        She loves to do what she hadn't oughter.

Cf. this rhyme, collected early in WWII (from Edgar Palmer's "G.I, Songs"):

We love Mrs. Jones, we love her daughter,
We love her in a way we hadn't oughter -
Oh, it's home, boys, home, the place we ought to be -
Oh, it's home, boys, home, and to hell with the life on the sea.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 16 Feb 11 - 03:06 AM

1903        Whitmarsh, H. Phelps. "The Chantey-man." _Harper's Monthly Magazine_ 106(632) (Jan. 1903): 319-

This featured article in Harper's seems to mark maybe a new way of discussing chanties. It uses the phrase "sea chanteys" which, though it does appear a few times earlier, was never used consistently or with quite such a firm sense of purpose. The article is full of nonsensical platitudes like "smacking of old ocean, true nautical swing," starting off, for instance, with the claim that chanties "hark back to such a remote period that it is impossible to say when or whence they originated…" It is possible that he doesn't mean that chanties "as we know them" "hark back" to such a remote period; he may have adopted the idea of a chantey as *any* maritime work-song that one might dig up – in which case this is also a notable shift in conception/usage.

The author is informed about such things as "walking away" with a halyard (i.e. in war ships) and "singing out."
"The soloists are known as chantey-men, and they are usually older men…"

Here's yet another statement of the idea of "Southern cotton ports" – one which I think is reasonable, but smacks, perhaps, or recent writings (e.g. the SEA BREEZE article). Wondering if this impression of the cotton stowing influence was, in the 1890s-1900s, a presently experienced idea, or more like a part of the written narrative passed down. Either way, it is notable that, outside of chanty scholars, the idea has sort of left the common consciousness. Now, as for the "undoubtedly English" origins of "ancient airs," I don't know where that comes from. I don't see earlier writers opining like that.

//
Most of the melodies are undoubtedly of English origin, though in many cases they have been influenced by contact with other nations. Thus we find a number of ancient airs set to words distinctly American, such as those of "Shenandoah," "Sally Brown," and "On the Banks of the Sacramento." The first two doubtless came from some Southern cotton ports, as they bear ear-marks of negro singers.
//

He characterizes the poetic style/method accurately IMO, saying that to to landsmen they "will probably appear as the veriest doggerel" and yet "As a rule, the chantey in its entirety possesses neither rhyme nor reason; nevertheless, it is admirably fitted for sailors' work. Each of these sea-songs has a few stock verses or phrases to begin with, but after these are sung, the soloist must improvise, and it is principally his skill in this direction that marks the successful chantey-man."

//
…in listening to the plaintive melodies like "Storm-along" and "The Lowlands," I have at times been reminded of a Gaelic psalm chant, such as is sung by the Scotch Highlander ers and their descendants in Cape Breton; and again, they have seemed akin to the weird recitative and chorus of the aboriginal Australian.
//

Mention of adapted songs—"rarely" used: JOHNNY COMES MARCHING HOME, TRAMP TRAMP, JOHN BROWN'S BODY:

//
Sometimes the sailor has taken a 'longshore tune and modified it for his own purposes. "When Johnny comes marching home again," "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp," and "John Brown" are on rare occasions used as capstan chanteys;
//

Hauling songs:
//
BLOW THE MAN DOWN [w/ score]
As I was a-walking down Paradise Street.
Way! Hey! Blow the man down.
A pretty young damsel I chanced for to meet.
Give me some time to blow the man down.
Says she, young man, will you stand treat?
'Way! Hey! Blow the man down.
Delighted, says I, for a charmer so sweet.
Give me some time to blow the man down.

And so on until a loud " Belay!" from the mate announces that the yard is high enough. In a long haul like this a poor chantey-man will repeat each line twice, while a good improvisatore will scorn such a spinning out, and turn the song upon current events, the officers, and the food. A chantey-man invariably alters certain words to suit himself. For instance, the chantey given refers to a notorious street in Liverpool. A Londoner would sing it:

As I was a-walking down Ratcliffe Highway. A pretty young damsel I chanced for to spy.
And a New - Yorker would make this much-walked street Broadway.
//

That's the first literary reference to the "Paradise Street" version I have seen, though I suspect the line had been attached to the song for a while – though, as we've seen, the "Black Ball Liner" theme may be older. The above also includes an asthetic evaluation of spinning (stringing) out.

SALLY BROWN, no lyrics:
//
A similar chantey is "Sally Brown." Who Sally Brown was, beyond the statement that she was "a bright mulatto" and "a gay old lady," and that "she's got a baby," I have never been able to discover,…
//

REUBEN RANZO:
//
Another mythical personage much sung about is "Reuben Ranzo":

His name was Reuben Ranzo. 

Oh! Ranzo, boys. Ranzo.
And Ranzo was no sailor. 

Oh! Ranzo, boys, Ranzo. 

He shipped aboard a whaler. 

Oh! Ranzo, boys, Ranzo. 

The captain was a bad man. 

Oh! Ranzo, boys. Ranzo. 

He triced him in the rigging, 

Oh! Ranzo. boys, Ranzo, 

And gave him four-and-twenty. 

Oh! Ranzo. boys, Ranzo.

The song goes on to tell of the various vicissitudes that befell poor Ranzo,…
//

//
BLOW, BOYS, BLOW [w/ score]
Blow, my bullies, I long to hear you.
Blow, boys, blow.
Blow, my, bullies, I come to cheer you.
Blow, my bully boys, blow.
A Yankee ship's gone down the river. 

Blow, boys, blow.
And what do you think they got for dinner?
Blow, my bully boys, blow. 

Dandyfunk and donkey's liver. 

Blow, boys, blow.
Then blow, my boys, for better weather, 

Blow, my bully boys, blow.
//

BONEY:
//
Then there is a popular chantey relating to the downfall of Napoleon Bonaparte. It begins somewhat in this wise:
Boney was a warrior.
To me, tray, hey, yah!
A warrior and a tarrier,
John Fran-swaw. (Jean Francois.)
But the big-nosed duke, he put him through.
To me, way, hey, yah!
He put him through at Waterloo.
John Fran-swaw.
//

One pull is indicated each chorus, on "yah" and "John."

TOMMY'S GONE:
//
Another favorite conveys the information that "Tom's gone to Hilo." One version opens after the following fashion, which is sung with gusto:

Tommy's gone and I'll go too, 

A-way, ey, oh! 

Tommy's gone to Timbuctoo. 

Tom's gone to Hilo.
After running on for a while about the beauties of Hilo, and the delightful life
that Tommy led, and so forth, the song branches off (as indeed most halyard chanteys do) into such words as these:
Up aloft this yard must go.
A-way, ey, oh!
Up aloft from down below,
Tom's gone to Hilo.
Oh! did you hear the first mate say,
A-way, ey, oh!
Give one more pull, and then belay.
Tom's gone to Hilo.
//

And the "such as" section, lists other long drag chanties, WHISKEY JOHNNY, DEAD HORSE, CHEERLY, BLACKBALL LINE, HUNDRED YEARS:
//
Other much-used chanteys for work of this nature are "Whiskey Johnny," "Poor Old Man," " Cheerly Men," " The Black Ball Line," and " A Hundred Years Ago."
//

Short drag stuff, w/ BOWLINE and HAUL AWAY JOE:
//
For work requiring only a few pulls, as the tautening of a weather-brace, a different kind of chantey is called for. In this case a turn is kept on the belaying-pin so that the slack can be held after each pull. The hands having laid hold of the rope, the chantey-man usually stands with arms outstretched above the block, and sings:

HAUL ON THE BOWLINE. [w/ score]
Haul on the bowline (bolin),
Our bully ship's a-rollin',
CHO: Haul on the bowline, the bowline—Haul
Haul on the bowline,
Our Captain he's a growlin',
CHO: Haul on the bowline, the bowline—Haul
Haul on the bowline,
Haul on the bowline,
Oh, Kitty, you're my darlin'.
CHO: Haul on the bowline, the bowline—Haul
Haul on the bowline,
…
//

HAUL AWAY JOE has various accents being done (cf. the Irish accent version of this recently mentioned up-thread).
//
Once I loafed a Deutscher maid, Und she vas fat and lazy,
Way, haul away, haul away—Joe.
And thin I coorted an Irish gyurl, She—nigh dhruv me crazy.
Way, haul away, haul away—Joe.
//

Heaving chanties…
//
The capstan or windlass chanteys admit of a little more leeway in their composition, inasmuch as there is no regular hauling time, the sailors merely tramping around the capstan, or heaving up and down on the handle-bars of the windlass. When heaving anchor on an outwardbound vessel, a common one is "Rio Grande," which runs as follows:

WERE YOU EVER IN RIO GRANDE? [w/ score]
Were you ever in Rio Grande?
Away, you Rio.
Were you ever on that strand?
We're bound for the Rio Grande.
And away, you Rio,
Way, you Rio;
Then fare you well,
My bonny young girl,
We're bound for the Rio Grande.

Where the Portugee girls can be found
Away, you Rio.
And they are the girls to waltz around,
We're bound for the Rio Grande.
And away, you Rio,
Way, you Rio;
Then fare you well,
My bonny young girl,
We're bound for the Rio Grande.
//

GOODBYE FARE YOU WELL:
//
WE'RE HOMEWARD BOUND [w/ score]
We're homeward bound, ah! That's the sound!
Good-by, fare you well, Good-by, fare you well,
We're homeward bound, to Liverpool town.
Hurrah! My lads, we're homeward bound.

The second stanza runs thus:
We're loaded down with sugar and rum.
Good-by, fare you well, 
Good-by. fare you well.
The sails are set. and the breeze has come,
Hurrah! my lads, we're homeward bound.
//

MR. STORMALONG:
//
After a blow a suitable chantey is:

Old Storm-along, he is dead and gone. 

Ay—ay—ay—Mister Storm-along. 

Oh! Storm-along, he is dead and gone, 

To my way, yah. Storm-along.
And there are many more, some gay and some cheery, like "Santa Anna"; others, like "The Lowlands," mournful as the sighing of the wind in the shrouds.
//

Pumping…
This like the "mid-journey" version of LEAVE HER JOHNNY that Hugull offers.
//
There are no chanteys more suggestive of the old-times wooden ships than those used at the pumps. Of these there are quite a number, some suited to the everyday work of clearing the bilges, and some adapted for more serious times. Where heavy weather has caused the vessel to leak more than usual, and the crew are weary from pumping, nothing could be more appropriate, doleful though it be, than "Leave her, Johnny, leave her":

Heave around the pump-bowls bright, 

Leave her, Johnny, leave her. 

There'll be no sleep for us to-night, 

It's time for us to leave her.
Heave around or we shall drown, 

Leave her, Johnny, leave her. 

Don't you feel her settling down? 

It's time for us to leave her.
The rats have gone, and we the crew,
Leave her, Johnny, leave her.
It's time, by , that we went too,
It's time for us to leave her.
//

The usual PADDY DOYLE stuff:
//
The quaintest little hauling-song of all, "Bunt Chantey," is only sung aloft when stowing a large sail, and it is confined to one short verse;—if I may call it a verse. When a mainsail is being furled, and "all hands and the cook" are laid out on the yard and have the "skin" of the sail in their hands, a few simultaneous lifts are required to bring the heavy roll of canvas on to the yard. Then above the booming of the wind in belly of the topsails, above its howling as it hurries past the multitudinous ropes, comes the "bunt" cry:

WE'LL PAY PADDY DOYLE. [w/ score]
Ay-Ay-Ay ah! We'll pay Paddy Doyle for his boots.

Way—ay—ay—ah,
followed by the strange chorus:
We'll pay Paddy Doyle for his boots.

At the last word every one gives a vicious hoist, and it is continued until the sail is in place and the gaskets are passed. This chantey doubtless originated in the superstition that bad luck would follow when shore bills were left unpaid, and the song is addressed to the Storm Fiend in hopes of appeasing his wrath.
//

Nostalgia…
//
In this age the chantey-man is very little in evidence. His place is rapidly being taken by the hiss and clank of the steam-winch, and at the present rate at which progress is making new conditions he will soon be as extinct as the dodo. And with these new conditions we have a new class. But what a difference between the old-time sailor-man and the modern follower of salt-water! Steam with its labor-saving devices, iron sailing-ships, wire-ropes, screw rigging, and the 'longshore rigger have made the ancient art and craft of the sailor, with few exceptions, unnecessary. The principal end of seamen in these times is to use a chipping-hammer, a paint-brush, and the bucket of "soogey-moogey"— a compound for cleaning paint - work. The mariner of old in American vessels hailed from Cape Cod, the coast of Maine, and the Eastern seaboard. In English ships he was a native of the British Isles. Skilled in the mysteries of knots and splices, sail-making, and seamanship in general, steeped in brine and tar and the traditions of his calling, hewn into shape by his constant battle with the elements, he was a sailor to the backbone—a man whose blood ran Stockholm tar, and whose every hair was a ropeyarn. To-dny the vessels of both nations are manned by foreigners. And with the advent of this new element the quaint customs and practices of the old-time sailor's life are fast dying.
The chantey, from a musical point of view, is crude enough, its melody is doubtful, and the voices that sing it are untrained—ay, even hoarse and cracked, —and yet in my memory there clings no song more in harmony with the wild freedom of the sea, no sound more cheery and stirring on stormy nights, than when

Blow, my bullies, I long to hear you, 

Blow, boys, blow.
Blow, my bullies. I come to cheer you, 

Blow, my bully boys, blow,

is being bellowed through a score of lusty throats.
//
Aww…

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 16 Feb 11 - 03:52 AM

1905        Fenton, Reginald. Peculiar People in a Pleasant Land. Girard, Kansas: Pretoria Publishing.

Describing the voyage of a sailing ship Catraraqui from Britain to South Africa, "forty years ago." The preface calls "now" 1900. So, ca.1860-65. A quick scan shows there were several trips on this route in 1861.

WHISKEY JOHNNY:
//
The passengers, as the wish to live came back to them with their sea-legs, had begun to get some excitement out of the cry, "All hands 'bout ship," "Tacks and sheets," "Mainsail-haul," "Clew-up," and some of us would tail on to the main-sheet or a topsail-halliard, pull with a will, and join in the rousing "chanty":

Oh, whisky killed my sister Fan.
Oh, whisky! Oh, Johnnie! 

But whisky is the life of man;
Then whisky for me, Johnnie,

And the mate would roar: "Keep all that. Belay. Smart now."
//

Although BLOW YE WINDS appears in several earlier references, I believe this is the first time logging it as a chanty:
//
A call to reef top-sails was an opportunity to hear a new "chanty," or to join in the chorus of a fresh improvisation to the tune of an old one; such as:

"Our Captain on the quarter-deck is growlin' like a bear; 

A stampin' on his hat, me boys, and a-tearin' of his hair,"

which "London Charley" roared one day as a hint to the raging skipper, and the gang at the lift drowned the sultry comment of the latter in the vigor with which they trolled the chorus:

"Then blow ye winds in the mornin',
Blow ye winds, heighho; 

Clear away the morning dew,
Row my bully-boys, row."
//

BOWLINE:
//
How through the misty distance of the vanished past still rings in memory the swinging chorus of the watch, when, trimmng the rig to gain the full power of each change of the breeze, they would sing:
"Haw-haul the bowlin', the Catarak's a-rollin', 

Haul the bowlin'; the bowline—Haul!!"
giving with the last word a tug at their rope which sent the note out with a shout and a jerk. "Just another little one," the mate would cry, and off at score went the chanty once more.
//

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 16 Feb 11 - 04:53 AM

1907        Chamberlain, Lucia. "The Harder Case." Everybody's Magazine 16(4) (April 1907): 515-

A reference to sailing is made, with a quotation from a "Sally" version of SHENANDOAH:

//
Oh, twenty years I courted Sally, 

Yo ho, ye rolling river! 

And twenty more, but I didn't get her! 

I'm bound away on the wild Atlantic.
//

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 17 Feb 11 - 05:19 AM

1906[Oct.]        Masefield, John, ed. _A Sailor's Garland._ London: Macmillan.

This is a general anthology of sea-related songs and poetry that includes a section on "Chanties." They have been, on one level, hijacked to serve this project of enshrining the sea as English "heritage" of a particular character. They were part of Masefield's experience, as he sailed 1891-1895.

This text seems to have very influential on the lyrics of later revival performers, so, though it is lengthy, it is important to have it logged for later reference.

The CHANTIES section begins pg. 300 with an introduction.

His famous pronunciation spiel. I've not seen early evidence of using "chanty" as a verb in the way he says.
//
A Chanty is a song sung by sailors when engaged in the severest of their many labours. The word chanty is generally mispronounced by landsmen. It is not pronounced as spelt, like the word chant with an added y final. It is pronounced shanty, to rhyme with scanty, the ch soft and the a narrow. The verb to chanty is frequently used, as in the order "Chanty it up, now," or the injunction "Heave and chanty."
//

Some indication here that chanties were still being used, but not for pumping.
//
There are three varieties of chanty, each kind adapted to its special labour. There is the capstan chanty, sung at the capstan when warping, or weighing anchor, or hoisting topsails with the watch. There is the halliard chanty, sung at the topsail and top-gallant halliards, when the topsails and top-gallant sails are being mast-headed. And there is the sheet, tack, and bowline chanty, used when the fore, main, and crossjack sheets are hauled aft, and when the tacks are boarded and the bowlines tautened. Formerly, in the days when ships were built of wood, and leaked from an inch or two to two or three feet a day, there used to be pumping chanties, sung by the pumpers as they hove the brakes round. Now that ships are built of steel or iron, which either leak not at all or go to the bottom, there is no pumping to be done aboard, save the pumping of fresh water from the tanks in the hold for the use of the crew, and the daily pumping of salt water for the washing down of the decks. I have passed many miserable hours pumping out the leaks from a wooden ship, but I was never so fortunate as to hear a pumping chanty.
//

Walk-away chanties are "bastard chanties." DRUNKEN SAILOR had indeed been rarely cited. I wonder what "wave" came to popularize it in the 20th century? Masefield's mention here may have been influential.
//
Strictly speaking, there is a fourth variety of chanty, but it is a bastard variety, very seldom used. The true chanty, of the kinds I have mentioned, is a song with a solo part and one or two choruses. The solo part consists of a line of rhyme which is repeated by the solo man after the first chorus has been shouted. The bastard variety which I have j ust mentioned has no solo part. It is a runaway chorus, sung by all hands as they race along the deck with the rope. You hear it in tacking ship. It is a good song to sing when the main and mizzen yards are being swung simultaneously. All hands are at the braces straining taut, and at the order they burst into song and "run away with it," bringing the great yards round with a crash. It is a most cheery kind of chanty, and the excitement of the moment, and the sight of the great yards spinning round, and the noise of the stamping feet impress it on the mind. The favourite runaway chorus is:

"What shall we do with a drunken sailor? 

What shall we do with a drunken sailor? 

What shall we do with a drunken sailor, 
         
Early in the morning? 
      
Way, hay, there she rises, 
      
Way, hay, there she rises, 
      
Way, hay, there she rises, 
         
Early in the moming.
"Chuck him in the long-boat till he 
 gets sober,
Chuck him in the long-boat till he 
 gets sober,
Chuck him in the long-boat till he gets sober, 
         
Early in the morning. 
      
Way, hay, there she rises, 
      
Way, hay, there she rises, 
      
Way, hay, there she rises, 
         
Early in the morning.

It is sung to a vigorous tune in quick time. It is the custom among sailors to stamp with their feet at each "Way, hay." The effect is very spirited.
//

Describing over-lapping style of singing:
//
Of the chanties proper, the capstan chanties are the most beautiful, the halliard chanties the most commonly heard, and the sheet, tack, and bowline chanties the most ancient. In a capstan chanty the solo man begins with his single line of verse. Before he has spoken the last word of it the other men heaving at the bars break out with the first chorus. Immediately before the chorus has come to an end the solo man repeats his line of verse, to be interrupted at the last word by the second chorus, which is generally considerably longer than the first. It is a glorious thing to be on a forecastle-head, heaving at a capstan bar, hearing the chain coming clanking in below you to the music of a noisy chanty sung by a score of sailors.

The Solo, or Chanty-man. In Amsterdam there dwelt a maid.

The Sailors. Mark well what I do say!
The Solo, or Chanty-man. In Amsterdam there dwelt a maid, 
                        
In Amsterdam there dwelt a maid. 

The Sailors. And I'll go no more a-ro-o-ving 
                  
With you, fair maid. 
                     
A-roving, a-roving. 
               
Since roving's been my ru-in, 
                     
I'll go no more a-ro-o-ving with you, fair maid.

That is the most beautiful of all the chanties. It is sung to an old Elizabethan tune which stirs one's blood like a drum-tap. The song, or solo of it, is strangely like the song in one of Thomas Heywood's plays. Several of the couplets are identical. The curious will find the song in Lucrece, in the fifth act. I cannot quote it here.
//
No comment!

Very intriguing the next comment about halliard chanties getting old and discarded in favor of new ones:
//
A halliard chanty is begun by the solo-man in the manner described above. It has generally two choruses, but they are of the same length—not short and long, as in the case of the anchor chanty. The solo man is always a person of some authority among the crowd. He begins his song after the first two or three pulls upon the halliards. There are countless halliard chanties, and new ones come into use each year. Those which one hears occasionally ashore are nearly always old ones, little used at sea. The sailors have grown tired of them. I do not know what chanties are most used now at sea. In my time we used to get the yards up to—

The Chanty-man. A long, long time and a long time ago, 

The Sailors. To me way hay, o-hi-o;
The Chanty-man. A long, long time and a long time ago, 

The Sailors. A long time ago.

The Chanty-man. A smart Yankee packet lay out in the bay, 

The Sailors. To me way bay, o-hi-a;
The Chanty-man. A smart Yankee packet lay out in the bay, 

The Sailors. A long time ago (etc.).

The pulls upon the rope are delivered during the choruses upon the words I have italicised. Another very popular chanty was:

The Chanty-man. Come all you little nigger-boys, 

The Sailors. And roll the cotton down;
The Chanty-man. O come all you little nigger-boys, 

The Sailors. And roll the cotton down (etc.).

The tune to this is bright and merry. It puts you in a good temper to be singing it.
//
Both the above chanties, LONG TIME AGO and ROLL THE COTTON DOWN, had not been noted until relatively recently (see Lubbock 1902). So, perhaps they really were popular in the 1890s specifically.

//
Another strangely beautiful chanty is that known as Hanging Johnny. It has a melancholy tune that is one of the saddest things I have evei heard. I heard it for the first time off the Horn, in a snowstorm, when we were hoisting topsails after heavy weather. There was a heavy, grey sea running and the decks were awash. The skies were sodden and oily, shutting in the sea about a quarter of a mile away. Some birds were flying about us, screaming.

The Chanty-man began. They call me Hanging Johnny,
The Sailors. Away-i-oh;
The Chanty-man. They call me Hanging Johnny,
The Sailors. So hang, boys, hang.

I thought at the time that it was the whole scene set to music. I cannot repeat those words to their melancholy wavering music without seeing the line of yellow oilskins, the wet deck, the frozen ropes, and the great grey seas running up into the sky.
//

The start of another popular narrative:
//
Of the sheet, tack, and bowline chanties the oldest is Haul the Bowline, which was certainly in use in the reign of Henry VIII. It is still very popular, though the bowline is no longer the rope it was. It is a slow, stately melody, ending with a jerk as the men fall back with the rope.

The Chanty-man. Haul on the bowline, the fore and maintop bowline. Haul on the bowline.
The Sailors. The bowline haul.
Another excellent chanty in this kind is the following:
The Chanty-man. Louis was the King of France afore the Revolution.
The Sailors. Away, haul away, boys ; haul away toge-e-ther;
The Chanty-man. But Louis got his head cut off, which spoiled his consti-tu-ti-on.
The Sailors. Away, haul away, boys; haul away O.
//
Was this the source for later singers' "King Louis" lyric?

These phrases for sing-outs are later harvested by Hugill.
//
The chanty is the invention of the merchant service. In the navy they have what is called the silent routine, and the men fall back upon their ropes in silence, "like a lot of soldiers," when the boatswain pipes. It must be very horrible to witness. In the merchant service, where the ships are invariably undermanned, one sings whenever a rope is cast off the pin. You haul a brace to the cry of "O, bunt him a bo," "O rouse him, boys," "Oho, Jew," "O ho ro, my boys," and similar phrases. You clew up a sail to the quick "Lee-ay," "Lee-ay," "Ho ro," "Ho," "Aha," uttered in a tone of disquiet or alarm. You furl a course to the chant of "Paddy Doyle and his Boots." Without these cries and without the chanties you would never get the work done. "A song is ten men on the rope." In foul weather off the Horn it is as comforting as a pot of hot drink. A wash and a song are the sailor's two luxuries.
//

Refers to the two big collections of the time – which no doubt had some influence, as will be seen from the individual items. The other items are unfamiliar, save for the Folk-Song Society articles, which started coming out at this time.
//
Those who wish to obtain the music of the commoner chanties will find Miss Laura Smith's Music of the Waters and the anthology of Dr. Ferris Tozer of use to them. Several may be found in the songbook of the Guild of Handicraft. I have also seen a collection of them published (I believe) by Messrs. Metzler. The files of the Boy's Own Paper, The Cadet, and the publications of the Folk-Song Society may also be consulted with advantage.
In the following pages I have included only a few of the chanties in general use. Many familiar chanties have been excluded owing to lack of space.
//

Apparently in his time/place, "stringing-out" was the thing to do—because every though this is a "literary" collection, he makes few rhyming couplets!

LOWLANDS AWAY. Though Masefield heard chanties, the chorus of this is a giveaway that he is copying it from Smith/Alden. We can can infer that he has made up the solo verses – possibly even adding the very Northern English/Scots flavour they have, and influencing later presenters.
//
LOWLANDS 

(halliard Chanty)
I Dreamt a dream the other night,
Lowlands, Lowlands, hurrah, my John;

I dreamt a dream the other night, 
      
My Lowlands a-ray.
I dreamt I saw my own true love,
[ETC – all the of the verses strung out]

He was green and wet with weeds so cold,
"I am drowned in the Lowland seas," he said,
"I shall never kiss you again," he said,
I will cut my breasts until they bleed,
I will cut away my bonny hair,
No other man shall think me fair,
O my love lies drowned in the windy Lowlands,
//

STORMY ALONG JOHN:
//
STORM ALONG 
   
(halliards)
Old Stormy he was a good old man, 

To me way hay; storm along, John;
Old Stormy he was a good old man,
Come along, get along. Storm along, John.
Old Stormy he is dead and gone, 

Old Stormy died, and we dug his grave, 

In sailor town up Mobile Bay,
//

WHISKEY JOHNNY:
//
WHISKEY! JOHNNY! 
      
(halliards)
O Whiskey is the life of man, 
   
Whiskey! Johnny!
O whiskey is the life of man,
Whiskey for my Johnny.
1 drink it out of an old tin can,
I drink whiskey when I can,
I drink it hot, I drink it cold,   
I drink it new, I drink it old,
Whiskey killed my poor old dad,
Whiskey makes me pawn my clothes,
Whiskey makes me scratch my toes (gout ?),
O fisherman, have you just come from sea?
O yes, sir, I have just come from sea,
Then have you any crab-fish that you can sell to me?
O yes, sir, I have crab-fish one, two, three,

[At this point the ballad becomes a little gross. The curious will find the remainder of the tale in a discreet little book published by the Percy Society, from the relics of Bishop Percy's collection. The ballad dates from the sixteenth century. It is still very popular at sea.]
//
Where did he get this from? Why publish the gout lyric if he doesn't get it? And why refer us to a 16th century version of the crab-fish ballad?

BONEY:
//
JOHN FRANCOIS 
   
(halliards)
Boney was a warrior,
    Away-i-oh; 

Boney was a warrior,
John Francois.
Boney fought the Proosh-i-ans,
Boney fought the Roosh-i-ans,
Drive her, captain, drive her,
Give her the top-gallant sails,
It's a weary way to Baltimore,
//


BLOW THE MAN DOWN:
//
BLOW THE MAN DOWN 
         
(halliards)
Blow the man down, bullies, blow the man down,
Away-hay—blow the man down;
Blow the man down, bullies, blow him right down,
Give us a chance to blow the man down.
Blow him right down from the top of his crown,
As I was a-walking down Paradise Street,
A pretty young girl I chanced for to meet,
This pretty young girl she said unto me,
"There's a fine full-rigged clipper just ready for sea,
The fine full-rigged clipper to Sydney was bound,
She was very well manned and very well found,
As soon as the clipper was clear of the bar,
The mate knocked me down with the end of a spar,
As soon as the clipper had got out to sea,
I'd cruel hard treatment of every degree,
I'll give you a warning afore we belay,
Don't ever take heed of what pretty girls say,
//
The preceding has the weird "end of a spar" lyric.

ROLL THE COTTON DOWN
//
ROLL THE COTTON DOWN 
         
(halliards)
Come roll the cotton down, my boys,
    Roll the cotton down;

Come roll the cotton down, my boys,
O roll the cotton down.
A dollar a day is a white man's pay,
Ten dollars a day is a black man's pay,
The white man's pay is rather high,
The black man's pay is rather low,   
Around Cape Horn we're bound to go,
So stretch it aft and start a song,
//

//
REUBEN RANZO
(Halliards)

O do you know old Reuben Ranzo?
Ranzo, boys, Ranzo;
O do you know old Reuben Ranzo?
Ranzo, boys, Ranzo.

Old Ranzo was a tailor,
Old Ranzo was no sailor,
So he shipped aboard of a whaler,
But he could not do his duty,
//

TOMMY'S ON THE TOPSAIL YARD – first time for this one:
//
ROLL AND GO
(halliards)
There was a ship—she sailed to Spain,
O. Roll and go;
There was a ship—she sailed to Spain,
O Tommy's on the topsail yard.
There was a ship came home again,
What d'ye think was in her hold?
There was diamonds, there was gold,
And what was in her lazareet?
Good split peas and bad bull meat,
Many sailormen gets drowned,
//
Even though Hugill says he learned the foregoing in the Caribbean, he uses mostly these Masefield verses.


COME ROLL ME OVER
//
COME ROLL HIM OVER 
         
(halliards)
Oho, why don't you blow?
Aha. Come roll him over; 

Oho, why don't you blow?
Aha. Come roll him over
One man. To strike the bell, 

Two men. To take the wheel,
Three men. Top-gallant braces,
//

//
HANGING JOHNNY 
      
(halliards)
They call me Hanging Johnny,
    Away-i-oh; 

They call me Hanging Johnny,
So hang, boys, hang.
First I hung my mother,
Then I hung my brother,
A rope, a beam, and a ladder,
I'll hang you all together,
//

Evidently Masefield's Sally was not a "bright mullater"
//
SALLY BROWN 
   
(halliards)
O Sally Brown of New York City,
Ay ay, roll and go;
O Sally Brown of New York City,
I'll spend my money on Sally Brown. O

Sally Brown, you are very pretty,
Your cheeks are red, your hair is golden,
//

DEAD HORSE
//
POOR OLD JOE
(halliards)

Old Joe is dead, and gone to hell,
O we say so, and we hope so; 

Old Joe is dead, and gone to hell, 
   
O poor old Joe.
The ship did sail, the winds did roar,
He's as dead as a nail in the lamp-room door,
He won't come hazing us no more,
//

TOMMY'S GONE
//
TOMMY'S GONE TO HILO 
         
(halliards)
Tommy's gone, what shall I do?
Tommy's gone to Hilo;
Tommy's gone, what shall I do?
Tommy's gone to Hilo.
Hilo town is in Peru,
He never kissed his girl good-bye,
He signed for three pound ten a month,
//

//
A LONG TIME AGO 
      
(halliards)
A Long, long time, and a long time ago, 
         
To me way hay, ohio;
A long, long time, and a long time ago, 
      
                A long time ago
A smart Yankee packet lay out in the bay,
To me way hay, ohio;
A waiting for a fair wind to get under way,
A long time ago.
With all her poor sailors all sick and all sore,
To me way hay, ohio;
For they'd drunk all their lime-juice, and could get no more,
A long time ago.
With all her poor sailors all sick and all sad,
To me way hay, ohio;
For they'd drunk all their lime-juice, and no more could be had,
A long time ago.
She was waiting for a fair wind to get under way,
    To me way hay, ohio; 

She was waiting for a fair wind to get under way,
A long time ago.
If she hasn't had a fair wind she's lying there still,
   To me way hay, ohio; 

If she hasn't had a fair wind she's lying there still,
A long time ago.
//

BLOW BOYS BLOW:
//
BLOW, BULLIES, BLOW 
         
(halliards)
There's a Black Ball barque coming down the river,
       Blow, bullies, blow; 

There's a Black Ball barque coming down the river,
Blow, my bully boys, blow.
And who d'ye think is Captain of her?
Why, bully Hains is the Captain of her,
He'll make you wish you was dead and buried,
You'll brighten brass, and you'll scrape the cable,
And who d'ye think is mate aboard her?
Santander James is the mate aboard her,
He'll ride you down like you ride the spanker,
And who d'ye think is the second mate of her?
Some ugly case what hates poor sailors,
//

//
THE RIO GRANDE 
      
(capstan)
Where are you going to, my pretty maid?
       O away Rio; 

Where are you going to, my pretty maid? 
   
We are bound to the Rio Grande. 
      
O away Rio, 
      
O away Rio, 

O fare you well, my bonny young girl, 
   
We are bound to the Rio Grande.
Have you a sweetheart, my pretty maid?
May I go with you, my pretty maid?
I'm afraid you're a bad one, kind sir, she replied,
//

First, interesting sighting of SEBASTOPOL"
//
SEBASTOPOL 
   
(capstan)
The Crimean war is over now,
Sebastopol is taken; 

The Crimean war is over now,
Sebastopol is taken. 

So sing cheer, boys, cheer,
Sebastopol is taken; 

And sing cheer, boys, cheer,
Old England gained the day.
The Russians they was put to flight,
//

SACRAMENTO
//
THE BANKS OF THE SACRAMENTO 
                  
(capstan)
In the Black Ball Line I served my time, 

To me hoodah. To me hoodah;
In the Black Ball Line I served my time, 

So hurrah for the Black Ball Line.
Blow, my bullies, blow, 

For California O. 

There's plenty of gold, 

So I've been told, 

On the banks of the Sacramento.
From Limehouse Docks to Sydney Heads,
We were never more than seventy days,
We cracked it on, on a big skiute, 

//

A-ROVING:
//
THE MAID OF AMSTERDAM 
            
(capstan)
In Amsterdam there dwelt a maid,
    Mark well what I do say;

In Amsterdam there dwelt a maid, 

And she was mistress of her trade. 
   
And I'll go no more a-roving 
      
With you, fair maid. 
      
A-roving, a-roving, 
   
Since roving s been my ru-i-n, 
      
I'll go no more a-roving 
      
With you, fair maid.
Her cheeks was red, her eyes was brown,
[For the rest of the solo, see the song in The Rape of Lucrece, by Thomas Heywood, Act iv, Scene vi.]
//

HANDY MY BOYS:
//
HAND OVER HAND 

(Hand Over Hand)
A Handy ship, and a handy crew,
    Handy, my boys, so handy; 

A handy ship, and a handy crew,
Handy, my boys, away oh.
A handy skipper and second mate, too,
A handy Bose and a handy Sails, 

//

HAUL AWAY JOE
//
HAUL AWAY O

(Sheet, Tack, And Bowline)
Away, haul away, boys, haul away together, 
   
Away, haul away, boys, haul away O;
Away, haul away, boys, haul away together, 
   
Away, haul away, boys, haul away O.
Louis was the King of France afore the Revolu-ti-on,
Away, haul away, boys, haul away O;
But Louis got his head cut off, which spoiled his constitu-ti-on,
//

BOWLINE:
//
HAUL THE BOWLINE 

(Sheet, Tack, And Bowline)
Haul upon the bowline, the fore and main top bowline,
Haul the bowline, the bowline haul;
Haul upon the bowline, the fore and main top bowline,
Haul the bowline, the bowline haul.
Haul upon the bowline, so early in the morning,
Haul upon the bowline, the bonny ship's a-sailing,
Haul upon the bowline, Kitty is my darling,
Haul upon the bowline, Kitty lives at Liverpool,
Haul upon the bowline, Liverpool's a fine town,
Haul upon the bowline, it's a far cry to pay-day,
//

DRUNKEN SAILOR:
//
A RUNAWAY CHORUS
What shall we do with a drunken sailor? 

What shall we do with a drunken sailor? 

What shall we do with a drunken sailor? 
      
Early in the morning. 
   
Way, hay, there she rises, 
   
Way, hay, there she rises, 
   
Way, hay, there she rises, 
      
Early in the morning.
Chuck him in the long-boat till he gets sober, 

What shall we do with a drunken soldier? 

Lock him in the guardroom till he gets sober,
//

//
PADDY DOYLE 
   
(furling)
To my, 

Ay,
And we'll furl,
Ay,
And pay Paddy Doyle for his boots.

We'll sing,
Ay,
And we'll heave,
Ay,
And pay Paddy Doyle for his boots.

We'll heave,
Ay, 

With a swing,
Ay,
And pay Paddy Doyle for his boots.
//

//
L'ENVOI— LEAVE HER JOHNNY 
   
(For Pumping And Halliards)
I Thought I heard the captain say,
Leave her, Johnny, leave her; 

You may go ashore and touch your pay,
It's time for us to leave her.
You may make her fast, and pack your gear,
Leave her, Johnny, leave her;
And leave her moored to the West Street Pier,
It's time for us to leave her.
The winds were foul, the work was hard,
Leave her, Johnny, leave her; 

From Liverpool Docks to Brooklyn Yard,
It's time for us to leave her.
She would neither steer, nor stay, nor wear,
Leave her, Johnny, leave her;
She shipped it green and she made us swear,
It's time for us to leave her.
She would neither wear, nor steer, nor stay,
Leave her, Johnny, leave her;
Her running rigging carried away,
It's time for us to leave her.
The winds were foul, the trip was long,
Leave her, Johnny, leave her; 

Before we go we'll sing a song, 
   
It's time for us to leave her.
We'll sing, Oh, may we never be, 

Leave her, Johnny, leave her;
On a hungry ship the like of she, 
   
It's time for us to leave her.
//

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Charley Noble
Date: 17 Feb 11 - 07:49 AM

Gibb-

Nice work!

I've been reading Nordhoff's first book MAN-OF-WAR-LIFE, originally published in 1855 but describing his first experience at sea aboard the ship-of-the-line "Columbus" from 1845-48. I wasn't expecting to find much mention of shanties , given that this experience was aboard a warship, but Nordhoff does mention, p. 13, that while he was prowling the docks in Baltimore looking for a ship to sail on he was watching "...the sailors hoisting in or out cargos, or busy about their various other duties, and listening admiringly to the songs with which they enlivened their labors."

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 18 Feb 11 - 02:27 AM

Geo was looking at this one of late, and since it does supply data for 1880s, now is a fine time for me to log it here.

1946        Hatfield, James Taft. "Some Nineteenth Century Shanties." _Journal of American Folklore_ 59(232): 108-113.

In 1886, prior to July, Hatfield traveled from Pensacola to Nice on the bark AHKERA. The crew was, evidently, all Black men from Jamaica. There were a few different guys that cted as chantyman. Hatfield, at the time of writing, was family with the collections of Colcord, Frothingham, Masefield, and L.A. Smith. However, he aims to present strictly the renderings of these chanties as he heard them in '86. Hatfield was adimant that he had noted all the chanties at the time he heard them. The current notations are the result of fixing them up with the help of his daughter, at the piano.

His daughter notes, of her deceased father,
//
He told me that he often requested them [the chanty-singers] to begin again and again until he could note the exact timing and melody. He stressed this point to me often, as we went over each melody, with the
Colcord, Frothingham, etc., books lying open on my piano for comparison; and when I asked
if one or another might have been similar to certain texts, and whether, because of this similarity,
he might have inadvertently confused published texts with the original tunes forgotten
during the years, he turned to me to say, 'My dear, these are the original papers which I carried
in my pocket on the boat. How could I forget tunes which are here in black and white?'
//

Hatfield claims that though he often traveled by sea again after this trip, he never again heard a chanty!

His versions of items are all appreciably unique.

BLOW THE MAN DOWN:
//
1. BLOW A MAN DOWN
O 'low me some time for to blow a man down!
Too ma hay ho, blow a man down.
Blow the man down in the hold below,
O give me some time to blow a man down!

From starboard to larboard away we will go!
From larboard to starbord away we will go!

W:O, hip, hip, hip, and away we will go!
We'll rise and shine and make her go!
//

//
2. RIO GRANDE
Rio Grande I took my stay,
and away we'll go!
Sing fare ye well, my bonny young girl,
I am bound for Rio Grande.

The ship went sailing over the bar;
The pointed her nose for the southern star.
//
The opening of this melody, especially, is appreciably different from most versions.

//
3. FIRE DOWN BELOW
Easy, easy, John Brown!
Too ma ha-a-a-ay, ho!
Easy John Brown, why don't you come along?
O, fire down be-low
Fire in the main-top, fire down below;
Too ma ha-a-a-ay, ho!
Fire in the main-top, fire down below,
O, fire down below
//

//
4. SHINY O!
Captain, Captain, you love your brandy,
A-a-a-a-a-ay, shiny O!
Captain, Captain, I love your daughter,
A-a-a-a-a-ay, Shiny O!

O ferryman, ferryman, won't you ferry me over?
Won't you ferry me from Queenstown across over to Dover?

O from Queenstown to Dover's a hundred miles or over;
From Queenstown to Dover's a hundred miles or over!

Captain, Captain, how deep is the water?
She measures one inch, six feet and a quarter.

The Hen and the Chickens were all flying over,
And when she pitches, she pitches into Dover.

O Captain, Captain, what is the matter?
I lose my wife and my pretty little daughter.

O rivers, rivers, rivers are rolling;
Rivers are rolling and I can't get over!
//
Hatfield notes that he thinks he was the only collector offer this item. It personally reminds me of both Bullen's version of "Shenandoah" and the currently-popular "Bound Down Trinidad, to look for Sunnydore." (The thread for Shiny O is freshly revived at present, and I've been having some fun with it.)


//
5. SALLY BROWN
Saly Brown was a bright mulatto,
Yay ho o, roll and go!
Roll on, go on to roll me over,
Spend my money on Sally Brown

Spend my money on the black-eyed Susannah.
//
The phrase "Roll on, go on to roll me over" has a rather unique melody, and it looks like maybe its lyrics stay the same each verse.

//
6. NANCY RHEE
Nancy Rhee, O Nancy Rhee,
My gallant Nancy Rhee!
O, why don't you come along,
my gallant Nancy Rhee?

The Austral is the ship for me!
//
The melody is in harmonic minor. "Miss Nancy Ray" was a digging song collected by Jekyll in Jamaica, however it does not resemble this. Perhaps "Nancy Ray" is a trope in Jamaican songs, like 'Sally Brown" in chanties.

REUBEN RANZO:
//
7. RANZO
O, Ranzo was no sailor,
Ranzo, boys, Ranzo.
He shipped on board a whaler
Ranzo, boys, Ranzo.

He shipped with Captain Taylor,
He shipped with Captain Taylor,

He could not do his duty;
The captain sent him up aloft.

He was standing on the gangway
A nice young girl walked on the poop.

"O, I should like to marry you!"
"To marry me would never do

For I am the Captain's daugher,
And you are a poor Scotchman."

But the captain was a good man;
He took him in the cabin,

And he learned him the navigation,
And gave him whiskey and brandy.

O, whiskey for the Irishman,
And lime-juice for the Englishman;

And stockfish for the Norwegian,
And baked beans for the Yankees.
//

Next is a relative to HEAVE AWAY MY JOHNNIES. However, Hatfiedl says it was "Not found elsewhere." He obviously was not looking in books about African-American songs. Really, it is just like the "Henry Clay" version of "Heave Away" that was first cited as a steamboat fireman's song by Allen in his Slave Songs.
//
8. BOUND TO GO
Heave away, John Brown A-a-a-a-ay!
Three pretty girls bound for Baltimore city,
Heave away my bonny boy, we're all bound to go!

You yellow girl, now let'a me go!
//

SOUTH AUSTRALIA is fascinating. This would date to around the time (decade) that L.A. Smith collected her version. How do they compare?
//
CHO: Hooray! You're a lanky!
Heave away haul away! Hooray You're a lanky!
I'm bound for South Australia
SOLO: What makes you call me a ruler and king?
CHO: Heave away! Haul away!
SOLO: 'Cause I'm married to an Indian queen,
CHO: I'm bound for South Australia

'Cause I wear a diamond ring.
//
Though the pitches of the chorus (both heave and haul!) compare well with other versions, the rhythm is funny. I'm not buying the daughter's assertion to Hatfield was absolutely precise about his notations!
The "lanky" in this – surely something misheard?—is more confusing than the "ruler and king".

JOHNNY COME DOWN TO HILO. This is actually the first/earliest ascribed deepwater version of this (in this thread).
//
10. SHAKE HER UP
Shake her up and make her go!
O, shake that girl with a blue dress on!
O me Johnny come along, too ma high low,
This poor old man!
//

"Not found elsewhere."
//
11. WAY DOWN LOW
Ev'ry day the sun goes down,
Way down low!
Ev'ry day the sun goes down,
Way down low!
//

//
12. WHISKEY JOHNNY
CHO: O whiskey! O Johnny!
SOLO: O whiskey is the life of man,
and a whis key for my Johnny!
The Captain he drinks whiskey,
And a whiskey, and a whiskey,
But he won't give us none, boys!
And a whisky for my Johnny!

O, whiskey made me pawn my clothes,
And whiskey gave me a broken nose.

When the whiskey's gone, what shall we do?
When the whiskey's gone, will I go too!

I'll drink my whiskey while I can;
A small drop of whisky wouldn't do no harm!
//

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Charley Noble
Date: 18 Feb 11 - 08:00 AM

Gibb-

I'm wondering if the reference to "lanky" in "South Australia" above is folk-processing for "lair," which comes up in the traditional Sydney song called "The Wooloomooloo Lair" (a "lair" being a larrican or 19th century waterfront ruffian that hung about Circular Quay).

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 18 Feb 11 - 03:47 PM

Charlie--

I think that even if these Jamaican gents in the crew had "folk-processed" something, what they sang would have meaning. This was their living, breathing, music -- in which they said what they wanted, and meant what they said. "Lanky" may have been a change from something else originally -- I really don't know what! BUT, I would bet that "lanky" also had its own meaning independent of that. We can't get the meaning because it is either too archaic, too regional, or.....my bet...... Hatfield misunderstood it, so he wrote something approximating a spelling.

The singers' accents probably colored the way Hatfield heard "unknown" words.

It's quite a puzzle! Keep thinking =D

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 21 Feb 11 - 02:45 AM

Anyone who may be interested--

I presented a paper at a conference that is partly related to discussions/material in this thread. I have made it available on-line, here:

Ethnic Choices in the Presentation of Chanties

It's not exactly on the mark to what folks may be interested in here. Given my audience of general ethnomusicologists, I decided they would be less interested in the historical nitty-gritties and more interested in my thesis of African-American associations with chanty origins becoming erased or marginalized through the dynamics of 20th century folkloristics and Folk Revival presentations. The other disclaimer is that such papers have to be read within 20 minutes, so one cannot include much detail; it is a sketch.

However, it may be of some interest in concisely summarizing my current characterization of chanty development. I'd be interested to know if anyone feels I am drawing any conclusions unreasonably, too great assumptions, etc.

Gibb

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: John Minear
Date: 21 Feb 11 - 08:20 AM

Gibb, thanks so much for sharing your paper with us. I think that it is definitely on the mark and appropriate for this venue. I hope that it generates some good discussion in this context, which is just the place for such a discussion, since this thread provides the detailed context for your thesis. J.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Charley Noble
Date: 21 Feb 11 - 10:18 AM

Gibb-

An excellent presentation, and hopefully it will help refocus critical attention on the part of scholars as well as sea music singers of the role of Black sailors in creating shanties.

I would also have mentioned Capt. William B. Whall as another early sailor-collector of shanties who dismissed or marginalized the role of Black sailors in the creation and development of shanties. Bullen, as you've mentioned, was the exception.

C. Fox Smith, another favorite of mine that was missing in your discussion, was clearly enthnocentric but did recognize that some Black sailors were excellent shantysingers, and also won recognition for their work as sailors from even hardened British shellbacks.

Your presentation I'm sure would be received with interest at the Mystic Sea Music Festival symposiums if you can work your way through their application process.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Feb 11 - 10:48 AM

Yes, Gibb, thanks for posting this. It's a long overdue statement of reality. And how ironic it is that the reorientation of the shanty toward English ethnicity has been carried out by performers of (I'd say) overwhelmingly multiethnic sympathies.

As you suggest, of course, it's been done unitentionally and unwittingly. English sailors indeed sang shanties, and most of the revival performers you mention were English. If they wanted to sing shanties, what could they have done? Well, of course, they could have gone out of their way to affect American and Caribbean accents, but we all know where that leads artistically.

A few points: if anything, the presumed "English ethnicity" of most shantying may now be moving toward a stereotyped "Irish ethnicity," partly for the comparable reason that many real shantymen were Irish
and partly for the commercial reason that for much of the public (particularly since the commercial success of Riverdance), trad = Celtic = Irish.

(The presumably lesser but real influence of Scots shantymen too is shown by the early adaptation and popularity of "Highland Laddie" as a shanty. And there's the unmistakably Welsh "Cosher Bailey.")

White American contributions to the genre (including, let's face it, the minstrel songs as we know them) get divvied up between "English" and "African American."

Also, it seems to me that you treat the question of Hugill's source(s) for his 1961 version a little too handily. We really don't know whether - or by how much - he might have been influenced by Lloyd. Maybe the influence went the other way. If Lloyd was one of Hugill's sources for his song, it can only be because Lloyd's version struck Hugill as utterly believable. He may have "wanted to believe," as you put, but given Lloyd's reputation in the revival, he had no reason not to.

But that doesn't affect your larger point. Hugill says he first learned the song from Harding of Barbados, and his non-Lloyd verses support his claim. Presumably (in the light of earlier texts and of Hugill's presentation itself) Harding sang "bunch of roses," regardless of anything Hugill may have learned afterwards. Your significant point remains that the shanty is evidently an African-American/ Afro-British Caribbean creation and by no means simply "English," as it is now perceived. (I think I mentioned the new "English pyrate" lyrics elsewhere.)

I agree completely that any relationship between roses and Wellington's army is fanciful. "The Bonnie Bunch of Roses,O!" is unrelated to the shanty, unless the shantyman just liked the sound of the phrase. The roses in it come from the monarchical "English rose" based on the symbolic roses of York and Lancaster (and thus the House of Tudor). The Napoleonic song contrasts the "Bonnie Bunch of Roses" ("England, Scotland, Ireland...their unity can ne'er be broke") with the Russian Empire. No redcoats appear in either the song or the shanty.

But what I mean to say above all is that you've written an excellent article. Congratulations!