The Advent and Development of Chanties

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 12:10 AM

Wow, 400 posts on this subject/thread!

My personal aim at this point (it changes slightly now and then) is to get through the 19th century, to kind of create a nice, round, pausing-point. That includes both texts written in the 19th century (my main priority) and those referencing events in the 19th century.

I am sorting the material according to both chronology of reference and chronology of publication. At this point, I've posted the more or less complete reference chronology up through the '70s. That one is to get a picture of the development of chantying, and I'll continue to update it as part of this discussion.

I've also been creating a publication chronology -- an annotated bibliography of texts referring to chanties -- which is a personal thing that I'll use in he future. The reason why I mention this one is because it explains why I am so interested in recording the specific details: it aids in later constructing the bibliography. The thread becomes something that is a "one stop" source where it's easy to search and see, for example, who first said "chanteur" or who first mentioned Dibdin.

I'd like to write some sort of article about this stuff eventually.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 01:32 AM

1883 Luce, (Admiral) Stephen Bleecker. Naval Songs. New York: Wm. A. Pond.

Luce's collection is full of a variety of sea songs, with score. I can only find the 1902 edition on line right now, but I have the 1883 with me. The editions are not the same. First I'll deal with the 1883.

At the end of his introduction, Luce breaks into a discussion of shanties. He praises Adams' ON BOARD THE ROCKET, and then launches into a series of long quotes from it. As it goes along, he reproduces all of Adams' shanties (all of the ones in the section of his books that was specifically about shanties), but actually corrects the notation! I believe that in most cases one can correct Adams' notation just on what musically makes sense. But I wonder, too, if in some cases one might have to be previously familiar with the songs.

Then, the collection proper begins, with non-chanties for the most part. There are several forebitters tht I will note, only for reference and because they are songs that, in works like Hugill's, at some point have also been said to have been used as chanties. Luce also has a couple real chanties in this section. Here are the songs that I would note:

THE FLASH FRIGATE - 9
HIGH BARBARY (minor mode) - 16
ROLLING HOME - 17
SONG OF THE FISHES - 19
SAILING BY THE LOWLANDS - 25
GOOD-NIGHT, LADIES - 34
HOMEWARD BOUND ("to Pensacola town I'll bid adieu")- 38
"OLD STORM ALONG. "CHANTY SONG"" - 41
THE MERMAID - 42
THE DREADNOUGHT - 68
BLACK BALL. "CHANTY" SONG. - 79
TEN THOUSAND MILES AWAY - 90

cont...

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 02:18 AM

Luce 1883...

Starting on pg. 129, Luce gives several "SHANTY SONGS".

It begins with the first mention of HOGEYE as a shanty:

//
OH, THE HOGEYE MEN ARE ALL THE GO
Oh the hogeye men are all the go when they do come from Callao
In a hogeye,
railroad nigger in a hogeye
Row the boat ashore in a hogeye
All she want's a hogeye man.
//

Next is SANTIANA. Interesting with this and other shanties, Luce does not give the commonly accepted (at least nowadays) titles.

//
OH! GEN'RAL TAYLOR GAINED THE DAY
Oh Gen'ral Taylor gained the day,
Down on the plains of Mexico;
And Santa Anna ran away,
Hurray! Santa Anna.
//

The melody phrases in this seem to be flip-flopped. Next is ACROSS THE WESTERN OCEAN.

//
OH! LIVERPOOL JACK
Oh! Liverpool Jack with a tarpaulin hat;
Amelia, Where're you bound to,
The Rocky Mountains is my home
Across the Western ocean
//

Then, MR. STORMALONG:

//
I WISH I WAS OLD STORMY'S SON
I wish I was old Stormy's son.
Aye, Aye, Aye, Mister Stormalong;
I'd build a ship of a thousand ton.
To my way stormalong, Way hey, Stormalong.
//

I think the following is the first shanty reference to HANGING JOHNNY:
//
OH! THEY CALL ME HANGING JOHNNY
Oh! They call me hanging Johnny,
Hurray! Away;
Because I hang for money;
So, hang, boys, hang.
//

Then a version of GOODBYE FARE YOU WELL that is apparently for halyards:

//
FOR "SHEETING HOME" TOPSAILS
We're outward bound this very day.
Goodbye, fare you well, Goodbye fare you well.
We're outward bound this very day.
Hurrah! My boys we're outward bound.
//

The following looks to be the first reference to A-ROVING as a shanty (someone please correct me if i am mistaken):

//
LEE-GANGWAY CHORUS
In Amsterdam there dwelt a maid,
And her you ought to sea.
In Amsterdam there dwelt a maid,
And making baskets was her trade.
I'll go no more a-roving with you, fair maid.
A-roving, a-roving, since roving's been my ruin,
I'll go no more a-roving with you, fair maid.
//

What's a "lee-gangway chorus" by the way? Is it a stamp 'n' go chanty?

This also appears to be the first reference in literature to the bunt shanty PADDY DOYLE:

//
FOR "ROUSING UP" THE BUNT OF A SAIL
To my way, hey, hey-yah, We'll all drink brandy and gin.
To my way, hey, hey-yah, We'll all shave under the chin.
To my way, hey, hey-yah, We'll pay Paddy Doyle for his boots.
//

Good stuff! Lots that seems to be original and new.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 03:07 AM

Finishing up with Luce,

In the middle of the collection there are two chanties. Strange that he uses the "CH" spelling here, and the "SH" elsewhere. It's as if he is getting them from some particular (?) source.

The first has the "Stormy" lyrical theme, but the tune and chorus belong to GOODBYE FARE YOU WELL:

//
OLD STORM ALONG.
"CHANTY SONG."

Old Stormy was a good old man,
O good-bye, fare you well, Good-bye fare you well.
Old Stormy was good old man,
Hurrah! my boys, we're homeward bound.

I wish I was old Stormy's son
"

I'd buy me a bark of a thousand ton
"

I'd fill her up with New England rum
"

And my old shell-backs they'd have some
"

Now if ever again I get ashore
I'll wed the gal that I adore

And if ever childer we should have
I'll bring him up as a sailor lad
(Gruffly) Belay.
//

And the second is BLOW THE MAN DOWN. This would be the first literary mention of the shanty with "blow" in it. That "Blow the Man Down" was not necessarily well known (or, not outside of merchant sailors) is suggested in that Luce merely names it after the Blackball line theme of the solo.

//
BLACK BALL. "CHANTY" SONG.
Sung in the merchant service in heavy-hauling. No interval between verses.

Come all ye young fellows that follow the sea,
With a yeao, ho! blow the men down;
And pray pay attention and listen to me,
Oh! give me some time to blow the men down.

'Twas on board a Black Baller I first served my time,
To my yeo, ho! blow the men down;
And in the Black Baller I wasted my prime,
Oh! give me some time to blow the men down.

'Tis when a Black Baller's preparing for sea,
You'd split your sidea laughing at the sights you would see,

With the tinkers and tailors and soldiers and all,
That ship for good seamen on board a Black Ball,

'Tis when a Black Bailer is clear of the land,
Our boatswain then gives us the word of command,


"Lay aft!" was the cry "to the break of the poop!"
"Or I'll help you along with the toe of my boot,"

'Tis larboard and starboard on the deck you will sprawl,
For "Kicking Jack Williams" commands the "Black Ball,"

Pay attention to orders, yes, you, one and all,
For see right above you there flies the "Black Ball,"

'Tis when a black bailer cornes back to her dock,
The lasses and lads to the pier-head do flock,
//

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 03:49 AM

Luce's 1902 edition has some differences.

The "shanty-songs" in this edition are placed in an appendix at the end. There is new text with it, that is not just copying of Adams.

//
SHANTY SONGS.
{Folk Songs of the Sea.)

Shanties, sometimes spelled "Chanteys" are peculiar to the Merchant Service. The word is doubtless derived from the French word chanter, to sing. These songs are essentially working songs, and have been used from time immemorial to cheer the seaman in his labors of pulling, hauling, and heaving. This class of songs has been mentioned by some of the modern writers about the sea, Mr. Richard II. Dana in " Two Years Before the Mast" being perhaps the first. Clark Russell, Rudyard Kipling, and several others have also written on the subject. There is an excellent dissertation on shanties in an interesting book, entitled " On Board the Rocket," by Captain Robert C. Adams, from which, with the kind permission of the author, we take the liberty of making a few extracts. Shanties are generally classed under three heads, viz., the Short Drag, the Long Pull, and the Heaving shanties. The latter may be subdivided into windlass, capstan and pumping shanties. A few of these songs have several verses, such as the "Dreadnought," "High Barbary" (capstan shanty), and "The Black Ball," sometimes called "Blow the Man Down" (a long drag shanty), and have, on that account, been placed in the body of the book; but, generally speaking, each shanty has but one or two lines peculiar to it; just sufficient, in fact, to identify it with its melody. After those are sung, the "Shanty-man" is relied upon to improvise, or to use some of the stock phrases which are well known to sailors. Captain Adams says:...
//

So, he is also influenced by Russell now.
We get the idea that DREADNOUGHT and HIGH BARBARY were capstan shanties. And he add the "Blow the Man Down" title -- something I'll bet he became aware of only in the interim between editions.

He starts to quote Adams again...with quotation marks...but it is not verbatim. Weird. He seems now to be trying to work all the chanties from the first edition into one narrative. He adds the organizational terms "short drag" and "long drag," which were not used by Adams. (Who introduced these?)

After the short drag examples, he makes as if quoting Adams, but this never appeared in Adams:

//
"Among the short drag shanties may also be classed one which was very popular and is used for tossing the bunt of a foresail up on the yard. A foresail is very heavy; and a ship is generally short handed,— moreover, the foresail is seldom furled except in the worst weather, unless the ship is coming into port (when of course all sails are furled). So when the men have succeeded in gathering the sail up close to the yard, the shanty-man leads the following ditty; and at the last word every man gives a mighty pull. Two or three verses are generally enough to bring the sail up on the yard, when the gaskets are passed and the work finished.

FOR 'ROUSING UP' THE BUNT OF A SAIL....
//

AFter going through "long drag shanties" as per Adams, Luce throws in BLOW BOYS BLOW:

//
A Yankee ship came down the river,
Blow, boys, blow,
A Yankee ship came down the river,
Blow, my bully boys, blow

A Yankee ship with a Yankee skipper, Blow, etc.
A Yankee crew and a Yankee clipper,

Oh, how d'ye know she's a Yankee clipper?
Because the blood runs from the scuppers.

What d'ye think they have for dinner?
Monkey tails and bullock's liver.
//

He follows this with his version of ACROSS THE WESTERN OCEAN from the first edition.

Then adds HANGING JOHNNY. Then a new one for this edition: HANDY MY BOYS.

cont...

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Charley Noble
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 09:05 AM

Gibb-

Got to love the multiple editions. The story never ends.

"Lee-gangway chorus" certainly conjures up an image of a crew marching in line as they haul along the lee rail as the haul, as in stamp-an' go" or "roll an' go."

My image of "haulin' on the lee fore brace" is one of hauling in place, the line moving back while the gang is securely braced.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 26 Dec 10 - 03:05 AM

Luce 1902 cont.

He then injects POOR OLD MAN with some words about it -- still in misleading quotation marks.

"Knock a Man Down" is repeated from the first edition, but with this new note:

//
"There is another song very much like the above, called 'Blow the Man Down.' The melody will be found under the head of the 'Black Ball.' 'Knock a Man Down' was one of the negro songs of the southern cotton ports, while 'Blow the Man Down' was one of the regular breezy Western Ocean Shanties, and is one of the best specimens of the shanty to be found. It makes a fine topsail halyard shanty.
//

Luce indicates here, haphazardly, what are some of the forebitters that were also chanties: HIGH BARBARY, YANKEE MAN-O-WAR, ROLLING HOME.

//
"There are other songs of similar character which will be found in the body of the book; they are frequently used as working songs at sea: Such as ' High Barbary,' 'The Yankee Man-o-war,' 'Rolling Home,' etc.
//

Moving on to "heaving" shanties, he gives RIO GRANDE as in Adams, but adds a note about the "milkmaid" lyrical variation that I feel may have come from reading LA Smith.

He has HEAVE AWAY MY JOHNNIES in a form that corresponds to an article in THE SEA BREEZE of 1900 -- thought that article did not supply tune! The Characteristic phrase is "Sometimes we're bound for England...," along with the fact that he gives "heave away, my bullies."

LOWLANDS AWAY is here, in a form not yet noted. Minor mode.

//
I thought I heard the old man say.
Lowlands, lowlands, my Johnny,
That this would be our sailing day,
A dollar and a half a day.
//

He gives A-ROVING as in the first edition -- but now he actually calls it "A-Roving" and says it is "A favorite pumping shanty."

Next comes CLEAR THE TRACK, taken from Smith.

His version of SANTIANA has now be changed to as follows:

//
SANTA ANNA.
Oh, Santa Anna's dead and gone,
Away, oh, Santa Anna,
Oh, Santa Anna's dead and gone,
All on the plains of Mexico.
//

Luce also revises his "Old Storm Along" (MR. STORMALONG) by correcting his flip-flopped past version, and adding this note:

//
"'Old Storm Along' was a favorite pumping shanty and was considered to be a song of triumph over the storm fiend, notwithstanding which fact it is a somewhat dismal song, being sung in slow time and usually with many embellishments.
//

Instead of "Across the Western Ocean," he puts a new LEAVE HER JOHNNY in this edition:

//
Oh, the times are hard and the wages low,
Leave her, Johnny, leave her,
And there's sick foot of water in the hold,
Oh, it's time for us to leave her.

"In this song the shanty-man rehearses all the miseries of the crew, and though 'Growl and go' is considered a 'good man,' the singing of this song was often the forerunner of trouble, and was never sung by a contented crew.
//

The last new thing to be found here is a version of BLACKBALL LINE. It has a melody that I'd not encountered before.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 26 Dec 10 - 03:27 AM

And as for the songs in the non-shanties section of Luce 1902, here are the ones I find notable:

Sailing by the Lowlands 41
Rolling Home 47
Song of the Fishes 53
The Yankee Man-o-War 56
The Dreadnought 67
High Barbary 77
Good-Night Ladies 106
On Friday Morning We Set Sail (The Mermaid) 118
The Merman 130
The Black Ball Liner Shanty Song 155
Homeward Bound 179
The Flash Frigate 183

These differ from the 1st edition in:
1) Adding The Merman
2) Removal of the "Stormy" song set to Goodbye Fare you well form. Perhaps he thought that was an irregularity that needed revising.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 26 Dec 10 - 03:48 AM

Another 18th century reference to maritime work-singing--

THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE for October 1775 has this note,in an unsigned "Essay on Musical Time," pg. 465:

//
Seamen at the windlafs, and on other occafions, fing, that they may all act together.
//

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 26 Dec 10 - 04:00 AM

THE NEW AND COMPLETE DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, Vol. 2, (London: Edward and Charles Dilly) by John Ash, 1775...has this entry:

//
Ve'a (s. a fea term) The cry made by failors when they pull or heave together.
//

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 26 Dec 10 - 04:16 AM

BOYER'S ROYAL DICTIONARY, abridged, by Abel Boyer, additions by N. Salmon. London: Meffra, etc.1802.

Entry for French "voix":

"...Voix, Mar. fong employed by failors in heaving, hoifting, hauling, &c...."

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 26 Dec 10 - 04:24 AM

Oops, here's an earlier appearance of the same, in Boyer's 1780 DICTIONNAIRE ROYAL FRANCOIS-ANGLOIS ET ANGLOIS-FRANCOIS. Lyon: Jean-Marie Bruyset.


"Voix, (en termes de mer.) The fong employed by failors, as in hauling hoifting, heaving, &c."

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: John Minear
Date: 26 Dec 10 - 11:57 AM

Here is an entry from 1886, by Robert C. Leslie, entitled SEA PAINTER'S LOG. There are two mentions about maritime work songs. The first has to do with fishermen hauling their boats ashore with the use of a capstan. Here is the link (p. 174):

http://books.google.com/books?id=7DY9AAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=A+Sea+Painter's+Log&cd=1#v=onepage&q=An%20Old%20Sea%20Song&

In the second reference on page 242, Leslie discusses some specific chanties and gives us the words for: "A Hundred Years Ago", "Storm Along, Stormy", and "Good Morning, Ladies All."

http://books.google.com/books?id=7DY9AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA242&dq=the+old+Black+X+sailing-liners&hl=en&ei=CHMXTcu-DoOBlAevp8S3DA&sa=X&oi

Here, Leslie is recollecting an earlier time about the "old Black X sailing-liners", who were "notable for their musical crews".

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: John Minear
Date: 26 Dec 10 - 12:44 PM

This source was mentioned in the "SF to Sydney" thread, but I don't think it has been listed here so I will add it. John Mason's BEFORE THE MAST IN SAILING SHIPS recounts his experience on a cruise in 1884, from Newcastle in New South Wales (Australia) to San Francisco, with a cargo of coal. At one point he mentions and quotes from three chanties: "The Banks of the Sacramento", "Santy Anna", and "Sally Brown". The songs are being sund by "Campbell's men" as they load wheat at Port Costa.

http://books.google.com/books?id=JirozwWDDaMC&pg=PA66&dq=Campbell's+men+were+splendid+chanty+men&hl=en&ei=j3wXTfrMN4K0lQfZy4TLCw

Later on, in Liverpool (I think), they hove up the anchor and made "the Mersey ring", singing "Leave her, Johnny, Leave her," and "Sally Brown". Mason gives us quotes from those two songs.

http://books.google.com/books?id=JirozwWDDaMC&pg=PA118&dq=we+fairly+made+the+Mersey+ring&hl=en&ei=0H0XTYSYCYT7lweTwP3_Cw&sa=X&oi

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Charley Noble
Date: 26 Dec 10 - 02:40 PM

"Oh, the times are hard and the wages low,
Leave her, Johnny, leave her,
And there's sick(SIC) foot of water in the hold,
Oh, it's time for us to leave her."

Typo alert?

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 26 Dec 10 - 10:42 PM

This is very similar to the experience of Basil Hall in the 1820s:

1849        Lyell, Sir Charles. A Second Visit to the United States, in the Years 1845-6. Vol. 1.

Going down the Alatamaha river from Darien, GA on Dec. 31, 1845.

//
...He came down the river to meet us in a long canoe, hollowed out of the trunk of a single cypress, and rowed by six negroes, who were singing loudly, and keeping time to the stroke of their oars. …
…For many a mile we saw no habitations, and the solitude was profound; but our black oarsmen made the woods echo to their song. One of them taking the lead, first improvised a verse, paying compliments to his master's family, and to a celebrated black beauty of the neighbourhood, who was compared to the "red bird." The other five then joined in chorus, always repeating the same words. Occasionally they struck up a hymn, taught them by the Methodists, in which the most sacred subjects were handled with strange familiarity, and which, though nothing irreverent was meant, sounded oddly to our ears, and, when following a love ditty, almost profane.
//

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 26 Dec 10 - 10:48 PM

And another rowing reference from a Britisher visiting the Charleston area, from June 1819

1823        Faux, William. _Memorable Days in America_. London: W. Simpkin and R. Marshall.

//
I noticed to-day the galley-slaves all singing songs in chorus, regulated by the motion of their oars; the music was barbarously harmonious. Some were plaintive love-songs. The verse was their own, and abounding either in praise or satire, intended for kind or unkind masters.
//

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: GUEST,Lighter
Date: 27 Dec 10 - 12:18 PM

Gibb, it would be too easy to miss the significance of the French "voix" from 1780. I believe it's a quite a discovery.

It would be most interesting to know more about how widespread the term was and precisely what songs it was applied to.

It would be striking indeed if French had a *technical word* for "shanties" long before English - and that that word had nothing to do with French "chanter"!

Any serious French scholars out there who can add to our understanding?

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 27 Dec 10 - 05:02 PM

Well, there's this; please stop me if this sort of thing is already part of the chanty etymology discussion. It is a sort of definition of "chanty-man":

1844. Gocvic, E. and H.G. Jansen. UNIVERSEL, HISTORIQUE ET RAISONNÉ, français-hollandais DE MARINE ET DE L'ART MILITAIRE. La Haye and Amsterdam: Les Fréres Van Cleef.

//
Chanteur, m. Mar. (Ouvrier ou matelot qui a la voix forte, et qui par un cri de convention, donne le signal du moment où les gens qui travaillent à une même manœuvre, doivent réunir leurs efforts). Opzinger, opzanger, m.
//

With the help of Google:
"Singer, m. Mar. (Worker or sailor who has strong voice and a shout of agreement, gives the signal when the people who work in the same maneuver, must combine their efforts). Opzinger, opzanger, m."

Those last two words are Dutch.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 27 Dec 10 - 05:17 PM

And, pg 127

//
CHANTER, v. n. Mar. (Faire certains cris de convention , pour donner le signal de l'instant où plusieurs hommes, employés à une même opération, doivent réunir leurs efforts et agir tous ensemble). Opzingen.
//

"Sing, V. n. Mar. (Make some calls convention to signal the moment when several men employed in the same transaction, should unite their efforts and act together). Opzingen."

http://books.google.com/books?ei=oQkZTdXHOY2WsgOOs4nQAg&ct=result&output=text&id

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 29 Dec 10 - 12:59 AM

Lighter,

I was thinking the same. Also wondering what this "ve'a" thing was. Is it just a phonetic realization of some nonsense sound? Or could it be an Anglicization of 'voix' perhaps? It is unclear to me whether it is the name for the 'cry' or else the word that is shouted when one cries.

I have a feeling that the French texts about shanties have mulled over these things already, but I have not read any of those. On the other hand, Hugill (for one) seems to have gobe through some of those. I don't know if he read them closely or just harvested texts from them. I'm inclined to think that he read them. And if that was the case, he never brought up any special insights they may have supplied.

Please let me apologize to any chanty scholars who read this and who have studied French sources -- I don't mean to imply that you have not.

Anyway, as for a word for shanty that the French may have had before English-speakers, there is of course "chant."

My coming upon "chanter", as the verb for singing the maritime work song, and "chanteur", for the person who sings, is pretty exciting for me. But again I say that I don't know how significant that really is in adding to work of people like J. Lighter and S. Gardham on the etymology issue. That is, I don't know if it's a situation like "Yup, we already knew that. What we still need to really confirm is XYZ."

What we don't have, indeed, is the noun. I presume it would have been "chant", but I'd like to see it -- specifically, with reference to "maritime worksong" for example.

"Chant" does seem a little obvious. It is not a "special" word for a thing in French -- it would only have had extra connotations...versus in English where it is a special/unique term.

If "chant" is the word, then we still need the gaps filled as to how exactly it got borrowed and applied to what English speakers were doing. I would also like to know if "chant" had any particular connotations, in both the French and English uses, for types of song. Did English speakers borrow it when they were still in the days of the rudimentary "yeo heave ho" songs, or was it only first used in application to the African-American style worksongs?

Were the cotton stowers observed by Nordhoff calling their songs "chants" in the regular English sense, or were they French-influenced folk (i.e. the Creole environment) using it similarly to a description of maritime work songs in use by the French?

Anyway, Boyer's French-English dictionary was first published as early as 1702 it seems (a copy was recently digitized on Google), and FWIW the maritime definition of "voix" is not there. Nor is there anything of note under "chanteur" or "chanter." That may suggest that this meaning didnt come round until later in the 18th century.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 29 Dec 10 - 01:44 AM

Here's an earlier reference to "chanter" and "chanteur" with maritime meanings.

1792. Romme, Charles. _Dictionnaire de la marine françoise._ Paris: Barrois l'aîné.

//
Chanter. v. n. To song. C'est saire certains cris de convention, pour donner le signal , de l'instant ou plusieurs hommes employés à une même opération , doivent réun? leurs eíforts & agir tous ensemble. — La maniere-de chanter où le cri de convention est variable suivant les chanteurs.
//

"Sing. v. n. To song. It's necessary some cries of agreement, to give the signal, the time or more men employed in the same transaction, must meet? eíforts & their act together. - The manner of singing where-the-art convention varies according to the singers."

//
Chanteur. s. m. Ouvrier qui agissant concurremment avec d'autres , leur donne le signal, par un cri de convention , du moment où ils doivent déployer ensemble toutes leurs sorces , pour produire par leur réunion, un effet déterminé , qui exige non seulement toutes ces piússancas , mais aussi leur concours simultané.
//

"Singer. s. m. Workman acting in conjunction with others, gives them the signal, a cry of agreement, when they should deploy all their sorces together to produce by their union, a specific effect, which requires not only all the power rating, but also assist simultaneously."

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 29 Dec 10 - 01:56 AM

1825. Willaumez, Jean-Baptiste-Philibert. _Dictionnaire de marine_. New edition. Paris: Bachelier.

//
CHANTER, v. n. Vieil usage de faire crier quelques hommes qu'on nommait chanteurs, pour donner le signal de réunion d'efforts àfaire par plusieurs sur une bouline, ou pour toute autre opération qu'on exécute dans les ports et sur les grands bâtimens. Dans un bâtiment de guerre bien ordonné, on ne permet plus de chanter ainsi. Voy. Boulina.
//

"SING, v. n. Old custom to yell a few men who were called "chanteurs," to give the signal for both business meeting by several efforts on a bowline, or any other operation that executes in ports and on major buildings. In a warship well ordered, we can no longer "sing" as well. Voy. Boulin."

//
BOULINA-HA-IIA ! Arrache ! Boulina-ha-ha, déralingue ! etc. Ancien chant des matelots français pendant qu'ils bâient sur les quatre principales boulines , notamment celle du grand et du petit hunier. Ce chant est si ridicule que plusieurs capitaines militaires le défendent.
//

"Boulina-hA-hA! Hard! Boulina-ha-ha, déralingue! etc. Former French sailors sing while on the four main bâient bowlines, including that of large and small topsail. This song is so ridiculous that many defend military captains."

The translation needs tweaking...

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 29 Dec 10 - 02:02 AM

//
HISSA, O, HA , HISSE: chant de l'homme qui donne la voix pour réunir les efforts de plusieurs autres sur un même cordage afin de produire un plus grand effet. Ce chant ou cri n'a plus guère lieu que dans quelques ports.
//

"HISSA, O, HA, HISSE: song of the man who gives voice to unite the efforts of several others on the same rope to produce a greater effect. This song or cry has hardly place in a few ports."

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 29 Dec 10 - 03:45 AM

Sorry to interrupt:
Anybody within the receiving range of Irish 'Lyric FM' can catch three - hour long radio programmes on sea songs over the next three nights, starting at 6.00pm tonight and described as "a three part exploration of Ireland's song tradition" and are as follows:
Wed - 'Hard Men To Shave', narratives in the shanties and ballads of the 19th century.
Thur. - The Tumbling Wave, Coastal songs, including tales of shipwrecks, smuggers, drownings and heroic rescues.
Fri. - Love is Tempestuous.
The programmes have been researched and are presented by Mary Owen.
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 29 Dec 10 - 04:25 AM

A few details on the Mason book introduced above by John Minear. The original of _Before the Mast in Sailing Ships_ came in 1928. It deals with the 1880s-90s.

Aug. 1884. Having left SF bay, up the Sacramento river. Heaving anchor, to moor at Port Costa, with stevedore crew. Fully rigged British ship. SACRAMENTO, SANTIANA, SALLY BROWN. Pg 66:

//
Campbell's men were all splendid chanty men and they fairly made the harbour ring with the melody of their strong voices. The leading man was a negro who had a powerful voice. The first song was "The Banks of Sacramento." The words are:—

"Blow, boys, blow, for Californio,
For there is plenty of gold,
So as I have been told,
On the banks of Sacramento," etc.

Another good chanty was:—

"Oh, Mexico, I do very well know;
Hooray, Santa Anna;
For Santa Anna has gained the day
Along the plains of Mexico," etc.

Another was "Sally Brown"—:

"Oh, Sally Brown was a bright Mulatto.
Was a bright Mulatto,
She drinks rum and chews tobacco;
I'll spend my money on Sally Brown," etc.
//

Pg. 74:

//
A very dull-looking crowd manned the capstan until Potter, the Englishman, started a chanty:—
"He are homeward bound for Falmouth Town…"
''

Pg117:

//
As we walked merrily around the capstan Cockney Bob was at his best. His first chanty was:
"We are homeward bound for Liverpool Town,
Good-bye fare ye well, good-bye fare ye well;
Homeward bound for Liverpool town…"
//

In the Mersey (Liverpool area), heaving anchor on final arrival, early 1885. Adds LEAVE HER JOHNNY . P118:

//
As we hove up anchor that afternoon we fairly made the Mersey ring with our chanteying. Cockney Bob started with "Leave her, Johnnie, leave her":

"I thought I heard our captain say,
        Leave her, Johnnie, leave her.
Come along and get your pay;
        Leave her, Johnnie, leave her.
"Times are hard and wages low,
        Leave her, Johnnie, leave her,
A hungry ship and a drunken crew;
        Leave her, Johnnie, leave her."
Etc., etc.

Another chantey was "Sally Brown":

"Oh, Sally Brown was a bright Mulatto,
She drinks rum and chews tobacco;
I'll spend my money on Sally Brown,
Way hay, roll and go."
                        Etc., etc.
//

//
With no discernable context, 1885. MR. STORMALONG. pg 121:

Old Stormalong has gone to rest,
Of all the sailors he was the best;
We'll dig his grave with a silver spade,
And lower him down with a golden chain—
        By all his shipmates blest.
To my aye, aye, Mister Stormalong.
                Etc., etc.
//

P157:

//
The first chantey was "Leave her, Johnny, leave her":

"A leaky ship and a drunken skipper,
It is time for us to leave her;
Captain drinks whisky and rum…"

There might be more chanties; I've only previewed this.
//

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Lighter
Date: 29 Dec 10 - 01:24 PM

Seems to me that the French "chanter" in this case means/ meant something like English "to sing out an order (for sailors to get to work)," rather than "to sing a shanty."

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Lighter
Date: 29 Dec 10 - 05:40 PM

George H. Haswell was a passenger on board S.S. Pamaratta, London to Sydney, in the fall of 1879. He noted ten shanties with their melodies as sung during the voyage and published them in the passengers' on-board newspaper, "The Paramatta Sun." Graham Seal transcribed Haswell's work in a booklet called "Ten Shanties Sung on the Australian Run 1879" (Antipodes Press, 1992).

This is an extremely valuable collection because it was made on the spot before much on shanties - or their music - had been published.

Even more interesting, L. A. Smith tells us in "Music of the Waters" (1884) that another Pamaratta passenger had sent her all the shanties Haswell had printed, and she includes them, mostly accurately and complete, in her own book. This is unfortunate because that publication allowed the Pamaratta shanties to influence all post-1884 collectors to some degree when otherwise they would have been a unique standard of comparison for later versions.

Anyway, the following shanties from "Music of the Waters" can be dated definitely to 1879, are entirely authentic, and do not represent lines conflated by a landlubber editor from different versions.

The shanties are:

1. Heave Away, My Johnny
2. Haulin' [sic]the Bowlin'
3. Handy Jim
4. [Away] Haul Away
5. The Dead Horse
6. Bonny [i.e., Boney]
7. Whisky [Johnny]
8. Blow the Man Down
9. Ranzo
10. Good-bye, Fare Ye Well

Had there been more issues of the "Paramatta Sun," there may have been more shanties - but no such luck!

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: shipcmo
Date: 29 Dec 10 - 06:16 PM

Jeez,
Just as I thought I had all the publications I should have.
I recently ordered "Around Cape Horn to Honolulu on The Bark Amy Turner 1880" By: L. Vernon Briggs

But thanks anyway for the "heads up".

Cheers,

Geo

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 30 Dec 10 - 05:39 AM

Excellent info, Lighter -- and timely! I am about the dissect/log LA Smith; it is the last (for now!) textual source of the 1880s that I have.

***

L.A. Smith, _Music of the Waters_ (London, 1888).

The editor of _The Shipping World_ had commissioned her to write a series of articles on shanties. Do we know these articles?

Introduction dated June 1887. I believe that is too late to have had access to Davis and Tozer's collection FWIW.

She learned some schanties directly from sailors. The introductory notes make much of this, though we know that so many of her items were just culled from other texts.

I see some plagiarism so far from the unsigned 1869 Chambers's Journal article, so we know for sure that she read that (or wrote it?!).

The chapter of interest is the first,

//
ENGLISH AND AMERICAN "CHANTIES;" OR, WORKING SONGS OF THE SEA.
//

I begin at a passage saying how chanties were not part of navy life:

//
On vessels of war, the drum, fife, or boatswain's whistle furnish the necessary movement regulator. There is a vast difference between the merchant sailor and his fellow "salt," the man-o'-war's man, whom they call "Johnny Haultaut," or "John o' Fight." They hold each other in mutual derision, although without any unfriendly feeling. Accustomed to the comparative independence and free life of a merchant-vessel, they look with scorn on the binding discipline and severe penalties of a man-o'-war, and laugh contemptuously as they watch the crew in uniform dress walk round the windlass, and weigh anchor like mechanical dummies:—
    "Your work is very hard, my boys,
    Upon the ocean sea,
   And for your reefing topsails,
       I'd rather you as me—
I feather my oar unto the shore,
So happy as I be in the Guard-ship, ho!"

No hearty chanties there—no fine chorus ringing with feeling and sentiment, brought out with the sort of despairing wildness, which so often strikes neighbouring landsfolk with the deepest emotion. He likes to growl —and he may, so long as he goes about his work. I have heard mates say, "Give me a man that can growl : the more he growls, the more he works." Silence reigns supreme aboard a Queen's ship; no general order is given by word of mouth, the boatswain's whistle takes its place. There, where the strength of one or two hundred men can be applied at one and the same effort, the labour is not intermittent, but continuous. The men form on either side of the rope to be hauled, and walk away with it like firemen marching with their engine, when the headmost pair bring up at the stern or bow, they part, and the two streams flow back to the starting-point outside the following files. Thus in this perpetual "follow my leader way" the work is done, with more precision and steadiness than in the merchant service. In it the heavier work is done by each man doing his utmost at the same moment. This is regulated by the "Chanty," and here is the true singing of the deep sea—it is not recreation, it is an essential part of the work. It will masthead the topsail-yards, on making sail; it will start the anchor, ride down the main-tack with a will, it will break out and take on board cargo, and keep the pumps going. A good voice and a stirring chorus are worth an extra man.
//

A similarly worded passage occurred in Symondson's 1876 TWO YEARS ABAFT THE MAST

cont...

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Charley Noble
Date: 30 Dec 10 - 08:54 AM

"A good voice and a stirring chorus are worth an extra man."

"five extra men"

"10 extra men"

A phrase which has become so inflated with each repetition that it currently rivals the total of posts on "The Mother of All BS Threads."

Cheerily,
Charley Noble et al

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Lighter
Date: 30 Dec 10 - 09:03 AM

No excuse for failing to proof-read.

The correct name of the vessel is "Parramatta." And, as Gibb observes, the correct publication date of Smith's book is 1888.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 31 Dec 10 - 01:26 AM

Indeed, Charley! If you search this thread for "extra" you can see the development of that theme. In fact, it looks like that line first appeared in the Atlantic Monthly of 1858, and Smith has copied it here. This appears to be ground zero for that cliche, as I don't find it in any of the earlier sources.

***
LA Smith, cont.

The sentiment that steam has killed chanties -- an I idea which I believe "first" appeared in Alden (1882). Dunno who wrote for the "St. James's Gazette."

//
A writer in the St. James's Gazette of December 6th, 1884, says: "The beau-ideal chanty-man has been relegated to the past. His death-knell was the shriek of the steam-whistle, and the thump of the engines. When he flourished British ships were manned by British seamen, and carried much stronger crews in proportion to their tonnage than their successors. In those days gipsywinches, patent windlasses and capstans, had no existence, and the heaving and hauling had to be performed by manual strength and labour; and to make the work 'go' lighter, the chanty-man chanted his strange lays, while the tars with hearty good-will joined in the refrains and choruses. ...

... Old tars tell us that the chanties are not what they were before steam became so universal: one added, on telling me this, " I'll tell you what it is, Miss, steamboats have not only taken the wind out of our sails, but they have taken the puff out of us too, and them as remembers ship-life as it was, will scarcely recognize it now-a-days." This advocate of the old school was one of many "old salts" whose acquaintance I made, and who goodnaturedly sang for me several of their best-remembered chanties in a Sailors' Home in the North of England. I was very agreeably surprised at the effect of some of these chanty choruses; some of the men present had really good voices, and they sang with a life and spirit, and with as much rhythmical accuracy as though they were miles away on the briny ocean "heaving the windlass round, or hoisting the ponderous anchor."

Whilst on the subject of Sailors' Homes, I should like to digress for just one moment to express my cordial thanks to all those connected with the institutions that have so greatly helped me in the matter of collecting these chanties. To the Secretaries, Missionaries, and sailor inmates of many of the English Homes, I am indebted for much of the information I have obtained. ...
//

So she cites her human subjects: old gents at sailors' homes. We will see, I hope, just which chanties came from them and which were drawn from elsewhere.

Several types of chanties:

pg7
//
There are several kinds of chanty, though I believe, properly speaking, they should only be divided into two classes, namely, those sung at the capstan and those sung when hauling on a rope: but there are, over and above these, pumping songs—pumping being part of the daily morning duty of a well-disciplined merchant-vessel, just a few minutes' spell to keep the vessel free and the cargo unharmed by bilge-water; it is not a dismal sound at all, rather a lively one, on the contrary. There are also chanties used when holy-stoning the decks, and when stowing away the cargo; and indeed I think one may safely conclude that every one of Jack's duties, from Monday morning to Saturday night, is done to some sort of music, and according to the-Philadelphia catechism his labours do not end then, for in it we are taught that—

"Six days shalt thou labour and do all thou art able, And on the seventh, holy-stone the deck and clean-scrape the cable."

There is one job that sailors seldom fail to get, even when the weather is such as to prevent other work being done, and that is holy-stoning the decks. The men have to kneel down and push backwards and forwards a goodsized stone (usually sandstone), the planks being previously wetted and sprinkled with sand. From the fact of kneeling to it, this unpleasant task is known at sea under the title of " saying prayers."
//

Another cliche begins here. And this is the first mention of holystoning chanties.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 31 Dec 10 - 02:39 AM

Capstan shanties. The prose is from 1869 CHAMBERS'S, but the chanty YEO HEAVE HO is a new addition:

//
In the capstan chanties the metre is generally long, and they are of a more pathetic nature than the hauling ones. To those who have heard it as the men run round the capstan, bringing up the anchor from the English mud of a ship outward bound for a two or three years' trip, perhaps never to return, what can be more sad or touching, although sung with a hearty good-will, than "Yo, heave ho!" [with tune]

Yo, heave, ho! Round the capstan go!
Round, men, with a will! Tramp, and tramp it still!
The anchor must be heaved, The anchor must be heaved.
(Chorus.) Yo, ho! Yo, ho! Yo, ho! Yo, ho!
//

This is followed by the 1869 CHAMBERS'S versions of OUTWARD AND HOMEWARD BOUND and SACRAMENTO, then the intro to RIO GRANDE, but with a new tune and more than one set of lyrics. Is this another original? She also mentions SANTIANA and PADDY LAY BACK (though, as Hugill would later note, she notes it as if it were 2 different songs, viz. "Valparaiso" and "Round the Horn" -- merely repeating the mistake in CHAMBERS'S).

//
Another outward-bound chanty is "To Rio Grande we're bound away ;" the tune of this last-named is very mournful, as will be found in the fews bars of the melody which follows:

The ship went sailing out over the bar,
O Rio! O Rio!
They pointed her nose for the Southron Star,
And we're bound for the Rio Grande.
Then away, love, away,
Away down Rio;
Then fare you well, my pretty young girl,
We're bound for the Rio Grande.

"Valparaiso," "Round the Horn," and "Santa Anna," are all much in the same style as "Rio Grande."

Solo.—"Were you ever in Rio Grande?
Chorus.—Away you Rio.
Solo.—O were you ever in Rio Grande?
Chorus.—I am bound to the Rio Grande.
      Away you Rio, away you Rio.
      Fare you well, my pretty young girl,
      I am bound to the Rio Grande.
Solo.—As I was going down Broadway Street,
Solo.—A pretty young girl I chanced to meet,
Chorus.—I am bound to Rio Grande.
Away you Rio, away you Rio,
Fare you well, my pretty young girl,
I am off to Rio Grande.
Solo.—Oh where are you going, my pretty maid?
Solo.—Oh where are you going, my pretty maid?
Chorus.—I am bound to the Rio Grande.
Away you Rio, &c.
Solo.—I am going a milking, sir, she said.
Solo.—I am going a milking, sir, she said.
Chorus.—I am bound to the Rio Grande.
Away you Rio, &c.
Solo.—What is your fortune, my pretty maid?
Solo.—What is your fortune, my pretty maid?
Chorus.—I am bound to the Rio Grande,
Away you Rio, &c.
Solo.—My face is my fortune, sir, she said.
Solo.—My face is my fortune, sir, she said.
Chorus.—I am bound to the Rio Grande.
Away you Rio, &c.
Solo.—What is your father, my pretty maid?
Solo.—What is your father, my pretty maid?
Chorus.—I am bound to the Rio Grande.
Away you Rio, away you Rio.
Then fare you well, my pretty young girl,
I am bound to the Rio Grande.
Solo.—My father's a farmer, sir, she said.
Solo.—My father's a farmer, sir, she said.
Chorus.—I am bound to the Rio Grande.
Away you Rio, &c.
Solo.—What is your mother, my pretty maid?
Solo.—What is your mother, my pretty maid?
Chorus.—I am bound to the Rio Grande.
Away you Rio, &c.
Solo.—Wife to my father, sir, she said.
Solo.—Wife to my father, sir, she said.
Chorus.—I am bound to the Rio Grande.
Away you Rio, &c.
Solo.—Then I can't marry you, niy pretty maid.
Solo.—Then I can't marry you, my pretty maid.
Chorus.—I am bound to the Rio Grande.
Away you Rio, &c.
Solo.—Nobody asked you, sir, she said.
Solo.—Nobody asked you, sir, she said.
Chorus.—I am bound to the Rio Grande.
Away you Rio, &c."
//

The next bit is also lifted from CHAMBER'S:

//
American vessels, I think, may be charged with the following, which are all capstan chanties,—" Oceanida," "Johnny's Gone," " The Black Ball Line," and" Slapandergosheka," the last-named with the incomprehensible title is addressed "To all you ladies now on land," and may be said to be slightly egotistical; it commences—
"Have you got, lady, a daughter so fair? [*"fine" in CHAMBERS'S]
       Slapandergosheka,
That is fit for a sailor that has crossed the Line?
       Slapandergosheka."
//

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 31 Dec 10 - 02:59 AM

pg. 12
On the ethnic and national associations of chanties, Smith says it is impossible to distinguish British and American ones, but then goes on to say that there are some about which there is no doubt. No examples. Then notes that Black singers made up a lot of them.

//
It is almost impossible to discover which are British and which American, amongst the chanties, they are so mixed up with each other, and any which may formerly have been characteristic of the one country, have become so cosmopolitan, that the sailors themselves have been unable to discriminate between them. I have, therefore, acting upon some very reliable advice, thought it better to classify under one heading all chanties with English words, although there are many cases where the nationality is beyond doubt. Coloured men being, as a rule, such good singers and ingenious poets, may be credited with many; and most probably "Slapandergosheka' was first pronounced by some more than usually clever nigger.
//

The next passage (which I'll refrain from posting) is based on ATLANTIC MONTHLY 1858 introducing BOWLINE. However, she makes the mistake of calling it a capstan chanty. And the text + tune given are out of Alden 1882.

She admits her debt to CHAMBERS'S here:

//
This very practical and certainly nautical explanation of the use of a capstan chanty I found in an old number of Chambers' Journal, to whose clever and instructive columns I owe many hints on the subject of sailors and their songs.
//

This is the second time she called "Bowline" a capstan chanty. Is it a typo (twice), or is she really that confused about chanty forms? It does seem to undermine her credibility.

Another version of "Bowline" follows, that appears to be one of the Haswell shanties noted by Lighter up-thread:

//
Another version of "Haulin' the Bowlin'."
i. Haul on the bowlin', the fore and main-top bowlin',
Haul on the bowlin', the bowlin', Haul.
2. Haul on the bowlin', the packet she's a rollin',
Haul on the bowlin', the bowlin', Haul.
3. Haul on the bowlin', the captain he's a growlin',
Haulin' the bowlin', the bowlin', Haul.

At the word Haul, which terminates each couplet, the tars give a tremendous jerk on the rope.
//

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 31 Dec 10 - 03:15 AM

LA Smith, pg. 14, give the rough tune, no lyrics, to JOHNNY BOKER, with this note:

//
I have no words to the next bowline song, which rejoices in the name of " Johnny Polka."
//

This pretty much proves that she did not read Adam's ROCKET.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Jan 11 - 02:00 PM

Just got my copy of   L. Vernon Briggs, "Around Cape Horn to Honolulu on The Bark Amy Turner 1880", and found the following references:

"Old Horse", p44,
"What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor?", p86-7
"The Ship "Neptune"", 87-9
"As I Was A Walking Up Dennison Street", 89-91
"Ranzo". p92-4
"Orenso", p95-8
"Haul Away, Joe", p98-100
"Blow, My Bully Boys, Blow", 100-02
"Whiskey for My Johnny", p103-04
"Santa Anna on the Plains of Mexico", p170-2

I came upon the reference to this book in the Carpenter Online Catalog.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 08 Jan 11 - 04:09 PM

LA Smith, cont.:

The following passage, introducing LOWLANDS AWAY and ACROSS THE WESTERN OCEAN is essentially copied from Alden 1882. Smith does one little trick in that she runs w/ Allen's note about how "My dollar and a half a day" could be a chorus variation, and she goes ahead and fits it into a full stanza. However, Alden had said that it was the "second chorus," but she puts it as the first.

//
One of the wildest and most mournful of the sailor songs is "Lowlands." The chorus is even more than usually meaningless, but the song is the sighing of the wind and the throbbing of the restless ocean translated into melody:—

I dreamt a dream the other night:
Lowlands, Lowlands, Hurrah, my John!
I dreamt I saw my own true love:
My Lowlands a-ray!
                  
Much care was evidently given to "Lowlands" by the chanty-men. It has often been improved. In its original form the first chorus was shorter and less striking, and the words of the second chorus were, "My dollar and a half a day."

Solo.—Lowlands, Lowlands, away, my John.
Chorus.—My dollar and a half a day.
Solo.—I took up my clothes and I went away.
Chorus.—Lowlands, Lowlands, a-ray.

Of the same general character as " Lowlands," though inferior to it, is the song that was usually known as "Across the Western Ocean." There are several variations of the second chorus, none of which could be called improvements.

I wisht I was in London town:
Oh, say, where you bound to?
That highway I'd cruise round and round,
Across the Western Ocean.
//

Following this, Smith copies STORMY ALONG and MR. STORMALONG from Alden.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 09 Jan 11 - 01:22 AM

LA Smith, cont.

Smith next gives two more "Stormy" texts, without score. The first, a MR. STORMALONG, is one that I've not seen yet exactly in print, and it appears to be one Smith collected in her fieldwork.

//
This is a great favourite, and often sung after a gale of wind.

Solo.—Old Storm Along is dead and gone,
Chorus.—Ay ! ay ! ay ! Mr. Storm Along!
Solo.—When Stormy died, I dug his grave,
I dug his grave with a silver spade,
I hove him up with an iron crane,
And lowered him down with a golden chain
Old Storm Along is dead and gone.
Chorus.—Ay ! ay ! ay ! Mr. Storm Along.

Each line is repeated twice. The solemnity of the air and the mock-seriousness of the words have a most comical effect, and reminded me very much, when I heard them sung, of the tale of " The Death of Cock Robin," the well-known favourite of the children's picture-books. ...
//

This is followed by a STORMY harvested from Leslie's SEA PAINTER'S (1886):

//
I have since come across a somewhat different version of the words of this chanty, in which "Stormy" was written "Starmy," and of which the ending was—

Solo.—We carried him along to London town,
Chorus.—Starm Along, boys, Starm Along.
Solo.—We carried him away to Mobille Bay,
Chorus.—Starm Along, boys, Starm Along.
//

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 09 Jan 11 - 01:57 AM

Next comes...

//
HAULING CHANTIES.

Of these, there is first the hand-over-hand song, in very quick time; then the long-pull song, when there are, perhaps, twenty or thirty men pulling on a rope. To be effective, the pull must be made unanimously. This is secured by the chanty, the pulling made at some particular word in the chorus. For example, in the following verse the word "handy" is the signal, at each repetition, for a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together:—

Chorus.—Oh, shake her up, and away we'll go,
So handy, my girls, so handy;
Up aloft from down below,
So handy, my girls, so handy.

For heavier work, or where hands are few, one of longer metre is used, such as "O Long Storm, storm along, Stormy," which must not, however, be confounded with the capstan chanty," Old Storm Along."
//

HANDY MY BOYS has been taken from Chambers's 1869. Smith lists the whole thing as "Chorus," as if it were done hand-over-hand style, although the description makes it out to be a double-pull halyard chanty.

The note about the "longer metre" had been in the 1868 article, followed by a sheet chanty. The 1869 got it messed up, by making a false contrast between "So Handy" for halliards and other examples for halliards. Furthermore, "O Long Storm, storm along, Stormy" had been lifted from the Atlantic Monthly 1858 (where it was a pump chanty) and plopped into the 1869 in the wrong place. Smith is perpetuating the error, I think. Again I think that Smith really did not get the difference between types of chanties, and how she categorizes them should be viewed with skepticism.

Smith is the "first" to name BLOW THE MAN DOWN in print. We are forced to conclude that she collected it, though she does say it was "one of the most well-known."

//
One of the best and jolliest quick-time songs, and certainly one of the most well-known, is "Blow the Man Down." It is very tuneful, and though, perhaps, the words are scarcely to be admired, still it is a genuine chanty, and has a verve and vigour about it that speak of its value as an incentive to the labour of hoisting the topsail-yards or any other hauling work :— [with score]

I'm a true English sailor, Just come from Hong-Kong,
Tibby, Heigh, ho, blow the man down!
My stay on the old English shore won't be long,
Then give me some time to blow the man down.

Then we'll blow the man up, and well blow the man down,
Tibby! Heigh, ho, blow the man down !
So we'll blow the man up, and we'll blow the man down!
Then give me some time to blow the man down.

Solo.—As I was a-walking down Winchester Street—
Heigh-ho, blow the man down;
A pretty young girl I happened to meet,
Oh, give me some time to blow the man down.
Chorus.— So we'll blow the man up, and we'll blow the man down,
Heigh-ho, blow the man down.
We'll blow the man up, and we'll blow the man down,
Oh, give me some time to blow the man down.
//

Funny how she has divided Solo and Chorus -- not like a halyard chanty at all. My guess is that someone sang it for her solo, and she did not understand where the chorus parts would come in.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 09 Jan 11 - 02:38 AM

cont...

REUBEN RANZO looks to be an original collection by Smith:

//
"Reuben Ranzo" is, perhaps, the greatest favourite with the men of all the chanties. The tune is mournful and almost haunting in its monotony:

[musical score]

Solo.—Pity Reuben Ranzo,
Chorus.—Ranzo, boys, a Ranzo.
Solo.—Oh, pity Reuben Ranzo,
Chorus.—Ranzo, boys, a Ranzo.
Solo.—Reuben was no sailor,
Chorus.—Ranzo, boys, a Ranzo.
Solo.—Reuben was no sailor,
Chorus.—Ranzo, boys, a Ranzo.
Solo.—By trade he was a tailor,
Chorus.—Ranzo, &c.
Solo.—He went to school on Monday,
Chorus.—Ranzo, &c.
Solo.—Learnt to read on Tuesday,
Chorus.—Ranzo, &c.

The chorus continues the same all through, the pull always being made at the word "Ranzo." Each line of the solo is also repeated.

Solo.—He learnt to write on Wednesday,
He learnt to fight on Thursday,
On Friday he beat the master,
On Saturday we lost Reuben,
And where do you think we found him?
Why, down in yonder valley,
Conversing with a sailor.
He shipped on board of a whaler;
He shipped as able seamen do;
Oh, pity Reuben Ranzo.
The captain was a bad man,
He took him to the gangway,
And gave him five-and-forty.
The mate he was a good man,
He taught him navigation;
Now he's captain of a whaler,
And married the captain's daughter,
And now they both are happy.
This ends my little ditty,
This ends my little ditty.
Chorus.—Ranzo, boys, a Ranzo!
Belay there, lads, belay.
//

Next she quotes Alden on HUCKLEBERRY HUNTING. She adds her own note about "hilo," mentioning TOMMY'S GONE, but does not offer lyrics.

//
I have a song amongst my collection entitled "Tommy's gone to 'Hilo,'" which again upsets the theory that "hilo" was an active verb; at least, in this instance, it rises to the dignity of a proper noun :—
//

Then the unique collected chanty, UP A HILL. It is reminiscent of a Grimm fairy tale. Smith may have remembered it wrong.

//
There is another topsail-yard chorus something like this :—

Solo.—There once was a family living on a hill,
And if they're not dead they're living there still.
Chorus.—Up, up, my boys, up a hill;
Up, up, my boys, up a hill.
//

I've interpreted this HERE.

And it is sung to the tune of "Blow the man down." Then there is the well-known topsail-halyard song, " Sally Racket," greatly used by the sailors when loading their ships with timber at Quebec. In this chanty some of the lines are much longer than others, and to any one not acquainted with Jack Tar's style of singing, it would seem impossible to make them come in, but the sailors seem to be able to manage it. Like "Reuben Ranzo," the solo lines of Sally Racket are always repeated, the same chorus occurring after each solo line:

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 09 Jan 11 - 03:12 AM

Smith's CHEERLY also looks original -- characterized by her giving the melody without the words beneath the notes. Actually, it is not clear here how the words should fit the melody she gives. But here is the description, where she calls the chanty "Sally Racket":

//
Then there is the well-known topsail-halyard song, " Sally Racket," greatly used by the sailors when loading their ships with timber at Quebec. In this chanty some of the lines are much longer than others, and to any one not acquainted with Jack Tar's style of singing, it would seem impossible to make them come in, but the sailors seem to be able to manage it. Like "Reuben Ranzo," the solo lines of Sally Racket are always repeated, the same chorus occurring after each solo line:

Solo.-- Sally Racket, hoy oh,
Chorus.-- Cheerily, men.
Solo.-- Sally Racket, hoy oh!
Chorus.-- Cheerily, men.
Solo.-- Sally Racket, hoy oh!
Chorus.-- Cheerily, men; a haughty hoy oh! cheerily, men.
Solo.-- Pawned my jacket, hoy oh.
Chorus.-- Cheerily, men.
Solo.-- Pawned my jacket, hoy oh.
Chorus.-- Cheerily, men; a haughty hoy oh! cheerily, men.
Solo.-- Sold the ticket, hoy oh.
Chorus.-- Cheerily, men.
Solo.-- Sold the ticket, hoy oh.
Chorus.-- Cheerily, men.
Solo.-- And sold the ticket, hoy oh.
Chorus.-- Cheerily, men; a haughty hoy oh! cheerily, men.
Solo.-- That's not the worst, hoy oh.
Chorus.-- Cheerily, men.
Solo.-- And that's not the worst, hoy oh.
Chorus.-- And that's not the worst, hoy oh.
Solo.-- And that's not the worst, hoy oh.
Chorus.-- Cheerily, men; a haughty hoy oh! cheerily, men.
Solo.-- She left me in the lurch, hoy oh.
Chorus.-- Cheerily, &c.
Solo.-- I don't care a rap, hoy oh.
Chorus.-- Cheerily, men.
Solo.—If she never comes back, hoy oh.
Chorus.—Cheerily, men.
Solo.—I can get another girl, hoy oh.
Chorus.—Cheerily, men.
Solo.—Good-bye, Sally Racket, hoy oh.
Chorus.—Cheerily, men.
Solo.—You can keep my old jacket, hoy oh.
Chorus.—Cheerily, cheerily, men.
Solo.—And burn the ticket, hoy oh.
Chorus.—Cheerily, cheerily, men.
(Spoken) That'll do, boys.

The words at the end of the song are spoken by the man in charge of the work—mate, second mate, or boatswain. In the chorus the word "men" is accented by the pull; and in the solo lines the word "oh" is where another pull is taken.
//

Well, this is interesting. Pull on "oh" and "men"? I thought it was one pull on "cheer-". I could see how it could possibly work, but with the melody she gives, those words are on unaccented notes...

The "pawned my jacket/sold the ticket" idea also appeared in a Cheerily up-thread, from 1852.

Smith follows this with a curious note that, despite the quaint wording, rings rather true to me in the context of this thread:

//
I am told that the oldest chanty on record is one that goes by the name of "Cheerily, men; oh holly, hi-ho, cheerily, men." But at what time, in what place it is used —or I should say, was used, for I think it is almost obsolete now—I cannot say. It is, however, a typical specimen of an English sailor-song of a remote period, for undoubtedly many of the sailor-songs are of negro origin. They are the reminiscences of melodies sung by negroes stowing cotton in the holds of ships in Southern ports. The "chanty-men" have, to some extent, kept to the silly words of the negroes, and have altered the melodies to suit their purposes.
//

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 09 Jan 11 - 03:29 AM

Smith has PAY ME THE MONEY DOWN, with lyrics taken from Atlantic Monthly 1858. I don't know where she gets the "English comic song" idea, and the "pay me my money" seems quite in line with stevedore songs.

//
Any quick, lively tune, to which you might work a fireengine, will serve for the music of a pumping song. The words vary with every fancy. "Pay me the money down" is a very favourite pumping chorus. Somehow thus the verse runs (it is known as an English comic song):—

Solo.—Your money, young man, is no object to me.
Chorus.—Pay me the money down.
Solo.—Half-a-crown's no great demand.
Chorus.—Pay me the money down.
Solo & Chorus.—Money down, money down;
             Pay me the money down.

It seems a very strange song for men so little given to avarice as sailors are. Their parting ceremony on embarking is usually to pitch their last shilling on to the wharf, to be scrambled for by the land-sharks. Nor yet does there seem much sense in it, but it serves to man and move the brakes merrily. The following tune is sometimes used for this chanty :—
PADDLE YOUR OWN CANOE. [score]
//

Even though she got the lyrics from a book, did she hear this sung? Otherwise, how does she know the tune?

Then comes "Highland day and off she goes," from Atlantic Monthly.

Her RUN LET THE BULGINE RUN is original:

//
RUN, LET THE BULL CHIMES RUN. [score]

This is another favourite pumping song :—

Chorus.—Run, let the bull chimes run,
Chorus.—We'll run,—
Solo.—Away to America.
Chorus.—Way aha, way aha!
Way aha, way aha!
Chorus.—We'll pump her dry and get our grog.
Solo.—Run, let the bull chimes run.
Chorus.—We'll pump her dry and away we'll go,
Solo.—Away to America!
//

Once again, the solo - chorus structure anfd the notation don't quite jive.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 09 Jan 11 - 04:32 AM

Smith next gives "THE LION MAN-O'-WAR," without saying it is a chanty, only that it was "A very popular song at Portsmouth..."

She follows it with HOME DEARIE HOME, the shore composition. Her version of the words, unless they were popular in periodicals/broadsides of the time, may have come from James Runciman's SKIPPERS AND SHELLBACKS (London: Chatto and Windus, 1885).

http://books.google.com/books?id=OrwNAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA207&dq=%22amble+is+a+fine+tow

The idiosyncratic words match exactly (e.g. "Amble" rather than "Falmouth")...but then where does her tune come from? ANd she says that it is "Amongst the favourite chanties of North-country sailors..." but I don't know what the proof of that is. Chanty for what?

Next she gives a stanza, with tune, of GOLDEN VANITY, which she calls 'the capstan song of "Lowlands"'.

Then comes a version (text only) of OUTWARD AND HOMEWARD BOUND that I've not seen exactly before:

//
There is also a " Homeward Bound " song very well known to them :—

"At Catherine's Dock I bade adieu
To Poll and Bet, and lovely Sue;
The anchor's weighed, the sails unfurled,
We're bound to plough the watery world;
Don't you see we're outward bound.

But when we come back to Catherine's Docks,
The pretty girls they come in flocks;
And Bet to Poll and Sue will say—
'Oh, here comes Jack, with his three years' pay;'
Don't you see we're homeward bound?
Then we all set off to the 'Dog and Bell,'
Where the best of liquor they always sell;
In comes old Archy, with a smile,
Saying ' Drink, my lads, it's worth your while ;'
Don't you see we're homeward bound?"
//

No information as to whether it was a chanty.

I believe that her next song, WHISKEY JOHNNY, came from the Haswell 1879 source.

//
The chanty known by the name of "Whisky for my Johnny," or "Whisky Johnny," has many different verses, all more or less bearing upon the same subject, and none betraying much delicacy or refinement of expression. It has been sent to me from several different quarters where I have applied for chanties, so I - conclude from this fact, that it must be fairly well known amongst the sailors, and may be even a great favourite. As I have before remarked, the sailors' songs are truly characteristic of the men they belong to, and so long as they adapt themselves to the purpose for which they are intended, and help to lighten the labour and regulate the work at sea, we must be content to take them as they are, and not look for drawing-room rose-water sentiment in the ideas that originate and find favour amongst the hardy toilers of the briny ocean.

[w/ score]
Oh, whisky is the life of man;
Oh, whisky! Oh, Johnny!
Oh, whisky is the life of man!
Oh, whisky for my Johnny!

Solo.—Oh whisky makes me pawn my clothes,
Chorus.—Oh whisky, Oh Johnny;
Oh whisky makes me pawn my clothes,
Chorus.—Oh whisky for my Johnny.
Solo.—Oh whisky gave me a broken nose,
Oh whisky gave me a broken nose,
I thought I heard the old man say,
I thought I heard the old man say,
I thought I heard the old woman say,
I thought I heard the old woman say,
Oh whisky up and whisky down,
Oh whisky up and whisky down,
I thought I heard the steward shout,
I thought I heard the steward shout,
Chorus.—Here's whisky for my Johnny.
If I can't get whisky, I'll have rum,
Chorus.—Whisky, Johnny;
Oh that's the stuff to make good fun,
Chorus.—Oh whisky for my Johnny.
For whisky men and women will run,
Chorus.—Oh whisky, Oh Johnny;
I'll drink whisky when I can,
That's the stuff to make you frisky,
Chorus.—Whisky, Johnny;
Give me whisky and I'll give you tin,
If you have no whisky give me gin,
If you have no whisky give me gin.
      BELAY THERE!

Belay is generally said when the song comes to an end, or "Coil up the ropes there, boys."
//

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 09 Jan 11 - 04:41 AM

Correction: The above WHISKEY JOHNNY was not the one from Haswell (I see that coming later).

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 09 Jan 11 - 03:28 PM

In the next section of LA Smith, she introduces (without naming him) her Haswell/Parramatta Sun source (explained by Lighter, above) and explicitly attributes some items to him. I find her tone amusing; we'll see if the most of here shanties were really collected out in the field as she makes out.

//
It is not either necessary or would it be interesting for me to relate at any length, the manner in which many of these chanties have been obtained. I have taken down myself the greater part from the sailors ; sometimes at my own house, sometimes at one of theirs, occasionally in a hospital, or on board ship. There have been difficulties often in my way, in spite of the great kindness I have everywhere had shown me, but I have never had the experience of one of my numerous correspondents—namely that of having the chanties sung to him sotto voce. It appears that he, like many others, had entertained the idea of collecting the Sailors' songs and had accordingly made a beginning, which he has since handed over to me. "I was," he says, "some time ago making a ninety days' voyage in an old 'sailer' and as a pastime I commenced what you have since so ably completed, the task of making a collection of the working songs of the sea. I took notes of the best of the capstan and other songs included in the repertoire of our not very large crew. At first I jotted down the words and music in my note-book while the men were actually hauling at the ropes—but this method promised to yield as many versions of each song as there were sailors (for each man had his own pet way of leading), so that I was constrained to try some other plan. It was this. I selected the most vocal of the crew—a splendid fellow, as supple as a panther, and first at everything. He visited me in my cabin at stated moments, and as his presence was a grave breach of the rules, he had, like Bottom, to ' roar him as gently as any sucking dove.' In a word the songs were given out in a sort of roaring whisper, or whispering roar, which greatly exercised the curiosity of the passengers in the adjacent saloon. Even this chosen songster proved untrue to himself and gave me the same song in different ways, at different times, and this accounts, no doubt, for the discrepancies that exist between some of the songs as given by you, and as taken by myself." I believe it is for this reason, that the chanties have remained so long uncollected. Of course, I have found these same discrepancies over and over again, and many times have almost given up the idea of the collection, in consequence. It is the same amongst all nations of sailors. The writer of the letter just referred to, sent me some of the chanties he had taken down in secret in his cabin, and the versions both of music and words are different to mine.
//

From my own 21st century perspective it is hard to imagine just what the problem was -- the funny argument that the chanties could not be collected because of their variability. Well, just collect what you hear! But I do understand why they might not have done that. They were looking for cannon. Perhaps this explains why so many copied texts from earlier publications. LA Smith must have heard many more chanties than she lets on, but may have decided to use previously published versions as a sort of "standard."

Smith then gives Haswell's WHISKEY JOHNNY.

//
For instance, "Whisky Johnny " he gives as " Whisky " (hauling chanty), and though the sentiment is the same he gives it in quite other words :—

Solo.—O! Whisky is the life of man,
Chorus.—Whisky, Johnny!
          I drink whisky when I can,
Chorus.—O! Whisky for my Johnny.
Solo.—I drink it out of an old tin can,
       Whisky killed my poor old dad,
       Whisky drove my mother mad,
       Whisky caused me much abuse,
       Whisky put me in the Calabouse,
       Whisky fills a man with care,
       Whisky makes a man a bear.

The tune is also different, so I give that to which these
words were sung. A query is appended to " Whisky," as to
whether it be an anacreontic or a teetotal hymn? The
sentiment is mixed, and it might serve for both. [score]
//

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 09 Jan 11 - 03:43 PM

Next from Haswell comes BLOW THE MAN DOWN. Incidentally, I believe this would make Haswell's the first (to my knowledge, of course) publication of the chanty.

//
He gives the same melody as I have done for " Blow the Man Down," but different lines.

1. "Blow the man down, bullies, blow the man down;
    Blow the man down, bullies, pull him around.
2. Blow the man down, you darlings, lie down,
Blow the man down for fair London town.
3. When the Black Baller is ready for sea,
That is the time that you see such a spree.
4. There's tinkers, and tailors, and soldiers, and all,
They all ship for sailors on board the Black Ball.
5. When the Black Baller hauls out of the dock,
To see these poor fellows, how on board they flock.
6. When the Black Baller gets clear of the land,
'Tis then you will hear the great word of command.
7. 'Lay aft here, ye lubbers, lay aft, one and all,
I'll none of your dodges on board the Black Ball'
8. To see these poor devils, how they will all 'scoat,'
Assisted along by the toe of a boot.
9. It's now we are sailing on th' ocean so wide,
Where the deep and blue waters dash by our black side.
10. It's now when we enter the channel so wide,
All hands are ordered to scrub the ship's side.
11. And now, my fine boys, we are round the rock,
And soon, oh! soon, we will be in the dock.
12. Then all our hands will bundle ashore,
Perhaps some will never to sea go more."
Chorus.—Wae! Hae! Blow the man down,
Give me some time to blow the man down.
//

Luce in 1883 had also given a Black Ball Line theme.

And now Haswell's REUBEN RANZO, which Smith quotes.

//
"Reuben Ranzo"(a true story?), of course is given in yet another form, both as regards music and poetry; this favourite hauling chanty seems to have as many different versions as a pickpocket has aliases. The remark made by the collector on this song is worth remembering; he says, "Ranzo is suspiciously like a 'crib' from a wellknown old sea-song concerning a certain 'Lorenzo,' who also 'was no sailor.' However the versions of Reuben Ranzo may alter one salient point in each remains, and that is the fact of' his being no sailor.'" The last lines of this poem run :—

"I wish I was old 'Ranzo's' son."
Chorus.—Ranzo, boys, Ranzo.
"I'd build a ship of a thousand ton;
I'd give my sailors plenty of rum
Old ' Ranzo' was a good old man,
But now old 'Ranzo's ' dead and gone,
And none can sing his funeral song."
//

The theme here reminds us of Stormalong.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Lighter
Date: 09 Jan 11 - 06:13 PM

"Chalk and Charcoal – Outlines of a Trip to Europe!" Syracuse (N.Y.) Daily Courier (July 25), p. 1:

"GLASGOW, Scotland, July 12th, '67. … [Steamer Caledonia, Anchor Line, N.Y. to Glasgow] In hauling up the sails, the sailors sang to a wild old Boreas air – this impromptu verse, which they varied indefinitely:

                Blow away – blow a man down,
                A bonnie good mate and a captain too,
                A bonnie good ship and a bonnie good crew,
                Give me some time to blow a man down.

                                CHORUS.

                Away, away, blow a man down."

The first two lines were evidently transposed in typesetting.

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

LA Smith, cont.


Here's her collected version of TOMMY'S GONE AWAY:

//
The next song, "Tommy's gone to Hilo," is one of the mournful style of chanties, with a very long dragging chorus. [with score]

Solo.--Tommy's gone, what shall I do?
Chorus.—Hurrah, Hilo.
Solo.—Tommy's gone, what shall I do?
Chorus.—Tom's gone to Hilo.
Solo.—To Liverpool, that noted school,
To Liverpool, that noted school,
Tommy's gone to Quebec town,
Tommy's gone to Quebec town,
There's pretty Sail and Jenny Brown, ,
There's pretty Sail and Jenny Brown,
A-dancing on that stony ground,
A-dancing on that stony ground,
Tommy's gone to Baltimore,
A-rolling on the sandy floor,
Tommy's gone to Mobille Bay,
To roll down cotton all the day,
He's gone away to Dixie's Land,
Where there's roses red and violets blue,
Up aloft that yard must go,
I thought I heard the skipper say,
That he would put her through to-day,
Shake her up, and let her go,
Stretch her leech and shew her clew,
One pull more, and that will do,
Chorus.—Hurrah, Hilo.
Solo.—One pull more, and that will do,
Chorus.—Tom's gone to Hilo.
BELAY!

Like most chanties, the lines of "Tommy's gone to Hilo" are repeated every time, the chorus being the same for the first repetition, and changing a little at the second. The pull is made on the word "Hilo."
//

From these comments and elsewhere, it looks as if Smith's informants did a lot of "stringing out." If what she says about "Hilo" is accurate, this was a single pull chanty.

Smith next gives a ballad, "Married to a Mermaid," which uses "Rule Britannia" as a chorus. Nowhere does it say if this was a chanty, but the existence of a chorus suggests that it could have been.

Then comes paraphrasing of Alden 1882 for:
PADDY ON THE RAILWAY
BONEY
HILONDAY

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 09 Jan 11 - 11:54 PM

Smith's three versions of BLOW BOYS BLOW look independent. IMO this is one of her best examples, with interesting, varied verses and tune (just one).

//
A YANKEE SHIP.
[with score]

Solo.—A Yankee ship came down the river,
Chorus.—Blow, boys, blow.
Solo.—A Yankee ship came down the river,
Chorus.—Blow, my bully boys, blow.
Solo.—And who do you think was skipper of her?
And who do you think was skipper of her?
Dandy Jim from old Carolina,
Chorus.—Blow, my bully boys, blow.
Solo.—Dandy Jim from old Carolina,
And who do you think was second greaser?
Why, Pompey Squash that big buck nigger,
And what do you think they had for dinner?
Monkey's lights and donkey's liver,
And what do you think they had for supper?
Hard tack and Yankee leather,
Then blow, my boys, for better weather,
Chorus.—Blow, boys, blow.
Solo.—Then blow, my boys, for better weather
Chorus.—Blow, my bully boys, blow.
Solo.—What do you think was the name of this clipper?
The Flying Cloud, with a cranky skipper,
Then up aloft that yard must go,
One more pull and then belay,
I think I heard our old man say,
Chorus.—Blow, boys, blow.
Solo.—He set more sail and give her way,
We'll hoist it high before we go,
Another good pull and make it stay,
And then we've finished for to-day,
And then we've finished for to-day,
Chorus.—Blow, my bully boys, blow.

This chanty is sometimes called " Blow, boys, blow," and the verses vary, not so much in the theme or the locale, which is always America, but in the dramatis personae. For instance, in one version I found—

Solo.—Who do you think was captain of her?
Who do you think was captain of her?
Old John Brown, the boarding master,
Old John Brown, the boarding master,
Who do you think was looking after?
Who do you think was looking after?
Cock-eyed Bill, the West-end barber,
Cock-eyed Bill, the West-end barber.

In another—
Solo.—Oh blow, my boys, I long to hear you. Chorus.—Blow, boys, blow.
Solo.—A Yankee Liner coming down the river. Chorus.—Blow, boys, blow.
Solo.—And how do you know she's a Yankee Liner? Chorus.—Blow, boys, blow.
Solo.—By the stars and stripes she hangs behind her. Chorus.—Blow, boys, blow.
Solo.—A Colonial packet coming down the river. Chorus.—Blow, boys, blow.
Solo.— How do you know she's a Colonial packet? Chorus.—Blow, boys, blow.
Solo.—She fired a gun, I heard the racket. Chorus.—Blow, boys, blow.

And so on. This version was given me by a young Scotchman, whose time at sea had been limited to fifteen months, nevertheless he had a very intimate knowledge of shiplife, and sailors' ways and songs, and was furthermore possessed of a good voice and a better ear ; he sang several chanties for me, and acted, as far as he was able in a drawing-room, the heaving and hauling which they accompanied.

The tune is, however, the same for both titles, and whether known as "A Yankee Ship" or " Blow, boys, blow," it is always fathered on America.
//

After this comes a JOHN BROWN'S BODY collected by Smith:

//
The same may be said of "John Brown," which follows:

[score]

Solo. — In eighteen hundred and sixty-one
The Yankee war it was begun.
In eighteen hundred and sixty-one
As we go marching along.
Chorus.—Glory, halleluiah!
Glory, halleluiah!
As we go marching along.

Solo.—In eighteen hundred and sixty-two
The niggers made a great ado,
In eighteen hundred and sixty-two
As we go marching along.
Chorus.—Glory, halleluiah ! &c.

Solo.—In eighteen hundred and sixty-three
The niggers they were all set free,
In eighteen hundred and sixty-three
As we go marching along.
Chorus.—Glory, halleluiah! &c.

Solo.—In eighteen hundred and sixty-four
The Yankee war it was no more.
In eighteen hundred and sixty-four
As we go marching along.
Chorus.—Glory, halleluiah! &c.

Solo.—Old John Brown was the Abolition man,
Old John Brown was the Abolition man,
As we go marching along.
Chorus.—Glory, halleluiah! &c.

Solo.—John Brown's knapsack was number 92,
John Brown's knapsack was number 92,
As we go marching along.
Chorus.—Glory, halleluiah! &c.
//

This is followed by several non-chanties.