Lyr Req: Going Back to Weldon (Menhaden Chanteymen

Subject: Lyr Req: Weldon or Weldon Yard shanty
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 22 Dec 08 - 06:21 AM

I am trying to find the lyrics to Weldon or Weldon Yard shanty. Originally sung by the Menhaden Chantymen, I believe there is an arrangement done by Orphan's Monkey.

Searched all over the google and the digitrad with no joy.

Anybody?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Weldon or Weldon Yard shanty
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 22 Dec 08 - 07:10 AM

I've got Going Back To Weldon on the Menhaden Chanteymen's Won't You Help Me To Raise 'Em. Would that be the one you're after, or is this something different?

If it's the one you want, I'll try to put it up later today.

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Weldon or Weldon Yard shanty
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 22 Dec 08 - 12:09 PM

Hi Mick

Sounds like the one. I would really appreciate that.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Weldon or Weldon Yard shanty
From: Snuffy
Date: 22 Dec 08 - 12:41 PM

If you mean the group from Humberside, you'll have more luck with Monkey's Orphan, not the other way round.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Weldon or Weldon Yard shanty
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 22 Dec 08 - 12:44 PM

oops... well it was a long weekend and some fantastic real ale. Monkey's Orphan noted. Thanks

Subject: Lyr Add: GOING BACK TO WELDON
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 22 Dec 08 - 03:32 PM

Here it is then - it is the song you want.

The notes say: ... both songs use a chorus which relies on tripling. This tripling is also found in "Going Back To Weldon", a song whose possible railroad origins are revealed in its alternating chorus about returning to work in the Weldon, North Carolina, railway yards. The song also reveals some of the toughness of the black maritime workers with its reference to the Captain's Luger and the Mate's "owl's head", a small double-barreled pistol so-called for the way it looks to someone on the receiving end"

There's one word I can't make out, that I've noted as birdie, but it could be body or Bernie, or something else; I'm open to suggestions on that.

I've left out the various interjections they make at the end of lines (if you know the style of the Menhaden Chanteymen, you'll know what I mean - things like: Let's get 'em up there now, come on let's get 'em
now, and so on).

Mick

---

GOING BACK TO WELDON

I'm going back to Weldon, Weldon, Weldon
I'm going back to Weldon
To get a job in the Weldon Yard.

Oh, I'm going back to Weldon, Weldon, Weldon
Oh, I'm going back to Weldon
To get a job in the Weldon Yard.

Oh, Captain, if you fire me, fire me, fire me
Oh, Captain, if you fire me
You got to fire my birdie? too.

Oh, I'm going back to Weldon, Weldon, Weldon
Oh, I'm going back to Weldon
To get a job in the Weldon Yard.

Oh, de Captain's got a Luger, Luger, Luger,
Oh, de Captain's got a Luger
And the mates got a owl head*

Oh, I'm going back to Weldon, Weldon, Weldon
I'm moving back to Weldon
To get a job in the Weldon Yard

I don't want no woman, woman, woman
I don't want no woman
That's got hair like a horses mane

Oh, I don't want no woman, woman, woman
I don't want no woman
That's got hair like a horses mane

Oh, I'm going back to Weldon, Weldon, Weldon
Oh, I'm going back to Weldon
To get a job in the Weldon Yard.

Oh, de house is on fire, fire, fire
De house is on fire
And it's almost burning down

Oh, de house is on fire, fire, fire
It's true, de house is on fire
And it's almost burning down

Oh, I'm going back to Weldon, Weldon, Weldon
I'm going back to Weldon
To get a job in the Weldon Yard.


* see notes

Source: Menhaden Chanteymen: Won't You Help Me To Raise Em

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Weldon or Weldon Yard shanty
From: Barry Finn
Date: 22 Dec 08 - 08:52 PM

Try "Buddy" instead of birdie

Barry

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Weldon or Weldon Yard shanty
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 23 Dec 08 - 02:26 AM

Thanks Mick.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Weldon or Weldon Yard shanty
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 23 Dec 08 - 09:48 AM

Thanks Barry - buddy sounds fine!

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Going Back to Weldon (Menhaden Chanteymen
From: GUEST,Pat Sheridan
Date: 08 Oct 11 - 06:16 AM

I find it hard to believe that this was a shanty. Sound more like a folk song but possibly of a forebitter origin. If it was sung by the Menhaden Chanteymen, as suggested, then it may have fishing trade links. I heard that it was from a fish processing plant in Weldon NC. However, there was huge railroad in Weldon and it could have come from a railroad singing tradition, maybe railroad yard. I am an Irish singer who has recorded an a Capella rendering of this song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Going Back to Weldon (Menhaden Chanteymen
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 08 Oct 11 - 08:02 AM

Pat

The songs was definitely sung by the Menhaden Chanteyman, a I stated (not suggested) above. They fished for the menhaden fish (a fish once used extensively for manure and its oil) and their songs were mostly (I think) used for net-hauling (rather than sails or capstan - the type of shanty you were referring to I imagine). The notes I quoted from the album (also posted above) suggest a possible railroad origin for the song.

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Going Back to Weldon (Menhaden Chanteymen
From: maeve
Date: 08 Oct 11 - 01:27 PM

Here are Gordon Bok's notes on the song, recorded with the January Men (From :http://www.timberheadmusic.com/disc/weldon.htm )
***********************************
"Weldon"

Traditional: Arr. Menhaden Chanteymen of Beaufort

In the Menhaden fisheries of the east coast of America, songs like this were used for hardening up the twine after the fish had been pursed. They were lifting many tons of fish with their backs, so they needed the chanteys.

             I shared a fishing-songs workshop in Norfolk with a group of these men (old and younger) and later Bob Zentz sent me a tape of the Menhaden Chanteymen of Beaufort, NC who sang this song. You can tell by the structure of the song that this crew had sung together many years. We made this recording in our early days together, when Bob Stuart was with the group.

Sung by the January Men (Bob Stuart, lead)

I'm going back to Weldon, Weldon, Weldon
Going back to Weldon to get a job in the Weldon Yard.*

O captain if you fire me
You've got to fire my buddy, too.


Captain's got a luger
And the mate's got an owl's head.**

I don't want no woman
Who's got hair like a horse's mane.

O my house is on fire
And it's almost burning down.


*Weldon Yard: the railroad yards in Weldon, NC
**Owl's head what a double barreled pistol or derringer looks like when it's pointed at you.

Weldon is recorded on the album Gatherings.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Going Back to Weldon (Menhaden Chanteymen
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Mar 18 - 02:45 PM

There's an article in a 1951 copy of "Life" magazine that shows menhaden fishermen at work, and quotes this song.

https://books.google.com/books?id=hVQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA140&lpg=PA140&dq=bunker+%22hey+play%22&source=bl&ots=tXau2kREr0&sig=4OyCRBonv9EvolEtb_eH6qf1UE4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwipjra5vN3ZAhVHnOAKHVqTCnwQ6AEIPDAF#v=onepage&q=bunker%20%22hey%20play%22&f=false

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Going Back to Weldon (Menhaden Chanteymen
From: Greg B
Date: 23 Mar 18 - 11:41 AM

Not sure how the conclusion that "owl's head" refers to a derringer was reached. Iver Johnson was a popular brand of revolver (contemporary of the Luger) whose trademark was a stylized owl's head.

Both William Mckinley and Robert F Kennedy were assassinated with Iver Johnson revolvers.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Going Back to Weldon (Menhaden Chanteymen
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Nov 18 - 04:23 AM

Owl's head probably refers to the fact that wwhen you look at this type of gun pointed at you, you see two big circles looking like the eyes of an Owl. Imagines like an Owls head. Adrian from Eindhoven Netherlands. We sing this song regurlaly as trio "Tres Hombres Shanty Crew"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Going Back to Weldon (Menhaden Chanteymen
From: GUEST,paperback
Date: 10 Nov 18 - 02:38 AM

Owl's Head

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Going Back to Weldon (Menhaden Chanteymen
From: GUEST,Liz Walker
Date: 24 Sep 21 - 10:26 AM

Popping into a very old thread-
I recently joined a group called the Southport Shanty Crew, and we just sang last night at the Southport Historical Society. Southport used to be one of 3 major Menhaden fisheries in NC. We sang a shanty sung by former group The Soutport Shanty Singers for the same society back in the 90's called Sweet Roseyanna. Most of those guys are gone now but had actually been Menhaden fishermen, and one of their family members, Donnie Joyner, did part of the presentation before we sang. He specifically mentioned "Weldon" as a song that was raunchy and NSFW, which brought me here- I used to run a bawdy songs group. Lyrics found here so far don't seem to fit the bill- does anyone know any other verses?

If anyone is interested in finding out more about the Memhaden fishing industry, there was a really interesting local article recently:

https://coastalreview.org/2021/08/our-coasts-history-menhaden-fishing-days/

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Going Back to Weldon (Menhaden Chanteymen
From: cnd
Date: 07 May 23 - 12:06 PM

I just purchased the cassette by the Menhaded Chanteymen which features this song.  Liz's request has got me curious, though.  I'm not aware of any, and of course, the cassette doesn't have anything bawdy on it.

Here's a version from the Library of Congress:

Captain, if you fire me, fire me
Captain, if you fire me,
You got to fire my buddies, too.
Well, we will catch a load
and get back to Weldon on the road,
I'm going back to Weldon
to get a job in the Weldon yard.

(Library of Congress recording: AFS 14,574; it refers to the large lumber yard in Weldon, North Carolina)

Barbara J. Garrity-Blake - The fish factory, p. 88

The November 27th, 1988 edition of the Raleigh News & Observer (link) noted that I'm Going Back To Weldon was a railroad song "the fishermen adapted for their own use."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Going Back to Weldon (Menhaden Chanteymen
From: cnd
Date: 07 May 23 - 12:15 PM

Here's a brief excerpt from Life Magazine, November 19th, 1951, p. 142. Some pictures of the boats and their crews also accompany the verses.

I am goin' back, I am goin' back, I am goin' back to Weldon
Get me a job on the railroad line.
Captain if you fire me, fire me, fire me,
Captain you gotta fire my buddy too.

Captain don't you see that dark cloud risin' over yonder?
Captain don't you see that dark cloud risin' over yonder?
Lord, Lord, it's a sign of rain
Lord, Lord, it's a sign of rain

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Going Back to Weldon (Menhaden Chanteymen
From: cnd
Date: 07 May 23 - 12:37 PM

Below is probably the railroad song referenced in the News & Observer previously; it was reportedly a "popular worksong sung by the Negroes employed with Federal Flood Relief money in 1916 to construct highways in the lower part of Marion County (South Carolina)." I feel the style of song also lends itself well to railroad work.

Gwine back to Weldon, gal (Whuck)
Gwine back to Weldon, gal (Whuck)
Gwine back to Weldon, gal (Whuck)
To work on the Weldon road.

Hello, Mamie! (Whuck)
Hello, Mamie! (Whuck)
Hello, Mamie! (Whuck)
Honey, God bless yo' soul.

Gwine back to Weldon, gal; (Whuck)
Gwine back to Weldon, gal; (Whuck)
Gwine back to Weldon, gal - (Whuck)
Work on the Weldon road.

Gwine to Cincinnati, gal; (Whuck)
Gwine to Cincinnati, gal; (Whuck)
Gwine to Cincinnati, gal - (Whuck)
Honey, where they pay you mo'.


Bring you mo' money, gal; (Whuck)
Bring you mo' money, gal; (Whuck)
Bring you mo' money, gal - (Whuck)
Honey, dan yo' lap kin hol'.

Captain and the walkin' boss, (Whuck)
Captain and the walkin' boss, (Whuck)
Captain and the walkin' boss (Whuck)
A-raisin' cain all day.

Source: "Negro Songs from the Pedee Country" by Robert Duncan Bass, in The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 44, No. 174 (Oct. - Dec., 1931), pp. 420-421

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Going Back to Weldon (Menhaden Chanteymen
From: Bugsy
Date: 07 May 23 - 09:06 PM

I Just love Kimbers Men's version of this song



going back to Weldon

Cheers

Bugsy