New Book of Whalemen's Songs: Jolly Sailors Bold

Subject: Folklore: A New Book of Whalemen's Songs
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 13 Oct 10 - 08:09 PM

New Book Anthologizes Songs from Shipboard Journals

CAMSCO Music of East Windsor, N.J., announces publication of
Jolly Sailors Bold: Ballads and Songs of the American Sailor,
a major anthology of folk songs and parlor songs excavated
from nineteenth-century sailors' shipboard journals. The author-editor-compiler is Stuart M.
Frank, senior curator of the world-famous New Bedford Whaling Museum, executive director
emeritus of the Kendall Whaling Museum, and renowned authority on sailor songs and
shipboard music. The product of 30+ years of research, the book features authentic historic
renditions of more than two hundred songs with words and music. It will be officially launched
with a concert and book-signing at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford, Mass., on
October 16th.
The book, which runs to 525 pages, is an annotated anthology of 232 songs, with texts
recovered unchanged from historic nineteenth-century shipboard manuscripts, here reunited
with their original melodies. This musical archaeology thus reconstructs the original materials
and presents the words and music (in many cases, several versions of each) in the same form
that they were known to landsmen and seamen more than a century and a half ago. And Dr.
Frank has been conscientious in providing a wealth of historical notes, identifying the sources
and provenance of the folksongs, the composers and lyricists of parlor songs and music-hall
pieces, and explaining the technical lingo that characterizes some of the authentic sailor-songs
that were made up by the mariners themselves.
The ballads and songs are organized into 18 chapters and seven appendices. The first chapter,
"Classical Songs of the Sea," includes the handful of songs so characterized by Herman Melville
in Moby Dick, and Richard Henry Dana, Jr., in Two Years Before the Mast. Others are well
known traditional ballads, here presented in the earliest versions ever collected from tradition,
some are the only versions ever
encountered in tradition in North America, while a few are obscure and hitherto unknown. It
was not until the very late 19th and early 20th centuries that collectors like Cecil J. Sharp and
John Lomax, and the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, began gathering songs "in the field,"
from singers themselves, in rural Britain and Ireland, and in the Southern mountains and remote
northern backwashes of America. By that time many traditional songs that had been sung for
centuries had already vanished from tradition, or failed to be harvested before they became
extinct. The ballads and songs Jolly Sailors Bold, transcribed by sailors in the 1840s , '50s, and
'60s, are therefore among the earliest texts ever encountered. They include early versions of
materials known only from much later manifestations — by which time they had often been
significantly changed — and more than a handful that were hitherto unknown and are now
restored to the repertoire.
In chapters entitled "Songs about Women," "Songs of Parting," "Deepwater Songs,"
"Ballads of Lovers Lost and Lovers Spurned," and so on, a broad spectrum of sea songs, love
songs, patriotic paeans, and comical ditties is represented. There are also three chapters of
authentic, sailor-made whaling songs, one of fiddle tunes and dance melodies, and one that has
31 parlor songs, which were originally commercially produced by known composers but are here
somewhat changed in the sailors' hands. A glossary assists with technical terms, footnotes
clarify contextual matters, and there are handy indexes of lyricists and composers, and of titles
and first lines.
Author Stuart Frank has been studying and performing folk songs since 1964, and
specializing in sea songs since he was a graduate student at Yale in 1971. He originated the sea
chantey programs at Mystic Seaport in 1972 and the annual Sea Music Festival and Symposium
there in 1979, when he began compiling this anthology in preparation for his Ph.D.
dissertation at Brown University, entitled Ballads and Songs of the Whale-Hunters, 1825-1895.
Since then he has written The Book of Pirate Songs and several other nautical songbooks,
including Sea Chanteys and Sailors' Songs: An Introduction for Singers and Performers, and a
Guide for Teachers; Songs of the Polly, 1795; "Musick on the Brain": Shipboard Tunes, 1854-
1869; and Oooh, You New York Girls! The Urban Pastorale in Ballads and Songs about
Sailors Ashore in the Big City. He has been musical and historical advisor for programming as
diverse as equity productions of Shakespeare; twelve network, BBC, A&E, and PBS television
documentaries on seafaring; has appeared on the Studs Terkel show; and with his wife, Dr.
Mary Malloy, has made concert tours across North America, Europe, Australia, and Japan, and
made several recordings. He is also author of books, monographs, and forensic treatises on
whalers' scrimshaw, a sailor-art that provides some of the illustrations for Jolly Sailors Bold..
Frank's anthology is in good company, as CAMSCO Music is the publisher of new editions
of Bertrand Harris Bronson's four-volume companion masterwork, Traditional Tunes of the Child
Ballads, as well as Bronson's single-volume condensation; The Singing Tradition of the Child
Ballads. Jolly Sailors Bold is available for $50.00 hardbound and $40.00 softbound from the
New Bedford Whaling Museum (www.whalingmseum.org) and directly from CAMSCO Music
(camscomusic.com). Information about the concert and Whaling History Symposium at the
Whaling Museum is available on the museum website www.whalingmseum.org or by email at
[e-mail].
Title: Jolly Sailors Bold: Ballads and Songs of the American Sailor
Author: Stuart M. Frank, Ph.D., Senior Curator, New Bedford Whaling Museum
Publisher: CAMSCO Music, 145 Hickory Corner Road, East Windsor, NJ 08520
www.camscomusic.com
Contact: Dick Greenhaus • Telephone: [phone] • Email: [e-mail]
Date: 16 October 2010 • ISBN 978-1-935243-90-8
Collation: xxiv+527pp; contents, 18 chapters, glossary, 7 appendices, 2 indexes
Retail: Hardbound $50.00 • Softbound $40.00
Contents: Acknowledgements
Introduction
A Few Words about Chanteys
1 — Classical Songs of the Sea: An Eighteenth-Century Garland 1
2 — The Girl I Left Behind Me: Songs About Women 21
3 — The Sailors' Farewell: Songs of Parting 39
4 — Jolly Sailors Bold: Deepwater Songs and Ballads 66
5 — Heave Away, My Hearties: Deepwater Chanteys 91
6 — Battle Pieces: Naval, Military, and Patriotic Ballads 109
7 — A Bonny Bunch of Roses: Napoleonic Songs and Ballads 131
8 — Tarry Trousers: Ballads of Lovers Lost and Lovers Spurned 145
9 — Love Impeded: Ballads of Family Opposition to Lovers 169
10 — Love Entangled: Ballads of Lovers' Disguises and Tricks 185
11 — The Jolly Roving Tar: Ballads of Faithful and Unfaithful Lovers 207
12 — Terra Incognita: Comic and Convivial Songs 242
13 — Lubbers and Swabs: Miscellaneous Songs and Curiosities 258
14 — There She Blows: Classic Whaling Songs 281
15 — The Whaleman's Lament: Original Whaling Songs 315
16 — "Plenty of Music": Two Voyages of the Bark Kathleen 342
17 — "Musick on the Brain": Frederick Howland Smith's Tune List 357
18 — Hurrah For the Sea: Parlor Songs of Ships and Seafaring 380
Appendix 1 — Nature and Nancy: Dibdin's Songs 429
Appendix 2 — How Cheery Are the Mariners: Sailors' Parlor Songs… 439
Appendix 3 — The King of the Boundless Sea: Selected Whaling Poems 446
Appendix 4 — The Homebound Whaleman 454
Appendix 5 — John Martin's Musical Programme 456
Appendix 6 — Biographical Notes on the Diarists and Journal-Keepers 460
Appendix 7 — Inventory of Additional Song Texts 475
References 497
Bibliography 507
Glossary of Technical Terms 520
Index of Lyricists and Composers 522
Index of Titles, Alternate Titles, First Lines, and Tunes 522

Subject: RE: Folklore: A New Book of Whalemen's Songs
From: KathyW
Date: 13 Oct 10 - 10:43 PM

Excellent news!   Ever since Dr. Frank's lecture at the Mystic Sea Music Festival this summer I have been wondering when this book was going to be out.

It doesn't appear to be listed on the CAMSCO website yet, or the website for the New Bedford Whaling Museum, but I see Amazon has the paperback available. Odd that they don't have the hardcover, which I would prefer for a reference book like this.

Subject: RE: Folklore: A New Book of Whalemen's Songs
From: KathyW
Date: 13 Oct 10 - 10:47 PM

Correction: Amazon also has the hardcover. Yay!

Subject: RE: A New Book of Whalemen's Songs
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 14 Oct 10 - 05:06 AM

Thanks, Dick. I hope my local library will order this.

I'll be most curious to see what chanteys it might include. The chapter with chanteys is around 10 pages. I wonder if the manuscripts reveal any that have not turned up in published sources.

Subject: RE: A New Book of Whalemen's Songs
From: GUEST,^&*
Date: 14 Oct 10 - 05:42 AM

Hi Dick
You planning on making this available directly to your European cousins?

Subject: RE: A New Book of Whalemen's Songs
From: JWB
Date: 14 Oct 10 - 09:10 AM

Dick, thanks for the thorough overview of the book. This is a must-have! It's great you get to distribute it -- watch for my order.

Jerry

Subject: RE: A New Book of Whalemen's Songs
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 14 Oct 10 - 12:43 PM

I don't distribute it---I publish it (sound of me slapping myself on the back). It's available directly from CAMSCO. I'm having it printed in both the US and the UK to eliminate the need for transAtlantic shipping: price in UK is 25 GBPounds for softcover; 30 GBPounds hardcover. S&H within UK is 5.25 GBPounds.

Subject: RE: A New Book of Whalemen's Songs
From: greg stephens
Date: 14 Oct 10 - 12:47 PM

Congratulations Dick this looks a fantastic project. The Boat Band is in need of some new repertoire, this looks a very likely source!

Subject: RE: A New Book of Whalemen's Songs
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 15 Oct 10 - 03:44 AM

I sent the info to my shanty singing friends & one reported she has bought it.

sandra

Subject: RE: A New Book of Whalemen's Songs
From: GUEST,Dave Eyre
Date: 15 Oct 10 - 10:41 AM

Hi Dick,

How do we get it in the UK?

Dave

Subject: RE: A New Book of Whalemen's Songs
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 15 Oct 10 - 11:05 AM

Contact www.camscomusic.com.

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: A New Book of Whalemen's Songs
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 15 Oct 10 - 12:35 PM

Dave Eyre-
If you order it from CAMSCO Music ([e-mail]), it will be printed and delivered to the UK. PayPal is probably the easiest way to pay.

I'm sorry, but I haven't had time to put it on my website yet,

dick

Subject: RE: A New Book of Whalemen's Songs
From: KathyW
Date: 18 Oct 10 - 11:34 PM

My copy arrived in the mail today, and it is as spiffy as I'd hoped! I can see I'm going to have a good time going through it.

Gibb, since you were curious, the chanteys in the "Deepwater Chanteys" chapter are:
The Sailor's Alphabet
Goodbye, Fare Ye Well
Heave Away (Heave Away, My Johnnies; We're All Bound to Go)
Reuben Ranzo
Old Horse (Salt Horse, Poor Old Horse)
Homeward Bound and Outward Bound (Get Up Jack, Let John Sit Down)
Homeward Bound (II) (Described in the text as being related to Hugill #542, but w/out "get up Jack, John sit down" line.)

Also, "Rolling Down to Old Mohee," appears in the chapter on "Classic Whaling Songs."

Many of the lyrics are different from the ones I've seen elsewhere, and are quite interesting.

Subject: RE: A New Book of Whalemen's Songs
From: EBarnacle
Date: 19 Oct 10 - 12:29 PM

Tying to other thread concepts, how different is the version of Get up Jack, John sit down from the version in the Warner collection? If it is the same, does it invalidate their copyright, as the diary is almost certainly older than their source?

Subject: RE: A New Book of Whalemen's Songs
From: GUEST,kendall
Date: 19 Oct 10 - 12:45 PM

I wonder if my whaling song will ever make its way into a book?

Subject: RE: A New Book of Whalemen's Songs
From: EBarnacle
Date: 19 Oct 10 - 06:06 PM

OK, I'll bite. How's it go?

Subject: RE: A New Book of Whalemen's Songs
From: kendall
Date: 19 Oct 10 - 07:46 PM

I'll do another thread on it.

Subject: RE: A New Book of Whalemen's Songs
From: kendall
Date: 19 Oct 10 - 08:08 PM

It's titled The Last Whale Hunt

Subject: RE: A New Book of Whalemen's Songs
From: SINSULL
Date: 19 Oct 10 - 08:14 PM

So which edition, US or UK, will be worth more on Ebay 100 years from now?
I will be ordering, Dick, when Xmas bonuses arrive probably after the first of the year.

Subject: RE: A New Book of Whalemen's Songs
From: KathyW
Date: 22 Oct 10 - 01:20 PM

EBarnacle, just saw your question.

If you are asking if "Homeward Bound and Outward Bound" (Get Up Jack, Let John Sit Down) is the same song as "Jolly Roving Tar" published in "Traditional American Folk Songs" by Anne Warner, I'm sorry to disappoint you-- "Homeward Bound and Outward Bound" in Prof. Frank's new book is a different song. It's more like the "Homeward Bound" (performed by Prof. Frank) that you find on the "Classic Maritime Music from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings" album. Or if you have a 1961 (unabridged) "Shanties from the Seven Seas," go to page 541.

Prof. Frank's book also has a song titled "Jolly Roving Tar," provided with a tune from "Folksongs from Southern New Brunswick" by Helen Creighton, but it too is different from song in Warner's book.

I recommend that you get this book if you are interested in this stuff. I can see I'm going to be spending quite a bit of time going through it.

Subject: RE: A New Book of Whalemen's Songs
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 23 Oct 10 - 12:42 AM

Get Up Jack, John Sit Down was collected by Frank and Ann Warner from Lena Boorn Fish; it's a folk-processed version of a song written by Ned Harrigan.
Jolly Roving Tar, as collected from whalemen's journals by Stuart Frank, is something completely different.

Subject: RE: A New Book of Whalemen's Songs
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Oct 10 - 01:54 AM

Dick, that information on the original composer of the song is really interesting! At the risk of getting off topic, I did a little Google-ing of Edward Harrigan, it turns out that he wrote "Get Up, Jack-- John Sit Down" in 1885 to be included in a musical play called "Old Lavender." Apparently it was a farce set in a dockside slum area. Thanks to Google Books, one can find Harrigan's original song here: http://books.google.com/books?id=D6-fV6nGceYC&lpg=PA109&dq=%22edward%20harrigan%

Also, there is a version of the song lyrics in "American Ballads and Folk Songs" by Alan Lomax, described as a song "sung and written down by John Thomas, a Welsh sailor on the 'Philadelphia' in 1896." (Found via a reference in the Warner book.) Again, Google Books is there to help those who wish to see what that looks like:
http://books.google.com/books?id=Dn0cSe2ecuoC&lpg=PA493&dq=american%20ballads%20

Subject: RE: A New Book of Whalemen's Songs
From: KathyW
Date: 23 Oct 10 - 01:57 AM

The above off-topic-ness was from me, I somehow had gotten logged out.