Heave Up Songs

Subject: Heave Up Songs
From: The Fenian
Date: 08 Oct 97 - 07:01 AM

Heave up songs are something like the marchin' "jodies?" The basic difference was they are used to "pump up" the silor's when they were rowin' or just generally to pass the work while on board. This is what I was told they were anyway. Such songs as (Haul Away Joe), (Big Bow Wow), South Australia) would all fall under this catagorie I would think. Anybody got any Heave up Songs out there?

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: Shula
Date: 08 Oct 97 - 07:58 AM

Thank Gawd! For one paralysing, horrifying moment, thought they'd let an adolescent hooligan loose in these virtual hallowed halls! Whew! False alarm! Just let m' poor weak heart calm down, before y' start one about "Blowin' chunks, " 'z all I ask! Can "woolah" now. Carry on.

Shula

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: The Fenian
Date: 08 Oct 97 - 09:33 AM

Now that you have your neves calmed, DO YOU KNOW ANY HEAVE UP SONGS?!

Subject: Lyr Add: SANTY ANNA^^^
From: Jon W.
Date: 08 Oct 97 - 10:03 AM

I have a couple of tapes/CD's with such songs on them. One is called "Sailing and Whaling" songs by Paul Clayton. I've submitted most to DT but if you can't wait, here's one:

Santy Anna

Oh Santy Anna gained the day
Hurray, Santy Anna
General Taylor run away
All on the plains of Mexico

Chorus:

So heave her up and away we go
Hurray, Santy Anna
Heave her up and away we go
All on the plains of Mexico

Oh Santy Anna fought for fame
Hurray, Santy Anna
That's where Santy gained his name
All on the plains of Mexico

Chorus

Santy Anna fought for gold
Hurray, Santy Anna
And often have his deeds been told
All on the plains of Mexico

Chorus

Oh Santy Anna's day is o'er
Hurray, Santy Anna
Santy Anna will fight no more
All on the plains of Mexico

Chorus

I thought I heard the old man say
Hurray, Santy Anna
He'd give us grog this very day
All on the plains of Mexico

From "Sailing and Whaling Songs" by Paul Clayton

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: Frank Phillips
Date: 08 Oct 97 - 11:05 AM

I THOUGHT I had one on a CD that might qualify but I cannot find it. The chorus partially goes:

Don't haul on the rope
Don't climb up the mast
If you see a sailing ship it might be the last
(2 more unremembered lines)
A sailor's not a sailor's not a sailor anymore.

I will keep on looking.

Frank

p.s. Thought for a moment I might have to recommend the Calgary Folk Club house band's fine rendition of that old Australian Classic "Chunder in the Old Pacific Sea"

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: Nonie Rider
Date: 08 Oct 97 - 08:07 PM

I think the problem here is an embarrassment of riches. How many hundreds of chanteys are there? Just about any sea song with lines that repeat in each verse ("Go down, you blood-red roses," "Yo ho, blow the man down," "Carry him long, John, carry him long," "Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum," and so on) are heave-away songs.

Myself, I like to use "Haul Away, Joe" as the tune for Kipling's "We have fed our sea for a thousand years" section from "Song of the Dead."

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: Barry
Date: 09 Oct 97 - 02:04 AM

Do a search in the database using @sailor and you'll come up with plenty. If you go to Deja News & seek out sea shanties look for FAQ & you'll find long discriptions on the different types of shanties ( haliyards, windlass, pump, captsan, etc) how they were used , what they were used on/for. A Sailor Ain't A Sailor is not a shanty but rather a sea song recently written by ex submariner Tom Lewis. Barry

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: The Fenian
Date: 09 Oct 97 - 12:56 PM

Thank you very much for the reply(everyone) The forgotten two verses are Get your bullies ready for another run ashore (Frank)

The song Whailer's and Sailor's sounds sometin' like Genreal Taylor

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 09 Oct 97 - 04:45 PM

The basic difference between a shanty (or work song) and a cadence ch

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: Alice
Date: 09 Oct 97 - 05:14 PM

Really.... rather than sea shanties, I thought this thread title referred to sea sickness, hangovers, morning sickness, etc. Haul away, haul up, heave ho, I recognize, but ... heave up songs?? Fenian, I think we may be dealing with a language/slang barrier. "Heave up" seems to be what college freshmen major in these days. Alice in Montana

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: Barry
Date: 09 Oct 97 - 06:38 PM

Fenian, that's get your civies ready, it refers to civilian clothes, worn when going ashore. I thought the heaving up part was the green from the greenhand or the chum food from the chump or the drunk or seasick sailor yelling at the sea from over the lee rail or .. Barry

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: Alex
Date: 09 Oct 97 - 11:57 PM

I, too, was fooled by the thread's title - I was going to list all of Bob Dylan's songs 'cos they certainly make me gag (especially when Bob sings? them). See Eric Bogle's song "Just won't sing any Bob Dylan".

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: Moira Cameron
Date: 10 Oct 97 - 01:38 AM

I've noticed a couple of Canadian groups have taken these traditional Heaving songs and put then into a Canadian winter contect. For example, Trilogy with their "Snow Shanty", and an East Coast group (whose name escapes me for the moment) with "Haul away Snow".

Subject: Lyr Add: BOSTON HARBOR^^^
From: The Fenian
Date: 10 Oct 97 - 09:58 AM

So it is "civies." Sorry about that, Barry. Alice, "heave up songs" is what my father calls them. I think you're right about the language barrier but what's the matter with that? Just because someone calls it a different name doesn't mean anything. Anyway, here is the words to one I like:

Big Bow Wow

From Yartmouth Harbour we set sail
The wind was blowin' the Devil of a gail
All our ring-tails set and our bafflin' is at peak
And our dolphin stirkers plowin' up the deep

Chorus:
With a Big Bow Wow tow row row
Fall der all der I do da

Now the captian comes up from down below
He looks Aloft and he looks alow
He looks alow and he looks aloft
Sayin' it's coil those ropes boys fore and aft

Chorus:

Then back to his cabin he quickly crawls
Unto the steward he loudly calls
Go bring me a glass that will make me cough
For it's better weather here then it is up aloft

Chorus:

Now it's we poor sailors standing on the deck
With the blasted rain pouring down our necks
Not a drop of grog will he to us afford
But he damns our eyes with every other word

Chorus:

Well there's one thing we sailors crave
For him to find a watery grave
We'll shaove him down in a dark deep hole
Where the sharks will have his body "AND THE DEVIL TAKE HIS SOUL"

Chorus 2x:

Anyone know what dolphin strikers means?

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HTML line breaks added. -JoeClone 16-Jan-2001.

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: Alice
Date: 10 Oct 97 - 02:20 PM

Moira... it's snowing here. Where can we find "Haul Away Snow" ? I'd like to learn that one.

Fenian... there's nothing wrong with it. It's humorous. Sounds like your dad has a good sense of humor. Alice in Montana

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: Barry
Date: 10 Oct 97 - 03:38 PM

Fenian, try 'with the ring-tail set all about the mizzen peak'. A ring-tail is a small sail that would be set behind the spanker, the mizzen would be the aft mast (mizzen sail the most aft sail) & peak, you guessed it, the peak. The dolphin striker would be the short spar pointing towards the sea (thus the dolphin striker), that juts downwards from the bowspirit (or widowmaker). The standing rigging would run from the end of the bowspirit to the tip of the dolphin striker then to the bow or stem, this would help to distribute (throughout the vessel) the strains that the mast would put on the rigging that runs from the mast crosstrees & peaks. Barry

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From:
Date: 10 Oct 97 - 05:10 PM

I learned it "all abaft the mizzen peak"

Bob S.

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 10 Oct 97 - 09:04 PM

He folks-- I hate to pick nits, But just about all the songs that have been posted here are already in the database. Which means that the site becomes that much more crowded (the situation that Max has been trying to alleviate).

Please, please check out the database before you post lyrics. And not just by titles--Big Bow Wow is listed as Boston Harbor. Try looking for an odd phrase (loke dolphin striker). Which is more more formally known as a martingale, I believe. It's a jumper strut for the bowsprit.

I hereby put down my nits and go back to picking my banjo. thanx, all.

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: GaryD
Date: 11 Oct 97 - 12:16 AM

Speaking as an "old Seafarin' Man" (sailed 5 years summertimes on the Great Lakes Ore Boats in my college days)..not exactly qualifies me as an expert, but the love for the music and men singing sure is with me..We had our song traditons about sailing on the lakes too, most notably the Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, which I was on board for a while visiting a friend a few months before it settled to the bottom..(fortunately my friend had reshipped)...Anyway..Sea Songs & Lore strike deep within me..a site I came across you might want to try if not familiar with it (including a great picture of a Schooner" is Shanties & Sea Songs (my first try with a command..hope it works..

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: Barry
Date: 11 Oct 97 - 08:21 PM

Dick, the martingale boom would be the dolphin striker, the martingale, would be the standing rigging (usually chain or cable, sometimes line), running from the outer end of the jib boom or bow spirit, to the dolphin striker & then to the bow. Barry

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: Moira Cameron
Date: 13 Oct 97 - 01:51 AM

For Alice and anyone else who's interested. "Haul Away Snow" (based very loosely on Haul Away Joe) was written and sung by the Canadian band from the East coast, 'Hal 'n Tow'. (I hope I spelled that right)

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: The Fenian
Date: 14 Oct 97 - 07:36 AM

Thanks for the link GaryD it is good.

The version I heard defivnitly has 'and our dolphin strikers plowin' up the deep

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: S.P. Buck Mulligan
Date: 14 Oct 97 - 08:22 AM

not strictly a "sea chanty" but certainly patterned after one, is Stan Rogers' "Free in the Harbour" with its chorus of "Hauling away, hauling away". One of Stan's many uses of traditional forms for his stuff.

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From:
Date: 14 Oct 97 - 07:05 PM

Just got Wave Over Wave (Old and New Songs of Atlantic Canada) by Jim Payne and Fergus O'Byrne. Includes several shanties, and is quite good. ("Heave Away"; Net Hauling Song"; Rig Worker's Alphabet; Bound For St. Peter's, etc)

BTW, about shanties, do they not have special names depending on what work the song was supposed to accompany? Some are quite slow, some very fast and short, etc.

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: Jon W.
Date: 14 Oct 97 - 07:16 PM

Tim, yes--Short haul shanties, pumping shanties, etc. Take the link GaryD posted above and it tells about some of them.

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: The Fenian
Date: 15 Oct 97 - 06:55 AM

Tim, I've got that album as well and I agree there are some great song son that one. Ryan's Fancy, Sullivan's Gypsy's and almost anything with Fergus has a sea shanty or two in it and GaryD's link is quite a nice one.

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: Barry
Date: 16 Oct 97 - 11:06 PM

Tim, most if not all heavy work done at sea by a merchant crew, was done to song (1 man singing was worth 10 on a line, or something like that). Anchor songs (slower & could drag on for hours) could be used at the capstan or windlass, capstan could also be used for hoisting sail by mechanical mean or warping into or out of the dock, halyard shanties: long haul for heavey sail, short haul for lighter sails, hand over hand halyard for for'sls like the jib & stays'ls or braces, bunting for hauling the sail, belly over the yard, the last few feet so as to secure the sail to the yard, stamp & go or run away shanties, with a line over the shoulder & crew running, hauling the braces, sweating up would have a shantyman standing on the rail leaning into the halyard the hands hauled out the slack & pumping had the downtown pumps, the up & down or jiggerty jig pumps very close to the motion of the brake or windless pumps. Some of the anchor songs would only be used as outward bound shanties, others only as homeward bound & then some only sung in certain trades & wouldn't normally be heard elsewhere & some very specific, like 'The First Of the Emigrants' outward bound from England to Australia with emigrants as cargo durning the Australian gold rush era Sorry for going on & on & on ....... Barry

Subject: Lyr Add: MOLASSES RUM (chantey)^^
From: Tilell
Date: 21 Oct 97 - 10:51 PM

Number One: Barry. . . where are you from? I grew up on the rocky coast of Maine and lived on the sea. . . but one rarely finds someone with such a plethora of sea knowledge! I'm highly impressed! Course, as an ex-naturalist from a whale watch crew. . . I've always hated the term "dolphin striker" now "dolfin striker" I could cope with. Dolfin. Yum. (Yes! The FISH not the mammal)

Number Two: I thought I'd contribute a little shanty I know, sung last I heard by a group big Downeast, called Schooner Fare:

"Molasses Rum"

Call: "O' the African man cuts the sugar-cane"
Return "O' molasses!"
C: "He works in the sun and he works in the rain"
R: "O' molasses rum!"
C: "Then he loads it up on a wooden ship, and sends it off on a northern trip. Heave 'er!"
R: "O' molasses! O' molasses rum!"

C: "When they fought the war for the colonies."
R: "O' molasses!"
C: "They fought it over New England's tea."
R: "Her old molasses rum!"
C: "When Old king George put a tax on it. . . the colonists nearly took a fit!"
R: "O' molasses! O' molasses rum!"

-chorus-
"Old molasses. . . old New England tea, it killed my grandpa, killed my pa, and it sure as hell is a killin' me! That Old molasses, old molasses rum!"

C: "In the time of the eighteen seventeen war."
R: "O' molasses!"
C: "Molasses sitting on the Boston shore."
R: "O' molasses rum!"
C: "They pumped it in, at twelve degrees, a long winter night in a Boston Freeze!"
R: "O' molasses! O' molasses rum!"

C: "In the mornin' it was thirty-two."
R: "O' molasses!"
C: "Molasses batch split clean in two."
R: "O' molasses rum!"
C: "Ten thousand gallons stuck in the bay, twenty-six people drowned in the flood that day!"
R: "O' molasses! O' molasses rum!"

-chorus-

C: "My grandpa he died cuttin' cane."
R: "O' molasses!"
C: "My pa went down in the great black rain of. . ."
R: "O' molasses rum!"
C: "But I won't die in a black stock flood, no I won't drown in a pool of blood. . . still I'll go down to molasses!"
R: "O' molasses! O' molasses rum!"

-chorus-

Tilell

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HTML line breaks added. -JoeClone 16-Jan-2001.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE ALBERTINA^^
From: Barry
Date: 22 Oct 97 - 12:00 AM

Thank you Tilell, I'm Boston born & bred. Spent my summer youth on the waters of Buzzards Bay (Nantucket Sound), spent sometime living off the Lahinna Roadstead, Maui, lent a hand in rerigging the sailing museum ship the Carthaginian, while there, & was bestowed with the honor of being her shantyman while I lingered, made a Pacfic crossing & have had an active (as possible) interest in sailing ships, related music & culture for the past 20 years, but am not a shellback by any means (one who's crossed the line ), only a polywog. It's all love. Here's one back at ya, from the mouth of George Herbet , recently retired Master Rigger (at 92), of the Golden Plover, Hawaiian Chieftain, Almadopa, from West Geelong. The Albertina

They are building a ship in the haven,
Albertina they will call when she's done,... pump away

CH. Albertina she will serve us, Albertina will preserve us,
Albertina, they will call her when she done....pump away

They say that she is ready & waiting,
To take us all around the horn,.....pump away

CH. Albertina she will serve us, Albertina will preserve us
And take us all around the horn.....pump away

They say that she ready at anchor,
she's loaded down with golden ale & wine,.......pump away

CH. Albertina she will serve us, Albertina will preserve us
And she's loaded down with gloden ale & wine,...pump away

They say that she's lies waiting at anchor,
To take us o'r the the bounding main,.....pump away

They say that there's a sailor's grave awaiting,
beneath the ocean wide & blue,.....pump away.

Barry

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HTML line breaks added. -JoeClone 16-Jan-2001.

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: rechal
Date: 24 Oct 97 - 02:16 PM

How about "Gloucester Boys," "Doodle Let Me Go," "Sam's Gone Away," "John Kanaka-naka-too-ri-ay," "Along the Banks of Mexico," "Leave Her Johnny, Leave Her," "Oh You New York Girls (Can't You Dance the Polka?)" and "Reuben Ranzo."

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: rechal
Date: 24 Oct 97 - 02:20 PM

Oh yeah! "Captain Kidd"!

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: Catfeet
Date: 27 Oct 97 - 11:41 AM

Hey Barry!

Mayhap you can fill in the song to this chorus:

Sail on Bill McCoy, Sail on Arathusa(phonetic), Runnin' the rum from Nassau town to the mouth of NY bay.

It's not a chanty as such, but I learned it at a chanty sing and never learned the verses, as we didn't stay in the city long enough to go to enough sings to learn all the songs well. It's also been driving me nuts!

Catfeet

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: Jon W.
Date: 18 Feb 98 - 06:06 PM

I'm refreshing this old thread and posting a new, related question on a thread I will call "sea shanties timing and tempo". Please look there.

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: Art Thieme
Date: 18 Feb 98 - 08:55 PM

Then there's always the grand sea song about a sailing ship called: "THE BARF GAY HEAD" (I love songs that can have a thousand or two meanings depending on ones orientation.

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From:
Date: 19 Feb 98 - 09:27 AM

(or spelling, typing and pronunciation prowess)

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: Skip Henderson
Date: 19 Feb 98 - 01:00 PM

Respectfully submitted from Skip, 22-year veteran of the San Francisco Maritime Museum (Nat'l Historic Park) To Fenian and other interested musicians: A Sailor Ain't a Sailor(Last Shanty)was Tom Lewis' first written song and ably and performed by him on his tape " Surfacing",a Canadian 1987 ASM 101C casette:-----don't climb up the mast, and if you see a sailing ship, it might be your last" etc. I have an extensive library of shanties, chantys, and pirate lore with some empirical sources (books and documents) dating back almost 2 centuries. I welcome honest e-mail concerned with maritime music, terminology and foklore and will make every effort to respond to "hits" from those involved in performing and anotating this art. [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: Bert
Date: 20 Feb 98 - 09:26 AM

A tot of whiskey for each man
Whiskey, Johnny
and a bottle for the "Chanteyman"
Whiskey for me Johnny.

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From:
Date: 14 May 00 - 06:22 PM

Can anyone help me with the lyrics to 'john Kananka'? I recently took my kids to South Street Seaport in NYC aboard the Peking where they sang along to this. They loved it but can no longer remember most of the lyrics.

Thanks, John

Subject: Lyr Add: HAUL AWAY SNOW (parody)
From:
Date: 29 Jul 00 - 03:44 AM

Moira & Alice

I just got this from a friend who got it from Jim Stewart, the author of the The Winter Shanty

The Winter Shanty
music: traditional
lyrics: © Jim Stewart, SOCAN

When I was a little boy, so my mother told me .. (Shovel !)
(Way, haul away, we'll haul away snow)
If you lick a frozen pipe, your tongue is bound to hold thee .. (Shovel !)
(Way, haul away, we'll haul away snow)

Chorus:
Way, haul away, we'll pray for better weather .. (Shovel !)
(Way, haul away, we'll haul away snow)

I ain't got a 4-wheel drive, I ain't got no snow blower .. etc.
So winter is a pain in the back, and sometimes even lower .. etc.

Cho:

I can't get to Florida, I'm financially unable .. etc.
Besides, I have a relationship with a set of booster cables .. etc.

Cho:

I once loved a Yankee girl, but now we're separated .. etc.
Cause all she knew was Fahrenheit, and I was metricated .. etc.

Cho:

I just dug my driveway out, those snowdrifts I was slingin' .. etc.
Then the bastard plough came round, and blocked the whole damn thing in .. etc.

Cho:

Enjoy

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: mg
Date: 29 Jul 00 - 08:34 PM

well John Kanakanaka reminded me of this bit of history I just found out about...I live near Ft. Vancouver and went there with my sister...we were surprised to find that they had a "Kanaka" village nearby in the old days..it was Hawaians..and there is at least one town nearby..Kalama..with a Hawaian name..we asked how did Hawaians get here..thinking they might have just signed on board ships there etc...it turns out the King of Hawaii had some sort of deal with Hudson's Bay where he indentured them for cash...some apparentlyh liked it here enough to stay and so there are Hawaian descendents here...Ft. Vancouver territory stretched all the way to Hawaii..

mg

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: NH Dave
Date: 29 Jul 00 - 11:48 PM

One version of John Kanaka is in the database at click here. Mind you, many other verses could be sung to this tune and chorus.

Dave

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: Naemanson
Date: 05 Mar 01 - 11:49 AM

Well, I don't mind the snow TOO much. After all it is March and April is only 26 days away.

And I always remember that I moved to Southern Maine to enjoy the warm weather and early spring. If you want long winters try Aroostook County, Maine.

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: Naemanson
Date: 05 Mar 01 - 11:55 AM

OOPS! Wrong message in the wrong thread!

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: GUEST,Roll&Go-C
Date: 05 Mar 01 - 08:06 PM

For those with a scholarly interest in "heaving Up" as in seasickness, you should check out HEAVE HO! – MY LITTLE GREEN BOOK OF SEASICKNESS by Charles Mazel. What a history! It's published by McGraw-Hill. To quote from the back cover:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer silently
The derision of those who suffer not,
Or to lose lunch bravely into a sea of troubles
And by purging end them? To die, to hurl,
No more – and thereby end
The bellyache and the thousand natural revulsions
That seagoing flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep;
To puke: perchance to hurl: ay, there goes the grub.

Now for a chorus of "Dramamine"?

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: MartinRyan
Date: 05 Mar 01 - 08:15 PM

"MARTINGALE" is a strap preventing a horse's head from rearing. The nautical use seems to have come from that.

Regards

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: mousethief
Date: 05 Mar 01 - 08:18 PM

Final Trawl as sung by Bok/Trickett/Muir.

Alex

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: GUEST,Robert
Date: 18 Sep 08 - 05:43 AM

See anything by Stan Hugill.

And, respectfully, it's "Santyana" - a rebel in the Mexican revolution whose ragtag army many sailors joined.

Subject: RE: Heave Up Songs
From: shipcmo
Date: 24 Feb 11 - 07:55 AM

reflux