Songs about boats, No disasters!

Subject: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 01:04 PM

A previous thread (Don't do X with Y - Mousethief) Got me to thinking. Someone said that all of the interesting songs about boats involve a disaster. Surely there are lots of them. (Edmond Fitzgerald, The Irish rover etc.) But are there good one which don't involve disaster? Christian Island (G. Lightfoot), Southern Cross (S. Stills), Old Polina and Lukey's boat (Nfld. Trad) all come to mind. Are there others? What are your favourites?

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 01:07 PM

Nope... no good boat songs without disaster!

;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: GUEST,iains
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 01:10 PM

some songs are about boats but not about boats. Two songs come to mind. Nancy Spain and the Voyage.

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Midchuck
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 01:11 PM

When we do The Mary Ellen Carter we often explain that it's almost impossible to write a happy song about ships, because if anything interesting happens on a voyage, it's likely to result in the ship sinking, and if nothing interesting happens, what's to write a song about? Stan, we explain, got around the problem by sinking the ship in the very first line, so it had nowhere to go but up.

Kinda like Rolling Home, as done by Kendall and by Ed Trickett, 'tho.

Peter.

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Mountain Dog
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 01:16 PM

Sloop John B.? Banana Boat Song? Good Ship Lollipo...well, maybe not.

Grey Funnel Line is a particular favorite; haunting and yearning, yes, but certainly not tragic. Beautifully sung by June Tabor, too.

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Deckman
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 01:18 PM

Hey, how about the "Queen of Connamra."? CHEERS, Bob(deckman)Nelson

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: nutty
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 01:19 PM

The Kipling?/Bellamy classis BIG STEAMERS is a favourite of mine

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: GUEST,Nick
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 01:43 PM

Great Big Sea does a tune called "Lukey" or "Lukey's Boat" Lukey's Boat is painted green Ah Ha me Boys , Lukey's Boat is painted green It's the prettyest boat that you've ever seen, ah ha me boys a riddle-I day!

Now there is a dead wife mentioned but it is not a disaster.

I say Lukey your blinds are down "Me wife is dead and she's underground" Ah ha me boys A riddle-I day

I says Lukey I dont care I'll get me another in the spring of the year ah me boys etc.

They have two versions, one on the CD "UP" and another version they play with the Chieftans, that one is on a CD called Fire in the Kitchen, the also made a video for that one that aired on Canadian Music Televison, I have it as a Realplayer file.

Two other songs they do with strong boat content are, Ferryland Sealer, only a disater if you are one of the 900 seals "sculped" and Excursion around the Bay, not so much about the boat as where it goes, and once again there is the loss of wife.

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Naemanson
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 01:45 PM

We have often conjectured about a song about a voyage wherin nothing goes wrong. Generally it makes for a pretty boring song.

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: GUEST,Nick
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 01:46 PM

Ps Ferryland Sealer is in the D-Trad data base

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Gareth
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 02:08 PM

Hmmm ! No Sinkings, No disasters
McColls "the Shoals of Herring ", "The Leaving of Liverpool", "Swansea Town", Tawney" British Submarine","Flash Packet", "Liverpool Packet", "Black Ball Line", Masfields "Cargos"(ok the peom can be put to music), "Whip Jamboree".

The list is long

Gareth

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: mytoycar
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 02:15 PM

May I suggest the safest song about a boat or rowing a boat that kiddies favourate and it has actions too!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: GUEST,guest Pat Nowell
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 02:17 PM

There a farewell song that Pete Seeger often sang called "Sweet Roseanne" collected by Alan Lomax (Southern Journey vol.1, Rounder Records. Sung by Bright Light Quartet). More recently, Cathy Barton and Dave Para have a wonderful version on their "Riding the River" CD.

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: kendall
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 02:20 PM

The Marco Polo by Jim Stewart. He turned this into a saga, and, did a really great job on it.

This Old Boat as sung by Gordon Bok.

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Shields Folk
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 02:31 PM

The Mingulay Boat Song!

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: SINSULL
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 02:37 PM

Michael, Row The Boat Ashore
The Owl And The Pussycat
Winken, Blinken, and Nod...I am reaching here.

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Shields Folk
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 02:39 PM

It's not a song but how about the Catspaw Dinghy

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Stewart
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 02:43 PM

"Song for the Bowdoin" by Larry Kaplan. The 1921 arctic research schooner fell into hard times by about 1950, but was then restored and now sails again off the New England coast. Other fine songs of the sea by Larry Kaplan on his Folk Legacy recording (CD-122) "Worth all the Telling."

Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 02:55 PM

Kendall, the Marco Polo also sinks in the last verse, but it's a fine song. There are a few songs I can think of that celebrate particular vessels such as "The Dreadnaught", "The Bold Princess Royal," and "The Mary L. MacKay."

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: MMario
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 03:04 PM

Bonny Ship the Diamond

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 03:05 PM

"The Bonny Ship The Diamond" for example.

The german shanty "Magellan" is also not about a catastrophy... but about catastrophical conditions on a ship. Maybe that doesn`t count. Bs. did you know german sailors were forbidden to sing this one? It was too true on too much ships...

Then there is "Proud Mary" of course.

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: GUEST,Annegi
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 03:17 PM

The Balena is a song celebrating a Scottish whaler.

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Naemanson
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 03:18 PM

Well, after I submitted my last post I got to thinking about it and started remembering all the songs that fit this category. Besides those above there is the first Marco Polo song, the one we designate as Marco Polo I, that doesn't involve a sinking. Plus there is Bok's Liza Jane, the C. Fox Smith poem Ships That Pass, and Somos El Barco.

There is another one that Bok does about a ship that gets repainted in mid voyage. Nice Carribean rhythm and once you hear it then you are stuck with it in your head for the rest of the day.

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 03:26 PM

Last Farewell, Roger Whittaker? Brandy, Looking Glass?

Reaching a bit.

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 03:31 PM

Bluenose

Jock

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Naemanson
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 04:02 PM

Stan Roger's Last Watch ends in the destruction of a ship but by the breaker's torch. How does that one count?

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: kendall
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 04:10 PM

Charlie, the Mary L McKay also sank.
I should have posted the right name, it should be This Old Ship by Bok.

Naemanson, that song is Belemana. (sic)

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: kendall
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 04:11 PM

Old Fat Boat by Gordon Bok

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: GUEST,geordie
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 04:33 PM

The Bluenose; Mike Stanfield,a happy story.

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Mountain Dog
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 05:42 PM

The Loch Tay Boat Song, too. Silly Wizard's rendition is wonderful.

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: RangerSteve
Date: 08 Aug 01 - 12:37 AM

The Handsome Cabin Boy.

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: kendall
Date: 08 Aug 01 - 07:58 AM

Are we talking about boats, or ships?

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: MMario
Date: 08 Aug 01 - 09:04 AM

damn- kendall - I can never remmeber which is which - a boat can be taken aboard a ship, right? except for submarines, which I believe are all classed as "boats"?

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: catspaw49
Date: 08 Aug 01 - 09:12 AM

Well you're getting some Jack......But you've been sailing long enough to realize why there are so few. Remember the old line? "Sailing is 98% pure boredom and 2% sheer terror."

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 08 Aug 01 - 09:28 AM

I don't care if is a boat or a ship. We do have some good ones here. It is certian the shipwreck makes for abetter song.

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Naemanson
Date: 08 Aug 01 - 09:48 AM

Oh great! Kendall, the minute you named that song the tune flooded back into my mind and now I can't get rid of it! Argh!

Good tune, though.

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Mountain Dog
Date: 08 Aug 01 - 01:21 PM

'Spaw,

I've heard the same proportional statement applied to flying by a friend who is a commercial airline pilot. In essence, a safe flight is a boring flight, while an exciting flight is a memorable experience if you live to tell the tale...and a memorial experience if someone else has to tell it!

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Trapper
Date: 08 Aug 01 - 01:24 PM

How about "If I Had A Boat" by Lyle Lovett?

- Al

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: ChanteyMatt
Date: 08 Aug 01 - 01:26 PM

How about "One More Pull" and "Bluenose Line" by Geoff Noble (currently residing in Nova Scotia).

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 08 Aug 01 - 01:32 PM

Mountain Dog

I think you are right. But there seem to be more Air related songs, not about disasters. Back in the USSR, leavin on a jet plane, early morning rain etc. but for my money they don't compare to "Deportee" by Woody Guthrie.

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: GUEST,Nick
Date: 08 Aug 01 - 02:12 PM

Gee Ranger "Handsome Cabin Boy?" The imprgenation of an underage transvestite by the male parnter of a couple who are both cheating with the same person is not a disaster (?) No actually it is another Jerry Springer Segment!

This is a very funny song, though not really about the ship.Sounds more like a cabin in the Ozarks!

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Mudlark
Date: 08 Aug 01 - 11:10 PM

How about Reuben Renzo, When I went to Liverpool, The Water is Wide (not HAVING a boat, but still), We'll Rant and We'll Roar Like True Born Young Whalermen, Skye Boat Song (the BOAT never got into trouble), ..

I can't swim a stroke but really like boat/ship songs...

nancy

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Dave (the ancient mariner)
Date: 09 Aug 01 - 08:32 AM

The Rosabella is my favourite. Good banjo tune too! Yours, Aye. Dave

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From:
Date: 09 Aug 01 - 11:57 PM

If I were a Boat?

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Amos
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 12:05 AM

I will build me a boat of silver -- steer it with a golden oar... (G. Bok)

And about three or four others of his whose names escape me at the moment -- "the Nancy Jean had a new fore truck, 'twas a fine piece o' wood but it wouldn't stay stuck"... and the one about refurbishing the ancient schooner. The Golden Vanity has a fine fight in which the good guys win, so no tragedy there. And "Blow Ye Winds In The Morning" and a hatful of other traditional sea-songs are more about jollies than tragedies, including "Donkey Jacket" (The Banks of Newfoundland), for example. "Whoop Jamboree", "The Walloping Window Blind", "Bound for South Australia"... not a tragic note among 'em.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 12:20 AM

Larry Kaplan's "Old Zeb" should be included, along with his "Song for the Bowdoin."

Also note: Cathy Barton and Dave Para's CD is actually titled Living on the River. Folk-Legacy has it, and Kaplan's CD as well.

Sandy

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 12:24 AM

Another good one - the capstan chantey "Paddy Lay Back," taking place on "the limey barque, the Hotspur." Not a disater song, though the sailor in the song has a disastrous time aboard this ship.

Richard Grainger's "Scarborough Fisherman" tells of their dangerous task, and is a great song. No specific boat here, though, if that's what you're looking for.

-chanteyranger

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Naemanson
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 06:18 AM

Amos, that song is "the Liza Jane had a new fore truck, 'twas a fine piece o' wood but it wouldn't stay stuck". Good song too.

I think we are straying from the original premise of the thread. Quite a few of the songs mentioned above are not about boats but about the sailors on the boats.

One more: Rocks of Baccalieu - a song about a near miss in a snow squall.

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Shields Folk
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 11:25 AM

Mudlark, the whole idea of having a boat is not having to swim!

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 11:31 AM

Kendall, I don't believe the "Mary L McKay" sank, at least not in the song I know; she just made record time from Portland, Maine, to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, in record time, propelled by Portland rum.

However, "The Walloping Window Blind" DOES come to grief on a reef, although the sailors later successfully hijack a junk, leaving its crew to chew on the bark of the whatever tree.

Then there's "The Champion of the Seas" or the older version about one of McKay's earlier clippers "The Sovereign of the Seas."

Subject: RE: BS: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 11:34 AM

The only reason I learned to swim is so that my parents would let me in the boat.

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Grab
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 01:00 PM

Sea Fever, Skye Boat Song, Rolling down to old Maui/Mohee.

Lotsa post-sailing songs - Spanish Ladies, Johnny come down to Hilo, Donkey Riding.

Graham.

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: catspaw49
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 01:09 PM

Hey Mountain Dog.....flying and sailing have much in common with one exception; Sailing is the only sport which is cancelled due to beautiful weather. A great day to fly is pretty much a lousy day to sail! Nothing like spending three days at a regatta laying around baking in the sun or trying to find even a piece of a breeze under those cloudless blue skies!

Spaw

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: GUEST,Winters Wages
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 01:43 PM

How about "chanteyranger & the Racoon" A song about Chanteyranger being chased by a racoon on the Hyde Street Pier (just kidding Only he can explain) Would make for a nice tune WW

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Big Tim
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 02:20 PM

Messing about on the river!

Plus, a decent wee song about the last ocean going paddle steamer in the world the Waverley (based in Glasgow) called the Waverley Polka, words by Jim Brown, Tune, Miss Campbell's Polka. First verse:

Sailing doon the Clyde on the Waverley, a grand old boat is the Waverley, she'll tak ye doon tae Rothesay and be back for rea, the way that she did when you were wee, when the buskers played at the after end the kind of tunes that were the trend, you were always sure tae meet a friend afore you left the quay...

I can assure you it sound good after a day out on the Waverley and a few pints too!

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Rev
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 02:21 PM

Hey WW, I was there on that terrible day, aboard the ship Balclutha, when our friend Chanteyranger was chased by a raccoon, resulting in disaster. The ship didn't sink, but I think Chanteyranger had a bit of a sinking sensation when he hit his head. It would make a lovely ballad. What rhymes with "Balclutha?" Rev

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Naemanson
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 02:43 PM

Would Derelict be a ship song without a disaster? All the bad things happen to the sailors (pirates) and the ship is fine except for the mess on the deck (...scuppers glut with a rotting red...)

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 11 Aug 01 - 02:01 AM

WW and Rev: No it wouldn't. :-)

Southern California nautical singer/songwriter has composed songs about ships such as the Elissa. David Lovine, formerly of the Lady Washington, composed a song about the Spitfire of Orcas Island, plus songs about the Lady Washington, which can be found on his CD, Pierhead Jump.

-chanteyranger

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: GUEST,Bonnie
Date: 11 Aug 01 - 09:04 AM

What about Debbie Reeves' "Joshua" and Roger Stones " Schooner Kathleen"?? Hey George, what do you think of "Down Through Halifax"???????

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: GUEST,genie
Date: 12 Aug 01 - 08:53 AM

How about Lorre Wyatt's "Somos El Barco?" (I think this is in the DT. You can also find it on Peter, Paul & Mary's website.) The chorus is: "Somos el barco, somos el mar. Yo navego en ti, tu navegas en mi. We are the boat, we are the sea; I sail in you, you sail in me."

Then there's a French-Canadian rowing song, "C'est L'Aviron" (The chorus, roughly, means "We pull the oars," and the verses are about finding romance.)

Also, "The Water is Wide, I cannot cross o'er, and neither have I wings to fly. Build me a boat that can carry two, and both shall row, my love and I. "There is a ship and she sails the sea. She's loaded deep as deep can be, but not so deep as the love I'm in. I know not if I sink or swim." In this song, it is the singer's love life, not the boat or ship, that meets disaster.

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Lyrical Lady
Date: 12 Aug 01 - 11:44 AM

'Away from the Roll of the Sea' is a song about small crafts in the harbour. I'm pretty sure it's not about remote controlled boats!

LL

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: GUEST,Bek
Date: 12 Aug 01 - 03:13 PM

How about 'Come on down to my boat, Baby'. Of course, it could end with a disaster if the fisherman found out what the boy was asking his daughter to do.

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: forty two
Date: 12 Aug 01 - 03:50 PM

Well only a minor disaster but I thought would draw your attention to the song cos it is very funny. The Cruise Of The Calabar is in the Mudcat song list. I know it as the Good Ship Calabar - but same words. About a boat that sets out to sail west from Belfast - and hits an unccharted rock on the Lagan Canal heading for Portadown with a lod of coal!

Just thought it was worth mentioning!

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: toadfrog
Date: 12 Aug 01 - 06:16 PM

Well, there's WHALEBOAT MALARKEY (Joseph Spence). And there is the song Skip Henderson sings, not immediately findable on DT, whose chorus goes:

I's the boy that built the boat,
I's the boy that sails her,
I's the boy to catch the fish,
and takes 'em home to Lisa.

Then the DT has an unusually literate version of "Our Lugger Venus," truly a song about a boat. And finally, I think I recall one that goes something like his:

Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream,
Merilly, Merilly, Merilly, Merilly,
Merilly, Merilly, Merilly, Merilly,
Merilly, Merilly, Merilly, Merilly,
Merilly, Merilly, Merilly, Merilly (I forget the rest.)

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From:
Date: 12 Aug 01 - 07:41 PM

Bonnie! Love Down Through Halifax. Thanks to you and your husband for helping.

Kathleen, and Joshua are both good examples of sea songs with no disaster. Note, the Joshua song is actually about Joshua Slocum and not a boat per se.

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 12 Aug 01 - 08:14 PM

You may want to check out the C. Fox Smith thread, set the wayback for 3 days; she has lots of songs that describe major sailing routes such as "Flying-Fish Sailor", "The Wool Fleet Chorus" and "the Cape Horner." Many of these are recorded by Pinch o' Salt on their splendid CD SEABOOT DUFF & HANDSPIKE GRUEL.

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Walking Eagle
Date: 13 Aug 01 - 09:15 AM

"Sailing Down this Golden River" - - Pete Seeger ( sort of a boat song).

"Son of a son of a Sailor" - - Jimmy Buffett. Check out some other or Jimmy's songs. It's a stretch to call them folk songs, but some ar good.

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Aidan Crossey
Date: 13 Aug 01 - 11:25 AM

The Rounding of Cape Horn - great nautical song and only a minor disaster when a couple of sailors fall overboard and have to be left "to the sharks that prowl around Cape Horn".

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Amos
Date: 13 Aug 01 - 03:40 PM

And 'Spaw's earnest assertions not withstanding it was NOT a piece of "breeze" he was looking for when lying around in the sun because the regatta got cancelled. Unless the term "a piece of breeze" has taken on new meaning in the vernacular lately...speculations welcome! :>)

A

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: GUEST,Melani
Date: 14 Aug 01 - 04:04 PM

What about "The Lock-keeper," or is that too far-fetched? Actually, I think a great many chanties don't involved disaster to the ship--just to the sailors when on shore.

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: GUEST,Julia
Date: 14 Aug 01 - 09:25 PM

Stan Rogers "The Cliffs of Baccalieu" - lots of excitement and they don't pile up on the ledges

Loi Lyman's "Hesper" song.

Fred Gosbee's "Ramona" (this one is a romance) or "Bride of Cappy John" She carries her bow high Her stern is nice and round It's easy to hold her, when she's sheeted down etc

(ok, so there is a misunderstanding here - it IS about a boat)

"Bold Daniels", Daniels prevails over pirates even though outnumbered and outgunned

"Dark Old Waters" by Gordon Bok. The actuall sinking was not and is not part of the song

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: raredance
Date: 14 Aug 01 - 10:30 PM

"Ballad of the Sloop Clearwater" by Bud Foote with a little additions from Pete Seeger.

"The Dom Pedro"; "The Jamestown Homeward Bound"; The Yankee Man-of War"; "The Constitution and the Guerriere" (I suppose this depends on which side of the Atlantic you are on); "Hudson River Steamboat"; "Waiting For The Robert E. Lee"; "Song of the Volga Boatman"; "Bullgine Run"; "Red Iron Ore"; "the Song of the Cup";

rich r

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: BRG
Date: 14 Aug 01 - 11:05 PM

I haven't been here for quite some time - great thread. I like Lois Lyman's "Wiscasset Schooners" on Bok's Schooners album - more the passing of an era than a disaster - although I am partial to the disaster songs.

Naemanson - is that other Bok song "Belemena"?

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: BRG
Date: 14 Aug 01 - 11:22 PM

Sorry - Kendall already answered that question - I just missed it.

Bruce

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Sep 01 - 12:56 AM

Proud Mary
OK, it's not traditional folk, but it's about a boat and no disaster.

Subject: ADD: Wiscasset Schooners (Lois Lyman)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Apr 03 - 12:45 AM

I last visited Maine in the early 1990's, and one of the most memorable sights was Wiscasset, where the remains of two wooden schooners lay rotting at a dock. I got there just after one of the schooners lost its mast, and there wasn't much left to see. Still, those old ships were a wonder to behold for Joe the would-be sailor who lives far from the sea. This thread says thery're all gone now, taken to the dump.
What a shame.
-Joe Offer-

---

WISCASSET SCHOONERS
(Lois Lyman)

Do you remember riding home before a dying summer breeze,
Your topsails gleaming golden, setting sun among the trees,
And the osprey wheeling slowly through the shadows by the shore,
Where the towering cliffs of granite plunge ten fathoms deep or more,
And the eddies swirl and flow down below.

You were solid-built of Douglas fir and oak and yellow pine,
Two hundred feet, sailed by a crew that numbered only nine,
Hauling lumber through your timberports, and dyewood from the south
Running home from Norfolk bringing coal to heat the north
And whatever they could stow down below.

But the winter is upon you now, and time is passing slow
And the tides ebb and flow down below.

You served them well for fifteen years, your canvas all unfurled
When New England sailing ships were found in ports around the world,
But spars gave way to smokestacks, clouds of white to black and grey,
There was nothing left for you to do but waste your lime away,
And the rot was spreading slow, down below.
And the winter...

From Wiscasset to the China Lakes the Narrow Gauge did run,
To push it northward to Quebec was old Frank Winter's plan —
And schooners were to bring his cargoes in to meet the train,
When he found you idle on the dock, he brought you down to Maine Where the tides ebb and flow down below.

You know he tried the best he could, but he just couldn't make it pay
So he ran you both aground, and turned around and walked away;
You've been waiting here for fifty years, but no one set you free,
Now you're broken down and dying, lying open to the sea,
And the tides ebb and flow down below.
And the winter...

The people come to stare at you with wonder in their eyes
For times have changed since men knew how to work a ship your size.
The seas you sailed are running black; in time we'll know our loss
It's too late now for you, and is it too late now for us?
Can you teach us what you know before you go?
For the winter is upon you now, and time is passing slow
And the tides ebb and flow down below.

Copyright 1985, Lois Lyman

From the Gordon Bok CD, Schooners.

Bok says:

Lois spent part of her childhood in Wiscasset, Maine, where she used to play aboard the hulks of two schooners there, the Hesper and the Luther Little. The vessels are disintegrating quickly now; she wrote this song to keep them and their history a bit closer to memory.

---

This Google Search (click) will bring up some interesting photos.

Subject: ADD: Karl Edstrom and the Hesper
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Apr 03 - 12:58 AM

KARL EDSTROM AND THE HESPER
(Lois Lyman)

My name is Karl Edstrom, I am eighty years old,
And I heard that you're trying to save the Hesper.
I joined her crew in 'twenty one — for Le Havre we were bound —
I was twenty then, and I never will forget her.

She was cloud-white and long, and her four masts so lofty
That her topsails seemed to pierce the sky above her.
She was strong and deep and wide, timberports on either side;
When I looked at her, I thought that she was lovely.

We sailed out of Rockland with a crew of nine men
And her hold was just as full as we could pack her.
She was loaded down and slow with logwood and coal
And her bottom was so foul we could not tack her.

Caleb Haskell was master and the mate was his son
And a tougher bastard never sailed blue-water
For no matter what we tried he would not be satisfied,
And he drove us all the time we were aboard her.

When we landed in France the dockside was swarming
With peddlars and ladies so charming.
"Where are the men?" the ladies cried: they could not believe their eyes
That only nine of us had brought her to this landing.

The cook got so drunk that we all ate on shore
And I thought the Old Man would hire another,
But the captain said: "Let him be, for he's sober out to sea,
And he makes a better pie than my mother."

Rolling out to Venezuela we sang and made music,
Played cribbage, killed rats and stood our watches.
We arrived on Christmas day, over New Year's we lay,
Loading goat manure until it reached the hatches.

In Charleston, Carolina, they paid off my time
I said goodbye to my mates and there I left her.
It's been fifty years for me since I made a life at sea;
Now and then I think of Haskell and the Hesper.

So here's my ten dollars to help you restore her
For it makes me sad that ships like her are gone, now.
But it grieves me even more to see her rotting on the shore
Who rode the waves like a snowy gull in summer.



Copyright 1988, Lois Lyman



From the Gordon Bok CD, Schooners.



Bok says:

A few years ago the friends of the Wiscasset Schooners were trying to raise funds to "stabilize" them. They received a letter from Karl, who had sailed in Hesper when they were both young. Someone went to the nursing home to tape his recollections of those days. It was from this story that Lois made the song, and put it to the tune The Swarthfell Rocks.

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: mg
Date: 08 Apr 03 - 01:13 AM

someone mentioned Stan Rogers and Cliffs (Rocks) of Baccaleau?? (SP?). That is a traditional Newfoundland song, perhaps with a known author. I don't know. Baccaleau is Portugeuse for codfish I believe.

mg

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: denise:^)
Date: 08 Apr 03 - 01:22 AM

"Blow Ye Winds Southerly?" No disasters--just the fear of one...

Denise:^)

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 08 Apr 03 - 04:53 AM

Stan Rogers' "Last Watch on the Midland"?
Dave Webber's about the "Marco Polo"?
Or George Papavgeris' about the "Batavia" (OK, out of 341 only 116 returned on that one, but there IS a happy ending with the building of Batavia's replica)

And if we are really desperate for a jolly song about a boat, why not "The good ship Lollipop"? ;-)

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Apr 03 - 05:15 AM

Downeaster Alexa by Billy Joel is a wonderful song about a man's love for the sea and his ship.

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Little Robyn
Date: 08 Apr 03 - 05:19 AM

I was going to suggest Percy French's Mary Ann McHugh, but then I remembered it 'ran aground on a lump of coal that wasn't marked on the charts' so I guess that's too tragic?

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 08 Apr 03 - 08:06 AM

John Campbell's song, "The Mary," about a 1940's coastal tanker whose day's are done. Should find his original version as well as an adapted, more upbeat version with a thread search.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Strupag
Date: 08 Apr 03 - 09:54 AM

A great song about a boat - with no disasters is the recently written one called "God Bless the Hector" writter by Ian Macdonald and sung by his brother, Spyder Macdonald. Good story to this! In 1775 (or thereabouts) the ship Hector left the shores around Ullapool to sail to the new land and ended up in Pictou NS. The good people of Pictou have now built an almost exact replica of the boat. At the launch of the "new" Hector quite a few people from Ullapool went over and those of us at home listened to a live link of the launch. Many new friendships and new links have been made. Check for the boat here http://www.townofpictou.com/

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: Strupag
Date: 08 Apr 03 - 10:12 AM

I've thought of an other - no disaster except for the state of the boat!

Prosperity
Chorus:
I'm proud tae be the skipper o' this grand wee craft
And whit I'm goin' tae say tae ye may sound quite saft
But if I had the choice o' a' the boats at sea
I'd choose no other boat than the Prosperity

Noo my starboard light is red and my portside light is green
My radar shows me somewhere on the road tae Achnasheen
My compass is a model o' very high degree
Because it's stuck here pointin' tae three-nine-three
O ma gearbox takes in water and me engine spews oot oil
Ma galley stove's no' hot enough tae mak' the kettle boil
Ma spare box is only big enough for storing cans o' paint
And the smell up frae the bilge would mak' a strong man faint

Noo ma West Coast chart is handy as a table mat
But it's protected by three layers o' jam and fat
And sometimes when I think I'm just a mile south o' Rue
I'm steamin' through a tumbler stain o' Barr's Irn Bru
O I don't know how I'm goin' tae face next Wednesday
'Cause that's the day I have my Board of Trade survey
I'll give ma hull a lick o' paint and polish up ma brass
And once I gie the man a dram I'm sure tae pass

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: EBarnacle
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 04:46 PM

It seems that the Mary L. Mackay is not the Mary L. Mackay after all. Frederick William Wallace, the author, states she was actually the Effie M. Morrissey and that he changed the name of the vessel to protect the guilty.

The full story can be found at this site:

http://www.ernestina.org/history/rovingfisherman.html

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: EBarnacle
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 05:30 PM

The Boat Owner's Lament,
written while restoring an old wooden schooner during the el nino of the early 80's
Melody: Rosin the Beau

I work on the hull of my schooner,
And all the 'glass boaters go by;
They ask when she'll be in the water, and
I tell them she'll sail by and by.

Cho: I tell 'em she'll sail by and by-I-I,
      I tell 'em she'll sail by and by,
      They ask when she'll be in the water, and
      I tell 'em she'll sail by and by.
[follow the same pattern for each chorus.]

My friends won't come by to help me,
The weather's too cold or not dry;
Then they ask when they're gonna go sailin', and
I tell 'em they'll sail by and by.

The engine's a hunk of scrap iron,
The sight of it makes strong men cry;
I coughs and it clanks and it sputters, but
I tell you she'll hum by and by.

The deck is old and it's rotten,
It leaks if a cloud's in the sky;
From weather it gives no protection, but
I tell you we'll caulk by and by.

The plumbing leaks into the bilges,
The sink only works when it's dry;
When we're on port tack there's a geyser, but
I tell you we'll plumb by and by.

Well, She's back in the water this Summer,
Looking good at least to my eye;
She sails like a gull on the ocean, and
I told you she'd sail by and by.

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: GUEST,ClaireBear
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 05:38 PM

I just can't resist: check out The Aged Pilot Man in the DT.

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: GUEST,Gary
Date: 25 Sep 10 - 02:30 AM

Did anyone mention "Proud Mary" or "Blackwater"? They are both names of boats.

Subject: RE: Songs about boats, No disasters!
From: GUEST,Gary
Date: 25 Sep 10 - 02:42 AM

Maybe "Black Water" is what they called the Mississippi River, but it sounds like it's about a boat "back paddle wheel bumpin', Black Water keeps rolling on past just the same" - anyone know for sure?