Review: Sailor music

Subject: Sailor music
From: GUEST,AR282
Date: 24 Jan 02 - 11:22 PM

I was invited to this wonderful site some time ago by Uncle Jacque. Sailor music is a wonderful root music that few people know anything about. It is extremely important for its cultural contributions.

Unable to find help locating sailor music, I just began searching anywhere and everywhere in the Detroit area. Uncle Jacque directed me to the Amazon site and I ended up ordering 2 more CDs from them and I'm very glad I did.

I'll review the CDs I have and try to be as interesting as I can about it.

BLOW BOYS BLOW, Ewan MacColl & A. L. Lloyd, Tradition TCD 1024--Anything with London's A. L. "Bert" Lloyd is worth the price. Here he teams up with Scotsman Ewan MacColl--one of Britain's most popular folksingers. This one is remarkable for its song, "Handsome Cabin Boy" about a girl named Nell who masquerades as a boy and becomes the captain's gopher. The captain's wife is also quite taken by the handsome cabin boy and is always kissing him at stolen moments. Then Nell suddenly gets pregnant! Then we learn something truly bizarre! But I won't reveal it. Also superb is "Whiskey Johnny" a halyard shanty it would seem and "Row Bullies Row" which kind of makes me think of the Beatles--not surprising since Liverpool is mentioned in about 3/4 of all sea songs and shanties because it was a major shipping and whaling center in Europe. I bought this from Amazon. Btw, this is what Frank Zappa says that he and Captain Beefheart were listening to in the 60s. Maybe that's where Beefheart took the captain title from!

SEA SHANTIES, The Robert Shaw Chorale, RCA-Victor 09026-63528-2--Recorded in 1960 and released the following year, this is a rich rendition of favorites such as "Blow the Man Down", "What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor", Shenandoah" and "Spanish Ladies" (quoted in Melville's "Moby Dick"). Shanties can be rather repetitious since they are designed to accomplish very difficult but repetitious chores such as hauling a sail (halyard shanty), pulling a rope (hauling shanty), working the capstans to weigh the anchors (capstan shanty), pumping the bilge (pump shanty). They are called "shanties" as a corruption of "chanties" which implies chanting. And indeed that is exactly what shanties are: complex chants or mantras designed to accomplish a heavy exhausting chore quickly and efficiently. Shaw turns them into rounds with complex harmonies as a way of injecting variety in them. The result is very interesting and the vocal arrangements are stunning. When I heard the dreamy-textured "A-Roving" I suddenly realized that the Beach Boys got the idea for their vocal arrangement of "Heroes and Villains" from this arrangement. Ask Brian Wilson if this recording influenced him at all and I promise you he will say yes-that he, in fact, dissected the thing.

A CHESAPEAKE SAILOR'S COMPANION, ARI GCD 1032--Released in 2000, this is a fantastic collection! Performed by John Townley and the Press Gang, this CD features some 400 years of Chesapeake maritime favorites. These songs range from the hymn-like "We Be Three Poor Mariners", to stately chamber orchestra arrangements as "Tom Bowling", to bawdy numbers as "Bound for Baltimore" and shanties such as "Running Down to Cuba". This last one contains the lyric, "I got a gal who's a-nine feet tall/Sleeps in the kitchen with her feet in the hall" proving that this lyric, part and parcel of jazz, blues, r&b and rockabilly was likely bequeathed to us from an earlier time by sailors. It did not likely originate at sea since no sailor uses the term "kitchen" but rather "galley" but the sailors appear to have preserved the lyric for us in its original form. Also interesting are the hauling shanties of black men such as "Mail Day" and "See You When the Sun Goes Down" which are formatted in the black gospel mode but are not religious--they are true sailor shanties and highly complex. And, unfortunately, no longer sung on the Chesapeake Bay after 1960.

LEVIATHAN, A. L. Lloyd, Topic TSCD497--Good ol' Bert Lloyd again. Released in 1998, this CD deals with ballads and songs of the whaling trade. When there is instrumentation, it consists of concertina, mandolin , fiddle and ocarina. Lloyd, btw, can be seen as the shantey man in the old "Moby Dick" movie with Richard Baseheart. He was also a real whaleman as well as a very intelligent and perceptive chap. This is so damned authentic sounding that you'll think you stumbled into a Nantucket saloon in 1820 and spent the night with a bunch of whalermen getting ready to set sail in the morning and celebrating their last night ashore. This includes a wonderful solo voice version of "The Greenland Whale Fishery", the oldest preserved whale song dating from 1725 (Bert does the 1834 version). This CD also contains "Rolling Down to Old Maui" made famous by the late, great Halifax folksinger, Stan Rogers. Bert's version is quite different. "Spanish Ladies" appears here under the title "Talcahuana Girls". These songs can exude such melancholy and depression but also simple joy to outright exuberance. The vocal harmonies are rather haunting at times. A real gem, this one!

BLOW, YE WINDS IN THE MORNING, Revels Records CD 1084--Released in 1992, this is a wonderful collection featuring men, women and children--separately and mixed--singing old songs and shanties. The choirs are directed by John Longstaff. The point being that these songs were sung by everyone in the seaside villages and port cities of England and America. Children sang them in schools and while playing games, mothers crooned them to their children, people sang the more approving ones in church as hymns, etc. "Cape Cod Girls", "A-Roving", "Boney", "Pay Me My Money Down" and "The Golden Vanity" are all superb and highly singable. I often find myself bellowing "Cape Cod Girls" or "Boney" in the shower. It is interesting to hear a shanty sung by children as a game and then to hear very young children singing a much abbreviated version but still in shanty form as his done here with "Two in a Boat" and "The Allee-Allie-O". A female chorus performs "New Oysters" which may have descended from medieval times. "Blow, Ye Winds in the Morning" is a whalermen's song that descended from the medival "The Baffl'd Knight" (of which I own a version and it sounds nothing like "Blow, Ye Winds in the Morning") and appears on Bert Lloyd's CD under the title "The Eclipse".

SAILING AND WHALING SONGS OF THE 19TH CENTURY, Paul Clayton, Legacy International CD 389--I purchased this one through Amazon. It features Mr. Clayton accompanying himself on guitar. Wonderful version "Old Stormalong" and wonderfully singable versions of "Sally Brown" and "The Maid of Amsterdam" (same song as "A-Roving"). Clayton's version of "The Greenland Whale Fisheries" is the same as Bert Lloyd's title in the singular but is certainly much shorter here. "The Turkish Revelee" is the same song as "The Golden Vanity" (sung by Douglas Kennedy) but with two entirely different melodies. The lyrics concern a cabin boy who volunteers to sink an enemy ship on the captain's promise to give him land, a house and his daughter. The lad jumps into the water with an auger and swims to the other vessel and bores holes in the bottom, 33 or 9 depending on the version, and the ship sinks. The cabin boy swims back to the ship and requests a rope and the reassurance from the captain that he will keep his word. The captain refuses to throw him a rope. In Kennedy's version, the unfazed lad simply threatens to bore holes in the bottom of the ship as he did the other and so the captain has them haul him up and he keeps his word. In Clayton's version, the boy says that he could sink the ship but feels too much love for his mates to hurt them and gallantly drowns. I guess there was a version for men to roar with in the bars and one to tug at a lady's heart strings to make her feel tender and affectionate for poor but gallant Jack Tar. God, you women are easy (yeah, I'm an old seadog and I know)!

ROAST BEEF OF OLD ENGLAND, Jerry Bryant and Starboard Mess, Essay2 CD5001--This 2000 release features a whopping 24 numbers covering everything from "Spanish Ladies" to "Sailor's Hornpipe" to "Heart of Oak" to "Bay of Biscay-o". Excellent fiddle and recorder duets. As with all my sailor CDs, the vocals are top-notch and the harmonies beautiful. "Captain Barton's Distress on the Lichfield" is a very interesting number recounting the fate of British sailors at the hands of a Muslim sultan (whom they call a "black king") whom they have insulted. Some were killed and some tortured. Some songs as "Ben Backstay" contain the kinds of nonsense words that were typical of medieval English folksongs ("chip chow cherry chow foddle roddle day"). "A Jolly Sailor's True Description of a Mon-of-War" is great! Excellent assessment of officers ("They ain't done shit and they're yellow!"). Can't beat a lyric like that with a hammer! This CD ends with a nice rousing chorus of "Don't Forget Your Old Shipmate" with more nonsense words. Jack Tar is alive and well here, I can bloody well tell you!

SHANTIES & SONGS OF THE SEA, Johnny Collins, ARC Music EUCD 1523--Saving the best for last, I offer this 1998 release. This one is awesome! With no instrumentation and superb vocal arrangements and British accents thicker than London fog, Johnny Collins and his two cohorts, Dave Webber and Pete Watkinson, put together a 20 song CD that is the premier shanty recording. All are done as shanties as though the sailors were singing them during ship's work. Listen to it on a nice stereo system to catch the bass vocals in all their power! Compare their version of "Blood Red Roses" with Paul Clayton's. "Fire Marengo" is just one of the best things I've ever heard! "Eliza Lee" is incredible! "Down the Bay to Juliana" makes me want to sway with a tankard of ale. Although most of the numbers are boisterous and blustery--although extremely singable and damned fun to listen to--some of the numbers are wonderfully poignant and beautifully rendered, stirring really. "Bold Reilly-O" is one such number. "Leave Her Johnny" is another. But they tear it up with "Hard on the Beach Oar" an old American riverboat song with a great, rousing chorus. There can be little doubt that riverboat numbers were the basis of ragtime and so ragtime is yet another maritime form of music. If you buy only one sailor CD, make it this one!!

What I find interesting about sailor music is that they are also pub singalongs. Take Rolf Harris's "Tie Me Kangaroo Down". This could as easily be a sailor song without modification. But what's strange sit that if you add in a hard rock beat with loud guitars and vocals that sound sneeringly British and working-class, you end up with oi music. Oi music and sea shanties are really the same thing! To prove it, I learned the chords to Paul Clayton's "Blood Red Roses" but sang it as Johnny Collins and crew do it. I sped it up and turned the guitar into a stripped down hard rock chord progression. The result was pure oi! All I needed to do was turn the lyrics into some type of working class angst and I would have just "written" a great oi song.

Well, I bought an oi CD called "CARRY ON Oi!!" a compilation. I found such songs and 4 Skins' "Evil" and The Ejected's "East End Kids" to be pure capstan shanties. Then I noticed the CD was put out by Captain Oi and the logo is a life-preserver with the image of a bearded sea captain inside. The name of the label is Ahoy! Coincidence?

Subject: RE: Review: Sailor music
From: Nerd
Date: 25 Jan 02 - 01:46 AM

I'll make a few suggestions of artists you may not yet have found:

Louis Killen, Newcastle's own great folksinger and an occasional sailor as well, has several great CDs out. But steer clear of the one called "Sea Chanteys." Paradoxically, it has only one sea chantey on it! Go for "Sailors, Ships and Shanties" and "A Seaman's Garland."

Dan Milner has a fine CD called Irish Ballads and Songs of the Sea

Stan Hugill, one of the last working shantymen, recorded several albums, and wrote three classic books about shantying.

Joe Stead's Valparaiso Round the Horn is a spoken narrative of a voyage interspersed with many shanties. Very informative and entertaining!

There are also some nice compilations, including "Steady as She Goes," "Blow the Man Down" and "Farewell Nancy."

Sam larner's "Now is the Time for Fishing" is a classic for the fisherman's repertoire.

Two volumes of Topic's Voice of the People series focus on sailors' songs as well.

This is all sort of off the top of my head. Please pardon the fact that I've not made a more careful reply.

Incidentally, I wouldn't agree that "shanty" is a "corruption" of "chantey." Some sailors preferred the sh- variant spelling because the word has apparently always been pronounced with a sh- sound. Most people involved with this music can't stand to hear the word pronounced with a ch- sound and hence many prefer to spell it sh- to avoid confusion. I don't think this counts as "corruption," whic implies ignorance and error.

Anyway, happy listening! If you're serious about this stuff, please do at least check out Louis. You'll be glad you did!

Subject: RE: Review: Sailor music
From: Nerd
Date: 25 Jan 02 - 01:48 AM

I should also have said, thanks for sharing your enthusiasm with us. There is so much going on on this forum, much of it greatly entertaining, some of it mildly annoying. It's nice to just have someone reaffirm our love of folk music once in a while!

Subject: RE: Review: Sailor music
From: Amergin
Date: 25 Jan 02 - 03:05 AM

i second that Dan Milner cd....I got it for christmas and it has yet to leave my cd changer....

Subject: RE: Review: Sailor music
From: Devilmaster
Date: 25 Jan 02 - 04:47 AM

Well, people who know me, know who I'm going to mention.

Tom Lewis, former Royal Navy Submariner, has been living in Canada and has released 5 albums. Wonderful full voice and sings great shantys.

His website, with purchase and concert info is www.tomlewis.net

Steve

Subject: RE: Review: Sailor music
From: GUEST,AR282
Date: 25 Jan 02 - 08:17 AM

Thank you for the suggestions. I will look them up. It's not really a matter of finding the CDs. You can always find them. It's a matter of knowing who you're looking for.

Subject: RE: Review: Sailor music
From: GUEST,AR282
Date: 25 Jan 02 - 08:24 AM

Actually, I'm a jazz-blues freak. I also do live shows and recordings of dixieland jazz bands here in the Detroit area including Paul Keller, Tom Saunders, Jim Dapogny, Mike Montgomery and like that. I'm a huge fan of Kid Ory and I love the music of Maceo Pinkard ("Sweet Georgia Brown", "Sweet Man", "Sugar", etc.). Also love Jelly Roll.

But I am an old sailor with 6 years at sea under my belt. I also write tug manuals for a living and so spend about half my time running around on the Great Lakes which rival anything the ocean can throw your way. I've sailed thru many a storm on the ocean--some very nasty ones--but you don't know terror until you cross paths with a Great Lakes storm!

Subject: RE: Review: Sailor music
From: Anglo
Date: 25 Jan 02 - 11:19 AM

A number of the people mentioned on this thread, eg Louis Killen, Tom Lewis, appear reasonably frequently at Ann Arbor's major folk club "The Ark." Not too far from Detroit. Info at: http://www.a2ark.org/

Subject: RE: Review: Sailor music
From: Devilmaster
Date: 25 Jan 02 - 01:13 PM

Well then AR282, since you're from Detroit, and I know what you mean about Great Lake storms, you should naturally get Stan Rogers' 'From Fresh Water'

Not traditional shanties mind you, but songs about the great lakes area, including a song about those storms called 'white squall'

I'm pretty sure you can find stan pretty much anywhere. I recall seeing his cd's at a borders books once.

Anglo, I usually get to the Ark when Garnet Rogers passes through and such.

Steve

Subject: RE: Review: Sailor music
From: GUEST,AR282
Date: 25 Jan 02 - 02:11 PM

I've been to the Ark but haven't been there in quite some time. Yes, Stan Rogers is a big fave of mine. I think "Fogarty's Cove" is my favorite CD of his ("Fisherman's Wharf" is one of the greatest maritime pieces ever written) but "Between the Breaks" is mighty good also. There's actually quite a body of Great Lakes music out there. Matt Watroba of NPR's "Folks Like Us" program on WDET plays a lot of it. In fact, I first got into Stan Rogers from listening to "Folks Like Us". Too bad Stan's dead. Is Garnet related to him? They didn't look much alike.

The thing that frightens me about Great Lakes storms is that they can drive you onto rocks or into a pier at an incredible speed. Smash you like a bowl of eggs--to steal a line from "Barrett's Privateers". There's no mercy. Sailing thru squalls and gales on the ocean fascinated me with all the power and noise they make but I was never really scared even when the ship sounded like it was shaking apart. When I was out on a tug with the pilot showing me how it worked so I could write the repair manual and parts list for it, we ran into a storm that caught us by surprise. This was on Huron. Man alive! I thought we were going to die!! I kept thinking, "If I make it back alive I'll never go out on the Lakes again." I made it back alive and was back out on the Lake within 2 hours. I'm more fickle than Michigan weather!!

Subject: RE: Review: Sailor music
From: Charley Noble
Date: 25 Jan 02 - 02:21 PM

You've certainly turned up some classic CD's. BLOW, BOYS, BLOW is one of my long time favorites. The two recordings by the Boarding Party are also on CD from Folk Legacy Records; you may be able to pick them up from Elderly Music in Lansing, just up the road.

Garnet IS Stan's little brother.

Subject: RE: Review: Sailor music
From: SINSULL
Date: 25 Jan 02 - 02:32 PM

Most of these are available in LP form on Ebay. No one mentioned Burl Ives' Down To The Sea In Ships. I grew up on it and still love his "Golden Vanity" best.

Guest,AR282 (a refugee robot from a Spielberg movie?),
Welcome and when will you join us as a member? Uncle Jacque must have told you about the Shanty Sings held every few months in Portland? See you there?
Mary

Subject: RE: Review: Sailor music
From: GUEST,AR282
Date: 25 Jan 02 - 05:22 PM

I've never been to Elder Music. My older brother goes there about once a year or so. He says it's just the most amazing place. He's a folk and blugrass musician and has been doing it since the 60s. He keeps telling me to go but I never find the time. Grand Rapids is a good drive.

I don't know how to join as a member. I just log in and post.

Uncle Jacque did mention the Shanty Sings to me. I've spent a lot of time in Boston, Salem, New Bedford/Fairhaven, Nantucket and Newburyport but I never got up to Maine. I have some good friends who live in Brooklin. They run the Halfmoon Cafe. Maybe I can make the next one.

PS AR282 is a point on a navigator's astrolabe.

Subject: RE: Review: Sailor music
From: SINSULL
Date: 25 Jan 02 - 05:53 PM

Ohhh. I read it as Artoo ate too. Of course I gave up flying when it became apparent that I couldn't read a compass...don't ask.
Click on Membership in the banner above and follow the directions. It is free. And you can then PM other members, take part in the auctions, and annoy Max. Thanks again for the reviews.

Subject: RE: Review: Sailor music
From: Devilmaster
Date: 25 Jan 02 - 07:22 PM

And of course, Ar282, you can get to know a few people around here, as alot are gigging folkies.

Over in Windsor, where we be livin, ClintonHammond plays in a few places.

His upcoming gigs can be found on his webpage here. When you get your membership, PM (Private Message) me and perhaps we can all meet up for pints and good song.

Steve

Subject: RE: Review: Sailor music
From: GUEST,Boab
Date: 26 Jan 02 - 12:34 AM

Re "chanteys v. shanties" . In Scotland the word "chanty" means the chamberpot under the bed. [Chamberpot music? Hmmmmm---] Pronounced in the same area using the hard "c" sound, the word comes out as "thrifty" or "cautious". I was alway one for "Shanties"---and great songs most of them are---

Subject: RE: Review: Sailor music
From: Le Scaramouche
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 05:50 AM

I would add anything by Cyril Tawney and also the Young Tradition's EP (which can be found I think on the CD reissue of Galleries) "Chicken on a Raft".