Lyr Add: Heave Away (Savannah firemen's song)

Subject: Lyr Add: HEAVE AWAY (Firemen)
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 28 Apr 03 - 03:24 PM

HEAVE AWAY (Firemen)

Heave away, heave away!
I'd rather court a yellow gal than work for Henry Clay.
Heave away, heave away!
Yellow gal, I want to go
I'd rather court a yellow gal than work for Henry Clay.
Heave away!
Yellow gal, I want to go.


Fireman's song from Savannah, GA. From W. F. Allen, Slave Songs of the United States, 1867: Slave Songs

Kane O'Donnel, writing for the Philadelphia Enquirer, said "Each Company has its own set of tunes, its own leader, and doubtless in the growth of time, necessity and invention, its own composer."

Forgotton are the many jobs slaves had in the southern cities, fire-fighting among them.

This song could just as well function as a rowing tune or for hauling away aboard a vessel at sea. Slaves were proficient at all three jobs.
Certainly "courting a yellow gal" appeared in all three types of song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Heave Away (Savannah firemen's song)
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 23 Jul 11 - 12:45 AM

I've attempted a rendition of this song, here:

Heave Away

Subject: Lyr Add: Heave Away (chanty version)
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 23 Jul 11 - 01:06 AM

1868        Unknown. _The Riverside Magazine for Young People_ (April 1868).

Lighter introduced this early reference to the chanty form of this song.

Learned on "a recent Atlantic voyage."

//
       As I walked out one mornin',
                Down by the Clarence Dock,--
       Chorus. Heave away, my Johnny, heave away!
       'Twas there I met an Irish girl,
                Conversin' with Tapscott.
       Full chorus. An' away, my Johnny boy, we're all bound to go!

       "Good mornin' to yer, Taspcott;
                Good mornin', sir," she said….
       An' Tapscott he was that perlite
                He smiled an' bowed his head….

       "Oh, have yer got a ship," she said,--
                "A sailin' ship," said she,--
       "To carry me, and Dadda here,
                Across the ragin' sea?"

       "Oh yes, I got a packet ship,
                Her name's the Henry Clay,"--
       "She's layin' down to the Waterloo Dock,
                Bound to Amerikay."

       Then I took out my han'kerchief
                An' wiped away a tear,--
       And the lass was that she said to me, [sic]
                So, fare ye well, my dear!

       Some times I'm bound to Africay
                Some times I'm bound to France,--
       But now I'm bound to Liverpool
                To give them girls a chance."
//

Presumably, the fireman's song, being cited as a "slave song," dates from a ways earlier than 1867 (or 1865 - by which time Allen's book was prepared for publication). About the chanty, I don't think we can say.

My "feeling" (based on broad observations, not just this song) is that the fireman's song would have come first, and that the Irish Emigrant ballad (along with other variations) would have been spliced to it.

However, that theory is belied by the fact that these two "earliest" versions share the reference to "Henry Clay." While "Henry Clay" sounds like he might have been a cruel boss (cf. the boss in "Pay Me My Money Down"), it also was indeed a Liverpool-NY packet ship:

http://www.immigrantships.net/v3/1800v3/henryclay18511112_01.html

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Heave Away (Savannah firemen's song)
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 23 Jul 11 - 01:18 AM

Here's the next one I have. Hope I didn't miss one between! Perhaps significant that this one was not mentioned in the early canty articles of 1986/69.

1874 (Jan.)        Drake, Samuel A. "The Pepperlls of Kittery Point, Maine." _Appleton's Journal_ 11 (Jan. 1874).

Possibly inaccurate. The lyrics are for literary color.

Pg. 66

   "Then heave away, my bully boys,
       Heave away, my Johnnies!"

***

1879        Scudder, Horace Elisha. _The Bodleys on Wheels_. Boston: Houghton, Osgood and Company

As for this reference in fiction, I believe it is borrowed from the 1868 article, above. Scudder would have been involved in the editing of Riverside Magazine.

//
And Short pretended to chanty a sailor's song. …

"An' away, my Johnny boy, we 're all bound to go!" …
//

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Heave Away (Savannah firemen's song)
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 23 Jul 11 - 01:35 AM

1879        Haswell, George H. _Parramatta Sun_.
1992        Seal, Graham Seal. "Ten Shanties Sung on the Australian Run 1879." Antipodes Press.

Haswell was a passenger on board the Parramatta, London > Sydney, in 1879. He noted this chanty from the crew members.

With score.

//
As I was going out one day, Down by the Clarence Dock;
    Heave away my Johnny, Heave away...
As I was going out one day, down by the Clarence Dock,
    Hand away, my jolly boys, we're all bound to go.

2. I overheard an emigrant conversing with Tap Scott
I overheard an emigrant conversing with Tap Scott.

3. "Good-morning, Mr. Tap Scott." "Good morning, sir," said he.
"Have you got any ships bound for New York, in the States of Amerikey?"

4. "Oh, yes! I have got packet-ships. I have got one or two,
I've got the Josey Walker, besides the Kangaroo.

5. I've got the Josey Walker, and on Friday she will sail,
With all four hundred emigrants, and a thousand bags o' mail."

6. Now I am in New York, and I'm walking through the street,
With no money in my pockets, and scarce a bit to eat.

7. Bad luck to Josey Walker, and the day that she set sail!
For them sailors got drunk, broke into my bunk, and stole out all my meal.*

8. Now I'm in Philadelphia, and working on the canal,
To go home in one o' them packet-ships, I'm sure I never shall.

9. But I'll go home in a National boat, that carries both steam and sail,
Where you get soft tack every day, and none of your yellow meal.

//

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Heave Away (Savannah firemen's song)
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 23 Jul 11 - 01:47 AM

1887[Aug]        Davis, J. and Ferris Tozer. Sailor Songs or 'Chanties'. London: Boosey & Co.

I only give the opening, because I believe most of the lyrics were contrived.

//
3. We're All Bound to Go

As I was walking out one day, down by the Albert docks,
Heave away, my Johnnies, Heave away!
I saw the charming maids so gay,
A coming down in flocks,
Heave away, my jolly boys,
We're all bound to go.

There was fair Poll and saucy Sue,
And merry laughing May,
And Sal and Ann, and Bessie true,
Dressed out in bunting gay,

ETC…
//

***

1888[June 1887]        Smith, Laura Alexandrine. _The Music of the Waters_. London: Kegan, Paul, Trench & Co.

Reproduces Haswell's (above) collected version of the chanty.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Heave Away (Savannah firemen's song)
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 23 Jul 11 - 01:53 AM

1898        Whitmarsh, H. Phelps. _The World's Rough Hand_. New York: The Century Co.

Clipper ship Bosphorus bound out of London to Adelaide c. 1884.

Pg. 7
//

The gangway was withdrawn, the lines cast off, the order given to "Heave away on your capstan!" and we hauled slowly through the gates to the tune of the favorite outward-bound chantey:

Sometimes we 're bound to London town, 

Sometimes we 're bound to France,
Chorus: Heave away, my bullies, heave away.
But now we 're bound to Adelaide, 

To give those girls a chance!
Chorus: Heave away, my bully boys; 
         
We 're all bound to go.
//

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Heave Away (Savannah firemen's song)
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 23 Jul 11 - 01:58 AM

1900        Mather, Fred. _In the Louisiana Lowlands: A Sketch of Plantation Life, Fishing and Camping Just After The Civil War, and Other Tales_. New York: Forest and Stream.

The anecdote is suspiciously similar (and limited) to the verse in Allen's _Slave Songs_. I suspect it was contrived.

The setting of this "tale" is a steamboat journey down the Red River at Natchitoches, Louisiana in 1860.

//
...all these songs are spun out to cover the time of wooding up or of heaving up the levee. A livelier song was sung in the morning as we rounded to. It had a refrain of:

"Heave away! heave away!
I'd rather court a yallow gal 

Dan work fo' Henry Clay!"
//

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Heave Away (Savannah firemen's song)
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 23 Jul 11 - 02:00 AM

1900[Oct.]        Lahee, Henry C. "Sailors' Chanteys." _The Sea Breeze_ 13(1) (Oct. 1900): 13-14.

An American sailor remembers...

//
The great poets of those days have all passed away without realizing their opportunity. What better subject could one have than the stately, full-rigged ship, at anchor in the river or harbor, her topsails loosed and hanging in graceful draperies from the yards, the shore with its outline, perhaps of wharves and warehouses, softened by the gray mist of early morning, the smoke curling up from the galley funnel, and on the forecastle head a dozen or more men, more or less picturesque, heaving away on windlass or capstan and singing their chantey, —

"Sometimes we're bound for England, sometimes we're bound for France.
Heave away, my bullies, heave away — away.
Sometimes we're bound for England, sometimes we're bound for France,
Heave away, my bully boys, — we're all bound to go."
//

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Heave Away (Savannah firemen's song)
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 23 Jul 11 - 02:08 AM

1902 Luce, S. B. Naval Songs. Second edition, revised. New York: Wm. A. Pond & Co.

This is strange because it is the exact same wording as Lahee 1900 (above), obviously copied, and yet it gives a tune, which the above does not.

***

1906        Lubbock, Basil. _Jack Derringer: A Tale of Deep Water_. London: John Murray.

Reproduces Davis/Tozer's version.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Heave Away (Savannah firemen's song)
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 23 Jul 11 - 02:23 AM

1909 Buryeson, Fred H. ['El Tuerto']. "Sea Shanties." _Coast Seamen's Journal_ 22(40) (23 June).

//
HEAVE AWAY, LADS.

Then heave away, my bully boys; the wind is blowing fair.
Heave away, my bullies; heave away, lads.
Our ship will soon be rolling home to merry England's shores.
Heave away, my bully boys; we are all bound to go.

Then break her out and square away; we are all bound to go.
Our course lies through those latitudes where stormy winds do blow.

When I was young and in my prime I sailed in the Black Ball line.
They were the finest ships e'er seen upon the ocean brine.

One morning Bridget Donahue came down the dock to see
Old Tapscot 'bout a steerage berth, and presently said she:

"Good morning, Mr. Tapscot, sir." "Good morning, ma'am," says he.
"And have you got a packet ship to carry me over the sea?"

"Oh, yes. I've got a packet ship to carry you over the sea,"
"And, please yet Mr. Tapscot, sir, what may the fare then be?"

"It 'may be' fifty pounds," says he, "and it 'may be' sixty, too;
But eight pound ten we'll call enongh, my pretty dear, for you."

"And here's the money, sir," says she. "Step right onboard," says he;
"The tide is up, the wind is fair, and soon we'll tow to sea."

"At last," says Bridget, "I am off to the far away
Where Barney went two years ago, the land of Americay."

So shake her up, my bully boys, this day we're bound to go;
The anchor is a-weigh, and now for home we'll sing heigh-ho.
//

***

1913        Whall, W.B. Ships, _Sea Songs and Shanties_. Third edition, enlarged. Glasgow: James Brown & Sons.

For windlass and pumps.

//
We're All Bound to Go.

O, as I walked down the Landing Stage all on a Summer's morn,
Heave away…my Johnnies, heave away…ay
It's there I spied an Irish gal a looking all forlorn,
And away, my Johnny boys, we're all bound to go.

"O, good morning, Mister Tapscott."
"Good morn, my gal," says he.
"O, it's have you got a packet ship
For to carry me over the sea?"

"Oh, yes I have a packet ship,
She's called the Henry Clay ;
She lies down at the North Pier Head
A-taking in her mail."

"Bad luck unto those say-boys,
Bad luck to them, I say ;
They broke into me say-chest,
And they stole me clothes away.

"It was at Castle Garden
They landed me on shore,
And if I marry a Yankee boy
I'll cross the says no more."
//

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Heave Away (Savannah firemen's song)
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 23 Jul 11 - 02:34 AM

1914        Sharp, Cecil K. 1914. _English Folk-Chanteys_. London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co. Ltd.

A different ballad spliced on.

From John Short.
//
26. Heave Away, My Johnny.

It's of a farmer's daughter, so beautiful I'm told
Heave away my Johnny, heave away.
Her father died and left her five hundred pound in gold;
Heave away, my bonny boys, We're all bound away.

Her uncle and the squire rode out one summer's day.

Young William is in favour, her uncle he did say.
//

***

1916        Sharp, Cecil J., A.G. Gilchrist, Lucy E. Broadwood, Frank Kidson, and Harry E. Piggott. "Sailors' Chanties." _Journal of the Folk-Song Society_ 5(20):297-315.

Sung by John Perring in 1912. For windlass.

//
27. Heave Away, My Johnny.

As I was walking Liverpool streets a-wearing out my shoes,
Heave away, my Johnny, heave away…
I stepped into a shipping office, just to hear the news.
Heave away, my jolly boys, we're all bound to go.

"Good Morning, Shipping Master," " Good Morning, Jack," says he.
"O have you got a fine ship to carry me over the sea "

"Oh yes, I have a fine ship, a ship of noted fame;
She's lying in the Canning Dock, the Annie is her name.

The wages are a pound a month, and half a month's advance;
And whilst you haven't got a ship, you'd better take the chance."

So I went on board the Annie and I sailed to a foreign clime;
But I'll ne'er forget the girl I loved and left in tears behind.
//

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Heave Away (Savannah firemen's song)
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 23 Jul 11 - 02:43 AM

1917        Robinson, Captain John. "Songs of the Chanty-Man: I." _The Bellman_ 23(574) (14 July 1917): 38-44.

With score.

//
We're All Bound Away.

As I walked out one morning 'twas by the canning dock.
Heave away my Johnny, heave away
I met a noble Irish girl, conversing with Tap Scott,
And away my Johnny boys, we're all bound away!
//

***

1920        Terry, R.R. "Sailor Shanties (II)." _Music and Letters_ 1(3) (July 1920):256-268.

With score. Tune opening is a bit unique.

//
WE'RE ALL BOUND TO GO.

Oh Johnny was a rover and today he sails away.
Heave away my Johnny, Heave away-ay
Oh Johnny was a rover and today he sails away.
Heave away my bully boys, We're all bound to go.

As I was walking out one day, Down by the Albert Dock.
Heave away, etc.
I heard an emigrant Irish girl Conversing with Tapscott.
Heave away, etc.

Good morning, Mr. Tapscott, sir; "Good morn, my gel," sez he.
Heave away, etc.
It's have you got a Packet Ship All bound for Amerikee.
Heave away, etc.
//

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Heave Away (Savannah firemen's song)
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 23 Jul 11 - 02:52 AM

1921        Terry, Richard Runciman. _The Shanty Book, Part I_. London: J. Curwen & Sons.

Contains expanded version of his earlier article version. The additional verses look like they *may* have been adapted from Haswell (via Smith) and Whall.

//
13. We're all bound to go

1. Oh Johnny was a rover 
And to-day he sails away.

Heave away, my Johnny,
Heave away-ay.

Oh Johnny was a rover
 And to-day he sails away.

Heave away my bully boys,
 We're all bound to go.

2. As I was walking out one day,
 Down by the Albert Dock.

I heard an emigrant Irish girl 
Conversing with Tapscott.


3. "Good mornin', Mister Tapscott, sir," 
"Good morn, my gel," sez he,

"It's have you got a Packet Ship 
All bound for Amerikee?"



4. "Oh yes, I've got a Packet Ship, 
I have got one or two.

I've got the Jenny Walker 
And I've got the Kangeroo."



5. "I've got the Jenny Walker 
And to-day she does set sail,

With five and fifty emigrants And a thousand bags o' male."

6. Bad luck to thim Irish sailor boys,
 Bad luck to thim I say.
For they all got drunk, and broke into me bunk
 And stole me clo'es away.
//

Notes:

//
I used to hear this tune constantly on the Tyne. It is one of the few shanties which preserved a definite narrative, but each port seems to have offered variants on the names of the ships that were 'bound for Amerikee.' 'Mr. Tapscott' was the head of a famous line of emigrant ships. The last word in verse 5 was always pronounced male. This has led to many shantymen treating it not as meal, but as the mail which the ship carried. As the shanty is full of Irish allusions, the probabilities are that the word was meal, to which the sailor gave what he considered to be the Irish pronunciation. Whenever I heard the shanty it was given with an attempt at Irish pronunciation throughout.
//

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Heave Away (Savannah firemen's song)
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 23 Jul 11 - 02:58 AM

Colcord 1924

All the verses are variations of ones previously seen. The last verse must have come from Whall's book.

//
As I walked out one morning down by the Clarence Dock,
Heave away, my Johnny, heave away away!
I chanced to hear an Irish girl conversing with Tapscott.
And away, my Johnny boy, we're all bound to go!

"Oh, good morning, Mister Tapscott," "Good morn, my gal," says he;
Heave away, my Johnny, heave away away!
"Oh, it's have you got a packet ship for to carry me over the sea?"
And away, my Johnny boy, we're all bound to go!

"Oh yes, I have a packet ship, a packet of note and fame;
She's lying in the Waterloo Dock, and the Henry Clay's her name."

"Bad luck unto the Henry Clay, and the day that she set sail,
For them sailors got drunk, broke into me bunk and stole me clothes away.

"It was at Castle Garden they landed me on shore,
And if I marry a Yankee boy, I'll cross the says no more."
//

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Heave Away (Savannah firemen's song)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 23 Jul 11 - 08:14 PM

Gibb-

Here are some notes prefacing "Can't You Dance the Polka" from Cicely Fox Smith which appear relevant fromA Book of Shanties, Methuen & Co., London, © 1927, p. 67:

The words of shanties, as we have already seen, are very often interchangeable. Those I give here (for "Can't You Dance the Polka") are practically identical with those usually sung with the refrain "Heave Away My Johnnie boys, we're all bound to go!" The latter has become rather popular with the modern concert shanty singer, but was never, I think, very general aflort, at any rate in more recent times.

There is another set of words belonging to "Heave away," adapted from the old ballad of "Undaunted Mary" or "The Banks of Sweet Dundee," and beginning:

"It's of a farmer's daughter
So beautiful I'm told,
Her father died and left her
Five hundred pounds in gold."

which may quite likely have been the original version.

This is, of course, a song of the Liverpool emigrant days. Mr. Tapscott, whose name occurs in several shanties, was a Liverpool agent for some of the American packet companies. The name of the ship varies according to the singer's fancy -- sometimes the "Henry Clay" is given, sometimes another -- and the name of the dock, too, is not always the same.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Heave Away (Savannah firemen's song)
From: EBarnacle
Date: 23 Jul 11 - 09:48 PM

Not to be antiacademic but consider that Cape Cod Girls also uses the Heave Away, Heave Away chorus when used as a pumping chantey, rising the bars of the pump on the choruses. My guess is that it came North as a puimping chantey from the cotton ports.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Heave Away (Savannah firemen's song)
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 23 Jul 11 - 11:27 PM

Charley,

Thanks for that addition! I've not had the opportunity to read C Fox Smith's collection, so it is helpful. I understand that you are something of an expert on her works. Can you provide any insight into the nature of her shanties book -- i.e., what sort of collection does she purport it to be? Does she present it as a handy 'summary' of earlier sources, or as original research, or...? To what extent does she bring in nautical experience to establish authority? Does she talk about what books she'd read on shanties?

Judging from only this passage, it looks like what she did was read C. Sharp and then present it as if it represented generally valid facts.

Her first comment, about the Tapscott theme generally being used with the "New York Girls/Polka" framework would seem to be based in her exposure to the variant of that song collected by Sharp from John Short (recently mentioned on your Short Sharp Shanties thread).

Her statement that the theme's use with "Heave Away My Johnnies" ..."has become rather popular with the modern concert shanty singer, but was never, I think, very general aflort, at any rate in more recent times." is an assumption that the other references in this thread disprove.

The other set of words ("Undaunted Mary"), are verbatim from Sharp's presentation of John Short again. Highly unlikely she'd have also heard those exact words, and it is the only source that has that theme. Therefore her idea that it "may quite likely have been the original version" is quite baseless. I have no idea why she would want to suggest that.

The passage is a good example of what irks me about much 20th century shanty writing: using plausibility along with literary authority to create false impression of facts.