Subject: want lyrics- shanghied on eastern shore... From: Date: 27 Feb 98 - 11:37 AM Anybody know more lyrics to a song that has this chorus?
So lay me in the forefeet with my face toward Baltimore, A friend recorded it off the radio for me in the DC area in the early 90's. It was a fairly recent recording, I think, so my guess is that it was by a local MD group. Maybe their own local lyrics to an old tune? Sorry I'm not musically or computer-ly literate enough to share the tune... |
Subject: RE: want lyrics- shanghied on eastern shore... From: Bert Date: 27 Feb 98 - 01:31 PM computer-ly. That's a good word. I think we should start our own Mudcat dictionary. Skundered, behearer, etc.. |
Subject: RE: want lyrics- shanghied on eastern shore... From: Dawn Date: 27 Feb 98 - 07:11 PM oh no... if you started a Mudcat Dictionary someone would want to define "folk"..... |
Subject: Shanghaied Dredger - Lyrics From: GUEST,PaulDiB Date: 15 Mar 04 - 07:17 PM Who has the words to the Chesapeake Bay song "Shanghaied Dredger" |
Subject: RE: Shanghaied Dredger - Lyrics From: Charley Noble Date: 15 Mar 04 - 08:32 PM Apparently this song isn't in the DT archives although there are references to it in the threads. It was recorded by the Boarding Party and I could type up the words unless someone else has already done that and wants to post them. Bat Goddess said that she had the words some time ago. Hang in there! It is a fine song. Charley Noble |
Subject: Lyr Add: THE SHANGHAIED DREDGER From: Padre Date: 15 Mar 04 - 11:59 PM ^^THE SHANGHAIED DREDGER (Edward Hammond) Upon the far-off Eastern Shore an oyster dredger lay With the seat worn out of his oilskin pants, his hat had blown away His clothes were rather seedy, and his chance he knew was slim Of ever reaching Baltimore in the pungy he was in CHORUS Then lay me in the forepeak with my face toward Baltimore Saying I'll never get shanghaied again out on the Eastern Shore Where they feed you on corn dog and sourbelly twice a day And you're counted a lucky dredger if you ever get your pay In spirit he could fancy himself in a restaurant again Ordering plates of liver for himself and Shorty McClean The dredgers stood around him, their eyes could scarcely see From drinking five cent whisky, oh what a glorious spree CHORUS Our steward he was a coloured man, the best cook in the fleet At making india rubber bread he never could be beat His shadow soup was excellent, and on a Christmas day We'd eat dead duck that he'd pick up while sailing dow the Bay CHORUS It was on one chilly evening after working all the day Our captain spied with his telescope the police sloop far away With sails trimmed aft and topsails set our gallant pungy flew Over to the forbidden ground to catch a jag or two But scarce we'd started working when the police sloop hove in sight "Haul down your jib" was his command, and then began the fight The captain hauled his pistol out as the sloop to round us tried But we raised our dredge and made away upon the foggy tide CHORUS Hope this helps Tom+ |
Subject: RE: Shanghaied Dredger - Lyrics From: Charley Noble Date: 16 Mar 04 - 08:23 AM Looks good to me, Tom. There's a typo in one of my favorite lines: "We'd eat dead duck that he'd pick up while sailing DOWN the Bay" One time we got a rubber duck and surprised the person leading the song by introducing it at the appropriate moment. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
Subject: RE: Shanghaied Dredger - Lyrics From: Bat Goddess Date: 16 Mar 04 - 09:21 AM You beat me to it, Padre. Now I just have to finish learning it. Linn |
Subject: RE: Shanghaied Dredger - Lyrics From: EBarnacle Date: 16 Mar 04 - 04:17 PM I seem to recall that there is much more of the song, in which the dredger gets a lift overboard from an "accidental" jibe and curses as the sloop sails off 'thout him. |
Subject: RE: Shanghaied Dredger - Lyrics From: Charley Noble Date: 16 Mar 04 - 04:20 PM Hmmm, never ran across that verse. Charley Noble |
Subject: RE: Shanghaied Dredger - Lyrics From: GUEST,Nancy King at work Date: 16 Mar 04 - 05:41 PM I'd be very surprised if another verse exists to that particular song. For one thing, Tom's memory is legendary -- he never forgets the words to anything! I certainly don't remember any more of it, though I will double-check when I get home. In addition, this song is one of the ones The Boarding Party "discovered." A friend of ours (Andy Wallace) found it in the bottom of an old trunk located in a locked (but not for long) room in the basement of a house he was renting. As far as we know, this is the "original" version and the BP were first to record it. I suppose it's possible someone has made up an extra verse or two, or perhaps you're confusing it with another song? In any case, it's a swell song, one of The Boarding Party's perennial favorites. Cheers, Nancy |
Subject: RE: Shanghaied Dredger - Lyrics From: Padre Date: 16 Mar 04 - 09:57 PM EBarnacle, The story about the dredger 'paid off' by the boom is told (really well) in James Michener's "Chesapeake" |
Subject: RE: Shanghaied Dredger - Lyrics From: Nancy King Date: 16 Mar 04 - 09:58 PM Well, OK, having confidently asserted there were no more verses, and having touted Tom's famous memory, I get home and find there is, in fact, one more verse not included above. After the "dead duck" verse comes: And, oh, that Galway skipper I never shall forgive. He'd halloo like a porpoise to throw away the jib. On Sundays while at rest he'd swear, "I'm only for your good; So come up, me little hearty, and saw up all the wood." Perhaps what EBarnacle has in mind comes from the album notes, in which Jonathan, writing about the "oyster wars" of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, notes that "Short-handed crews would sometimes be augmented by shanghaiing men from Baltimore, Washington and elsewhere, later 'paying them off with the boom' -- knocking them on the head and turning the boat (such as the pungy in this song) away from the wind so that the boom would swing across and sweep them over the side." Lots more lore in Jonathan's famous notes. Cheers again, Nancy |
Subject: RE: Shanghaied Dredger - Lyrics From: EBarnacle Date: 17 Mar 04 - 05:09 PM I suspect that I recall it from Chesapeake but I also seem to recall it in someone's song as the reason that the central character was so stony broke. |
Subject: RE: Shanghaied Dredger - Lyrics From: Nancy King Date: 17 Mar 04 - 09:55 PM Well, if you figure out what song it is, please let us know! Sounds like a good 'un! |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shanghaied Dredger From: Jim Dixon Date: 20 Mar 04 - 03:38 PM The Folk Music Index attributes SHANGHAIED DREDGER to Edward Hammond. It also refers to IRISH EXILE as a "related melody." SHANGHAIED DREDGER was recorded by The Boarding Party on "'Tis Our Sailing Time," Folk Legacy LP FSI-097, 1983. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shanghaied Dredger From: Nancy King Date: 20 Mar 04 - 06:33 PM Right, Jim. Jonathan's album notes tell a bit more about the broadside found in the old trunk: "Published in Baltimore, it was written by Edward Hammond to be sung to the tune of 'The Irish Exile,' but that tune is four measures too short for the words, so we 'expanded' it. ... The song's age is uncertain, but we suspect it to be from about 1880 or 1890, given the presence of other, more datable items in the trunk... and the fact that the oyster industry in the Bay was in its 'golden age' at about that time. ... "The last two lines of the [last] verse are our own addition (the original broadside, for some reason, simply went straight into the chorus from '...and then began the fight,' leaving the plot unresolved), but pistols -- and heavier arms -- were not foreign to the 'Oyster Wars' of the time..." And do note that this album has been reissued on CD, and is available from Folk-Legacy as CD-97, complete with notes! Cheers, Nancy |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shanghaied Dredger From: GUEST,Shanty Crew Date: 22 Mar 04 - 12:48 PM The shanty Crew (looking for new singers email chrisroche@onet.co.uk)has been performing the song since the Boarding Party first came to London. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shanghaied Dredger From: GUEST,Guest, Chesapeake sailor. Date: 14 Apr 04 - 07:30 PM |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shanghaied Dredger From: GUEST,Guest:, Chesapeake sailor. Date: 14 Apr 04 - 07:45 PM Pungy schooners originated in the Pungeoteague creek area of Virginia. Use the link below to get a little history of this type vessal http://livingclassrooms.org/Facilities/LadyMD.html |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shanghaied Dredger From: Nancy King Date: 15 Apr 04 - 12:35 AM The "Lady Maryland" looks really beautiful -- and a lot cleaner and more graceful than my mind had conjured up from "The Shanghaied Dredger"! It does look like we got the description of a pungy pretty close in this short thread -- except for the part about it being pink! |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shanghaied Dredger From: GUEST,Guest, Chesapeake sailor. Date: 24 Apr 04 - 07:22 AM I have heard this song maybe 3 times. The "found" lyrics, and the "correct" tune sounded just a litle different than I heard at the Great Cheasapeake Bay Schooner race. The music was simpler, with a beat to clap or stamp to, and the words were a little more colorful. WE suspect it was as his daddy taught him, as if it had been passed down. A much better drinking version. Only by getting the lyrics here could I understand the recording made there. Thanks, Paul |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shanghaied Dredger From: Charley Noble Date: 24 Apr 04 - 08:22 AM Paul- Do post your "more colorful" words. Many of us would be very interested in seeing them. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shanghaied Dredger From: GUEST,Ed Weglein Date: 12 Jul 10 - 06:58 PM You can find this song and the lyrics for it on "Tis Our Sailing Time", by the now defunct group The Boarding Party. It's on Folk Legacy Records |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shanghaied Dredger From: Charley Noble Date: 12 Jul 10 - 07:56 PM Ed- This song can be found here by using the search engine: click here for lyrics Padre was nice enough to post the lyrics. Charley Noble |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shanghaied Dredger From: Padre Date: 13 Jul 10 - 12:49 AM How strange - I for one don't feel defunct - maybe funky? Seriously, the S.D. was one of JE's "trunk songs" - rare beasts that were uncovered by people in the strangest places. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shanghaied Dredger From: shipcmo Date: 13 Jul 10 - 10:20 AM Tom Wisner also recorded this. Interestingly, one would not lie in the bunks(in the forepeak)of those old Chesapeake boats with one's head forward. The song originally, according to Tom, had their feet towards Baltimore. And it was cornbread (maybe cornpone)rather than corndog. Cannot remember the other rations, but not sowbelly. Getting paid off by the boom really happened! Cheers, Cap Geo |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shanghaied Dredger From: shipcmo Date: 13 Jul 10 - 12:17 PM Saltfish; that was it. Threw a piece of fatback into an iron skillet to rend some grease, then fry up the fillets. A wonder folks didn't die of heart attacks. I once was Skipper of the Skipjack Allegheny, complete with a one lung engine pushboat. Cheers, Cap Geo |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shanghaied Dredger From: Charley Noble Date: 13 Jul 10 - 08:26 PM Shipcmo- Thanks for the additional info. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shanghaied Dredger From: Artful Codger Date: 14 Jul 10 - 11:20 AM Padre, niceness is a transient and unreliable quality, so it was proper for Charlie to speak of the nature of the act in the past tense, regardless of your current funct/defunct status. More importantly, will you be nice enough to post a tune? |
Subject: ADD: The Shanghaied Dredger From: GUEST,yertle8 Date: 25 Apr 11 - 10:44 PM THE SHANGHAIED DREDGER (Edward Hammond) Out on the far-off Eastern shore an oyster dredger lay With the seat tore out of his oilskin pants, his hat had blown away His clothes were rather seedy and his chance he knew was slim Of ever reaching Baltimore in the pungy he was in But in spirit he could fancy himself in a restaurant again Ordering plates of liver for himself and Shorty MacLaine The dredgers all around him stood, their eyes could scarcely see From drinking five-cent whiskey, oh what a glorious spree! Then lay me in the forepeak with my face towards Baltimore Praying I never get shanghaied again down on the Eastern shore Where they feed you on corn dogs and sour bellies twice a day And you're counted a lucky dredger if you ever get your pay Our steward he was an African, the best cook in the fleet At making India rubber bread, he never could be beat His shadow soup was excellent and on a Christmas day We'd eat dead duck that he'd picked up while sailing down the bay And oh, that Galway skipper, I never shall forgive He'd halloo like a porpoise to throw away the jib On Sundays while at rest he'd swear, "I'm only for your good, So come up, me little hearties, and saw up all the wood!" It was on a chilly evening after working all the day The captain saw through his telescope the police sloop far away With sails trimmed aft and topsails set our gallant pungy flew Over to the forbidden ground to catch a jag or two But it was scarce we started working when the police sloop hove in sight "Haul down your jib!" was his command and then began the fight Our captain hauled his pistol while the sloop to round us tried But we raised our dredge and made away upon the foggy tide |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shanghaied Dredger From: Joe Offer Date: 25 Apr 11 - 11:10 PM What's the source for your version, Yertle? -Joe- |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shanghaied Dredger From: Nancy King Date: 26 Apr 11 - 12:00 AM That is clearly The Boarding Party's version, complete with the last two lines which the BP added to the original broadside (see my post above, 20 Mar 04, 6:33 PM). There are a few very minor differences (e.g., the steward was "an African" instead of "a colored man") but maybe that's just someone's idea of political correctness. This song was always one of the most popular The Boarding Party ever recorded. Rightly so. --Nancy |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shanghaied Dredger From: Bill Brown Date: 12 May 11 - 02:12 PM "Sour bellies?" The version I've heard has "sowbelly" - and I see that's what the original poster to the thread has. I've never heard of "sour bellies", but "sowbelly" is a form of salt pork - but more importantly, "sowbelly" scans. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shanghaied Dredger From: Nancy King Date: 12 May 11 - 02:58 PM True, wmlbrown, but "sourbellies" is what it said in the original broadside the Boarding Party found. Jonathan, typically, obsessed over this for quite a while until he finally concluded it was just a localism, probably meaning the same as "sowbelly." |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shanghaied Dredger From: Bill Brown Date: 12 May 11 - 07:38 PM OK, but it's still a mouthful - so to speak. So, what about "corn dog" or "corn dogs?" Is he talking about what we call "corn dogs" today - a hotdog deep fried in corn meal? |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shanghaied Dredger From: Bill Brown Date: 12 May 11 - 08:14 PM Another thing - Nancy, you quoted (7 years ago, egad!) Jim Johnson's liner notes about the tune - that The Irish Exile did not fit, so they had to add some notes. Some google research turned up at least two songs by that name, maybe three, and one midi file of a tune that doesn't fit at all. One of the set of lyrics has the same meter, however, It is in a "golden treasury" of Irish tunes here: http://www.archive.org/stream/goldentreasuryof02welsuoft/goldentreasuryof02welsuoft_djvu.txt It seems to be written by "MacDermott" (go to #57) Does anyone know if that is the one The Shanghaied Dredger is based on, and where one could find the tune? |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shanghaied Dredger From: Nancy King Date: 12 May 11 - 08:31 PM Well, I don't know the answers to those questions, and Jonathan Eberhart (whose album liner notes I quoted all those years ago) died in 2003, so we can't ask him. I don't know where he found the "Irish Exile" tune they used -- that recording was made in 1983, well before the days of Google! I guess some mysteries must remain... Nancy |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shanghaied Dredger From: Bill Brown Date: 14 May 11 - 12:06 PM OK, beating this to death here. I found a thread on Mudcat about Irish Exile songs, of which there seem to be a number with the same or similar titles, but a wide variety of tunes. Here's the chorus of an Irish/Australian song by the name of "The Exile's Lament" Note the chorus: "Lay me on the hillside with my face towards the West, Towards that sacred island, the land that I love best. Let a bunch of shamrocks green be planted o'er my grave. My dying prayer is: May God bless the island of the brave!" Compare with the chorus of "The Shanghaied Dredger:" "Then lay me in the forepeak with my face towards Baltimore Praying I never get shanghaied again down on the Eastern shore Where they feed you on corn dogs and sour bellies twice a day And you're counted a lucky dredger if you ever get your pay" So, anybody know the tune to "The Exile's Lament" and does it match the tune to "The Shanghaied Dredger?" Bill |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shanghaied Dredger From: MartinRyan Date: 14 May 11 - 01:02 PM Anywhere I can hear this tune? Regards |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shanghaied Dredger From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 14 May 11 - 01:55 PM The song whose chorus is given by wmlbrown is quoted in www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/songster/38-the-exiles-lament.htm Have not found a melody. The Exile's Lament, copyright 1886, by F. Harding. Words and music by John F. Mitchell. The song is 'American-Australian' according to the site. There is another, older (1829), better-known Australian song with the same title, no relation. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shanghaied Dredger From: Bill Brown Date: 14 May 11 - 03:29 PM Here are two sets of lyrics/music for "The Exile's Lament" downloadable pdfs. The Exile's Lament Both sets of sheet music were published in 1886 in NYC. My sight reading is not so hot, does this look like the tune "The Shanghaied Dredger" is sung to? It doesn't to me. - Bill |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shanghaied Dredger From: GUEST,dkenefick Date: 23 May 16 - 03:40 PM I'm surprised no one seems to be discussing "halloo like a porpoise" and "throw away the jib" |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shanghaied Dredger From: GUEST,Peter Brice Date: 06 Sep 19 - 06:57 PM Bill, neither of the scores you linked presents the air that Eberhart and the Boarding Party used for "The Shanghaied Dredger", nor is it "The Irish Exile" printed in O'Neill's Music of Ireland (O'Neill, Francis & O'Neill, James [1903] "O'Neill's Music of Ireland". Chicago: Lyon & Healy.), as is sometimes suggested. The association of "True Irish Hearts" with "The Exile's Lament" is noteworthy because it might allow us to trace the song's introduction to Baltimore. I was able to find a listing for "True Irish Hearts" in the Baltimore Sun as early as 1887, and the piper James T. Touhey fell down an elevator shaft during a Baltimore run of the show in 1890. The broadside "The Shanghai Dredger" was published by Baltimore printer William J. Schmidt, presumably between the 1886 publication of "The Exile's Lament" and Schmidt's death in 1911. There is a broadside titled "The Irish Exile" printed by A. W. Auner of Philadelphia here which is "The Exiles Lament" composed by J. F. Mitchell in all but title. Whether this predates the "The Shanghai Dredger" printed by Schmidt is yet unknown to me, but it's possible that one printer copied the other. I'm still trying to discover whether the Mitchell air was retained in the oral tradition in Maryland or Virginia. I'm hoping to have an answer before long. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shanghaied Dredger From: GUEST Date: 15 Apr 23 - 06:04 PM The Shanghaied Dredger Out on the far-off Eastern shore an oyster dredger lay With the seat tore out of his oilskin pants, his hat had blown away His clothes were rather seedy and his chance he knew was slim Of ever reaching Baltimore in the pungy he was in But in spirit he could fancy himself in a restaurant again Ordering plates of liver for himself and Shorty MacLaine The dredgers all around him stood, their eyes could scarcely see From drinking five-cent whiskey, oh what a glorious spree! Then lay me in the forepeak with my face towards Baltimore Praying I never get shanghaied again down on the Eastern shore Where they feed you on corn dogs and sour bellies twice a day And you're counted a lucky dredger if you ever get your pay Our steward he was an African, the best cook in the fleet At making India rubber bread, he never could be beat His shadow soup was excellent and on a Christmas day We'd eat dead duck that he'd picked up while sailing down the bay And oh, that Galway skipper, I never shall forgive He'd halloo like a porpoise to throw away the jib On Sundays while at rest he'd swear, "I'm only for your good, So come up, me little hearties, and saw up all the wood!" It was on a chilly evening after working all the day The captain saw through his telescope the police sloo wp far away With sails trimmed aft and topsails set our gallant pungy flew Over to the forbidden ground to catch a jag or two But it was scarce we started working when the police sloop hove in sight "Haul down your jib!" was his command and then began the fight Our captain hauled his pistol while the sloop to round us tried But we raised our dredge and made away upon the foggy tide |
Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: The Shanghaied Dredger (Edward Hammond) From: Joe Offer Date: 15 Apr 23 - 06:46 PM Hello, Nameless GUEST - I have to say I'm wondering why you pasted these lyrics here, when two other transcriptions of the song have already been posted. Where did you get your version, and how is it different from the lyrics posted above? Joe Offer, Mudcat Music Editor Boarding Party recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saWjqzb71-I Cindy Kallet, Ellen Epstein and Michael Cicone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-b7tvdFtuI
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