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Lyr Req: Lower the Boat Down / ...the Yawl Boat...

In Mudcat MIDIs:
Lower the Yawl Boat Down


kendall 18 Feb 04 - 07:48 PM
EBarnacle 18 Feb 04 - 12:51 PM
Barbara 06 Apr 99 - 10:05 AM
Steve Parkes 06 Apr 99 - 03:47 AM
Matthew Bram 02 Apr 99 - 07:38 PM
Steve Parkes 16 Mar 99 - 03:47 AM
Pete M 15 Mar 99 - 04:17 PM
MMario 15 Mar 99 - 04:05 PM
Pete M 15 Mar 99 - 03:57 PM
Steve Parkes 15 Mar 99 - 03:44 AM
Steve Parkes 12 Mar 99 - 07:02 AM
Barbara 11 Mar 99 - 06:52 PM
Philippa 11 Mar 99 - 12:30 PM
Jo Taylor 10 Mar 99 - 07:50 PM
Matthew B. 10 Mar 99 - 05:03 PM
Barbara 10 Mar 99 - 04:42 PM
Steve Parkes 10 Mar 99 - 10:59 AM
Matthew B. 10 Mar 99 - 08:53 AM
Matthew B. 10 Mar 99 - 08:52 AM
Steve Parkes 10 Mar 99 - 04:02 AM
Barbara 10 Mar 99 - 02:15 AM
Matthew B. 09 Mar 99 - 04:33 PM
Barbara 09 Mar 99 - 03:47 PM
Matthew B. 09 Mar 99 - 03:02 PM
Barbara 09 Mar 99 - 09:49 AM
Matthew B. 09 Mar 99 - 09:21 AM
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Subject: RE: Lyrics to 'Lower the Boat Down'
From: kendall
Date: 18 Feb 04 - 07:48 PM

You have most of the words. Without going back over all those posts, I recall:

We drove her so hard off Pemaquid Neck
Oh lower the boat down
The Captain was thinking he'd broken her back
Lower the yawl boat down.

We were driving 10 knots it was thick as a hedge
Oh lower the boat down
We pounded her board on the Bass Harbor Ledge lower the yawl boat down.

In this case, a "yawl boat" is a smal power launch used to push the schooner in crowded harbors.

Interesting that you think Gordons songs are "goody goody", have you heard Cape Ann?


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Subject: ADD: Lower the Yawlboat Down
From: EBarnacle
Date: 18 Feb 04 - 12:51 PM

About 20 years ago, I took the melody Gordon used for "Lower the Yawlboat Down" and adapted it to Sojourner Truth, a ferry sloop lost in 2002 due to a chafed bowline. The song has been printed in brief form since the 20's, when Colcord posted one verse in her book. Hugill and others have also shown it.

There's only one thing that grieves me,
    Oh, lower the boat down,
It's leaving my loving family,
    Lower the Yawlboat down.

Seven old Hookers was riding the bay,
And lovely Sojourner was leading the way.

We rigged her up, we rigged her down,
And then sent her off to Croton Town.

We hoisted the main and then set the jib,
And sailed her right out of Hastings slip.

It's 300 miles to the sea,
Sailing the Hudson Valley.

There are a couple of other messages which I shall look up and post.
By the way, although a yawl boat originally was rowed, it is now a generic term, referring to any small boat carried on the stern of a larger vessel. The origin is probably Dutch and comes from the same root as "Jolly" boat. It was usually the smallest boat in normal use on a vessel and, in the Royal Navy, was under the command of the junior officer or midshipman.


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Subject: RE: Lyrics to
From: Barbara
Date: 06 Apr 99 - 10:05 AM

Matthew, I know the tape's around here somewhere. I'll keep looking.


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Subject: RE: Lyrics to
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 06 Apr 99 - 03:47 AM

Oops! just spotted a techbmical problem! The double quote mark in my last post should be "O"+"/", the Scandinavian O with a slash through it; so the book's by Bjorn Landstrom, or Bjoern Landstroem, if that's more accurate.

Steve


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Subject: RE: Lyrics to
From: Matthew Bram
Date: 02 Apr 99 - 07:38 PM

Hooker has yet another meaning you might never have guessed: in various songs sung bt the lumbermen of the 18th century, there are numerous refrences to the hooker -- the man who swings the long pole with a hook at the end for grappling logs.

My favorite is from the Timberbeast's Lament: Oh the chokers will be heavy, Just as heavy, just as cold, When the hooker gives the highball And you start to dig for gold...

by the way, bless you, Barbara, but if you're still there, I still haven't been able to scrounge up all the words to "Lower the Yawl Boat Down."

Can anybody help me?


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Subject: RE: Lyrics to
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 16 Mar 99 - 03:47 AM

Genral Hooker wasn't a friend of Captain condon, by any chance?

Pete, I've no idea if the book is easy to find; I picked up a lonely copy in a bookshop in Langollen, Wales. Try your local library with the ISBN, see if they can find it. Another utterly excellent book is "The Ship" by Bj”rn Landstr”m; I don't know the details on that one.

I got interested in that kind of thing originally through the references in songs; but about twenty-five years ago someone lent me the book "Post Captain" by Patrick O'Brian, and I was hooked. Never mind Hornblower! This guy is the dog's doo-dahs. Highly reccommended, and you can still enjoy them even without any technical knowledge.

Steve


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Subject: RE: Lyrics to
From: Pete M
Date: 15 Mar 99 - 04:17 PM

Thanks Mario, I hadn't heard that, but it sounds very plausible, and a rather more direct and obvious derivation than the one I suggested.

Pete M


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Subject: RE: Lyrics to
From: MMario
Date: 15 Mar 99 - 04:05 PM

this may be myth - but according to what I have read "hooker" for the "land based usage" in the US came about during the American Civil War - when there was a General Hooker noted for the number of "paid companions" frequenting his camp.

True or not, I know it was taught in the history books...

MMario


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Subject: RE: Lyrics to
From: Pete M
Date: 15 Mar 99 - 03:57 PM

Hi Steve sounds a fascinating book, is it generally available or do you have a specific source. (It's sometimes difficult to find things out here in the colonies).

Phillipa, I think we've been round this bouy before, but "hooker" can be either a generic derogatory, or fond term for a ship. I assume it was from this usage that the common US land based usage derived. I was always puzzled as to why people in American films referred to women as ships!

The name Hooker I understand, originated with a type of Dutch fishing vessel, and as noted in the very brief description of the Galway boats on the link you provided, there seems to be certain similarities in construction, "apple cheeked" being a common description applied to Dutch vessels. How much this is due to direct influence and how much to convergent design for a similar task is open to question. Do you know if this is addressed in any of the references mentioned on the site?

Pete M


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Subject: Yawl boat: a correction
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 15 Mar 99 - 03:44 AM

Well, looks like I was just showing off last week. When I got home a the weekend I looked in my big book (details ina moment) and found, after all the various general and particular kinds of yawl, this definition:

The yawl boat was carried in davits from the stern of coasting vessels. It was an open, rowed boat, later supplanted in fishing vessels by the dory.

So I stand corrected. If anyone is reaaly interested in knowing more about sea-craft and their rigging, I can reccommend this book as having everything you'll need to know, without the bother. It's written (in handwriting!) and illustrated by the author:
Published by John Murray Ltd, 50 Albermarle St., London W1X 4BD; ISBN 0 7195 3615 4
The illustrated encyclopedia of ships boats vessels and other water-borne craft "comprising an alphabetical directory of all types of craft past and present containing much discussion of the development of hulls and rigging together with mention of some of the most outstanding warships and commercial vessels suplemented by a nautical glossary, bibliography and index"

Steve


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Subject: RE: Lyrics to Lower the Boat Down
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 12 Mar 99 - 07:02 AM

Jo, bostin' means excellent, as in this example of Aynuk at the seaside (Great Yarmouth):

Aynuk: They'm bostin' pigeons, they am, maert.
Local: Tha' be gulls, bor.
Aynuk: Gals or b'ys, they'm bostin'!

Hope this clears it up.

Enjoyed the boats, Philippa.

Barabara, a small boat would have a tiller rather than a wheel.

I'm going to stop now, even though it may be too late!!

Steve

P.S. I believe in the US they have a kind of pulse called a Bostin' bean?


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Subject: Tune Add: LOWER THE YAWL BOAT DOWN
From: Barbara
Date: 11 Mar 99 - 06:52 PM

Hi Matthew, here's the tune Mudcat style, (directions for unpacking in the middle, get Alan's free program or use the ABC) but if you'd rather have me send you a MIDI, my email is millikan@viclink.com.
Oregon is a ways from NYC, think I'll have to pass. Surely there's more than enough of everything in the Big Apple?
Blessings,
Barbara

MIDI file: lower.mid

Timebase: 240

TimeSig: 6/8 36 8
Tempo: 100 (600000 microsec/crotchet)
Start
0600 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 66 080 0192 0 66 064 0048 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 62 080 0288 0 62 064 0072 1 69 080 0288 0 69 064 0072 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 69 080 0432 0 69 064 0048 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 59 080 0192 0 59 064 0048 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 71 080 0288 0 71 064 0072 1 72 080 0096 0 72 064 0024 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 71 080 0048 0 71 064 0012 1 71 080 0144 0 71 064 0036 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 67 080 0552 0 67 064
End

This program is worth the effort of learning it.

To download the March 10 MIDItext 98 software and get instructions on how to use it click here

ABC format:

X:1
T:
M:6/8
Q:1/4=100
K:C
D6|BBAG2D|^F2ED3|A3AAA|BA4D|B,2DG2A|B3cBA|
B/2B3/2BABA|G37/8||


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Subject: hookers
From: Philippa
Date: 11 Mar 99 - 12:30 PM

I see I have another excuse to plug "hookers" Here's a good link: http://www.galwayonline.ie/welcome/history/history2/hookers.htm


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Subject: RE: Lyrics to
From: Jo Taylor
Date: 10 Mar 99 - 07:50 PM

Have a look at the HTML thread, Matthew.
Steve, what does bostin' mean, I don't understand BC that well...
Jo


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Subject: RE: Lyrics to
From: Matthew B.
Date: 10 Mar 99 - 05:03 PM

Okay then, so how do I combine codes?

Let's say I want it in bold and italics.

Do I use [b][i] or [bi] or what?


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Subject: RE: Lyrics to
From: Barbara
Date: 10 Mar 99 - 04:42 PM

Cool italics, dudes. And if you're wondering, Matthew, bold is created in the same way as italic, only use a b instead of an i.
Line breaks, of which I forgot one above, are [br], only with angle brackets.
Dunno what the song is called, "Lower The Boat Down" works for me. I have a clear recollection of Gordon saying of the 'yawl boat' that it was a small flat boat, "very easily sunk", used to tow the main ship into the harbor, and for transport of goods. Not in this case, as Steve rightly says, a double masted boat with the rear mast abaft of the wheel. I had the sense that it was even (horrors) motorized.
Blessings,
Barbara


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Subject: RE: Lyrics to
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 10 Mar 99 - 10:59 AM

Bostin' italics, Matthew

Steve


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Subject: RE: Lyrics to
From: Matthew B.
Date: 10 Mar 99 - 08:53 AM

Ahem. How about these italics?


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Subject: RE: Lyrics to
From: Matthew B.
Date: 10 Mar 99 - 08:52 AM

Barabara,

You're an absolute sweetheart. Yes, I'd [i]love[/i] the music as well (notice the italics?).

BTW, is "Lower the Boat Down" the actual title?

And you're right about "Ol' Zeb"

Matt

PS - Where do you live? We need more folks like you at the shanty sings in NY City.


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Subject: RE: Lyrics to
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 10 Mar 99 - 04:02 AM

For anyone who's wondering:

a yawl is a two-masted boat with the after mast behind the steering gear: if the mast is before the steering gear, it's a ketch if the after mast (mizzen) is shorter than the foward mast (main); it's a schooner if the after mast (main) is taller than the forward mast (fore). All clear?

Oh, and a hooker is boat with a style of rigging (which escapes me for the moment), and not, er, something else.

Steve "hands to the futtocks" Parkes


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Subject: Lyr Add: LOWER THE YAWL BOAT DOWN
From: Barbara
Date: 10 Mar 99 - 02:15 AM

Matthew, I think you're talking about "Old Zeb", a song by Larry Kaplan?
For a fast course in italics, bold, line breaks and such, use the Forum search to find the thread on HTML. Italics are created by typing [i] at the beginning of the phrase to be italicized, and [/i] at the end, only use angle brackets instead of square ones.
Here are the verses I can recall offhand; and I'll dig out the file in the morning:

Seven old hookers come drivin' the bay
Oh, lower the boat down,
And the lovely old Alice was leading the way,
Lower the yawl boat down

We drove her so hard off Pemaquid Neck
The old man was thinkin' we'd broken her back,

There's only one thing that grieves me
It's my poor wife and baby,

We've blown her mains'l and torn her fore
But the dear old lady will sail no more,

This (foolish?) old woman from Buzzard's Bay,
She drove her to hell and left her to stay,

There's only one thing that grieves me,
That's my poor wife and baby,

The women are women and the men are men,
And the ships will sail when the women stay home,


Do you need the tune?
Blessings,
Barbara
^^


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Subject: RE: Lyrics to
From: Matthew B.
Date: 09 Mar 99 - 04:33 PM

Barbara,

Well what do you know? The song "Alice Wentworth" is perhaps my number one performance piece (and the only song at a recent performance I did with Pete Seeger that was interrupted by applase). It's the one that goes "Rosie, get my Sunday shoes. Gertie get my walkin' cane..."

Anyway, the song you're referring to just might very well be the one I'm looking for. And by Gordon Bok? (Who knew he had it in him?) so yes, I'd love to see the lyrics.

Blessings to you for finding it, Hon.

Matthew

PS - How do you post in italics?


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Subject: RE: Lyrics to
From: Barbara
Date: 09 Mar 99 - 03:47 PM

This one has a refrain that runs:
There's only one thing that grieves me
Oh, lower the boat down,
It's my poor wife and baby
Lower the yawl boat down.

The song describes the history and fate of the schooner Alice Wentworth, bought in a run-down to condition to be rehabilitated by a woman "from Buzzard's Bay, who drove her to hell and left her to stay".
I believe it ends "The women are women and the men are men/And the ships will sail when the women stay home" and I have heard Gordon Bok sing it, tho I don't know if he recorded it.
It isn't exactly a goody-goody song, at least if you are a woman.(grin) And "yawl" in the last line could easily be misunderstood as "old". It's a small boat used to haul crew and goods from ship to shore and back, I believe.
I'll see if I can scare up the rest of the words around here someplace, and get back to you.
Blessings,
Barbara


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Subject: RE: Lyrics to
From: Matthew B.
Date: 09 Mar 99 - 03:02 PM

Thanks Barbara, but I think it's not a Gordon Bok song. I have 7 of his albums, and his stuff is to goody-goody for the kind of worksong I'm referring to.

This song goes something like:

Now there is one thing that grie-eves me

Oh, lower the boat down

My wife and child did le-eave me

Lower the o-old boat down


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Subject: RE: Lyrics to
From: Barbara
Date: 09 Mar 99 - 09:49 AM

Hi, Matthew. I see Mudcat is still eating words in headers that are placed in quotation marks.
Is that the Gordon Bok song that begins
Seven old hookers come drivin' the bay
Oh, lower the boat down,
And the lovely old Alice was leadin' the way
Lower the yawl boat down.

If it is, I probably have the words around. Let me know.
Blessings,
Barbara


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Subject: Lyrics to "Lower the Boat Down"
From: Matthew B.
Date: 09 Mar 99 - 09:21 AM

Anybody know the full version of the song whose refrain is "Lower the Boat Down?"


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