I agree it would be much better to stick to the term shanty as songs done for work. It is frustrating in the extreme, however, to hear Spanish Ladies referred to as a capstan shanty and listen to it knowing full well no one could get a lick of work done around a capstan to the tune as it is known today! I have that problem with several songs on my sea songs page. So I think there should be a special category for tunes once done as shanties that no longer resemble what they were. I can't imagine Married to a Mermaid in a form that was used for work, so I agree with the opinons that it is probably more accurately referred to as a song sung at sea rather than a shanty.

It was quite a shock to me to listen to a tape from Mystic that performed shanties in the original manner. After adjusting to it, there was a moment of satori - wow - they really did work to this stuff.