The following might be helpful, quoted from Joanna Colcord's "Songs of American Sailormen."
....Away haul away, oh haul and sing together,
away haul away, haul away Joe..
In this shanty, the only pull was on the word "Joe,"
and, quoting Masefield on "haul on the bowline"....
.....It is a slow, stately melody, ending with a jerk as the men fall back with the rope.
about halliard (halyard) shanties....
...with a solo line followed by a chorus of the same length...Sometimes the chorus line provided for two pulls on the rope; generally, however, for only one.
On windlass or Capstan shanties.
......Not for intermittent operations like pulling and hauling were [these songs] used, but for continuous process. In hoisting anchor, warping ship, etc. the rope or cable was wound round the barrel of the capstan, and the men walked steadily round & round it, pushing the bars before them. It followed that any song with a long chorus and a "Swing" to it was likely to go well as a capstan shanty....After the Civil War, the marching songs of the army were great favourites on the forecastle head; and many an anchor came in to the tune of "John Brown's body" and "Marching through Georgia."....
Again, she quotes Masefield..."In a capstan shanty, the solo man begins with a single line of verse. Before he has spoken the last word of it the other men heaving at the bars break out with the first chorus. immediately before the chorus has come to an end the solo man repeats his line of verse to be interrupted at the last word by the second chorus...
You could also suggest that your wife practice works songs while taking out the trash, mowing the yard, etc. But I wouldn't recommend it, You might wind up in the swamps too.
Frank.
Frank I.T.S.
sj