I'm very pleased to have made a contribution. Not having a copy of Hugill any more the origin of this shantey was a mystery to me up to now.

I have had another listen to my old casette tape of "Syrens" to compare with your YouTube version and your tune is pretty close to St Elmo's, so presumably they got it from Hugill. The treatment of the refrains is a bit different though.

I have just noticed that sharyn's post above mentions that Chris Roe sings this, and she too was a member of St Elmo's.

I would be happy to mail you my transcription of St Elmo's tune if you PM me with your address.

As for the text, St Elmo's did start off with the "Good morning Mother Dinah, I wonder what's the matter" verse, and they obviously sing "O Mother Dinah", not "Good morning Dinah", in the last line. I couldn't quite make out the words before now. And yes, "high brown" rather than "nut brown", which was a mistake on my part.

Just for interest, here is my version with my own additional words. (I can't think why you would be interested, but please indulge an old man's vanity)


There was a fair maid in this town, as pretty as a flower.

As she went down to market she met a rambling sailor.

He took her to the alehouse and gave her beer and brandy.

He took her to the chamber and there he plucked her flower.

"Now you must walk upon the streets and I will be your keeper."

But now he's gone and left her, the man who was her keeper.

But she still likes the sailors and buys them beer and baccy.

Sally-o and a bottle of rum, I'll bust her blocks til morning come.

(St Elmo's sang "Sally's better than good good rum, I'll be with her when the morning comes.")

I had always assumed this was mainly a stamp-and-go because of its structure, i.e. the first line sung out by the shantyman in free time with a lot of decoration ("hitches" I believe they were called) while the gang gets into position, then several hard co-ordinated pulls, another line from the shantyman while the gang comes forward to get a fresh grip, and then more heaving. But of course, it could as well been adapted for capstan. Whether it started out for halliards and had then moved ashore by the time Hugill and Bullen heard it we will never know for sure.

I don't think personally that there was any "white-washing" of shanties by collectors. I don't think it would have occurred to them that their readers did not know that crews were extremely mixed with Europeans, white Americans, black Americans and men from the Caribbean islands working and singing together. This makes deciding the origins of both words and tune difficult, if not impossible, to determine for most English-language shanties. Generally speaking, in most cases it has to be just a matter of opinion. Having said that, I think some of the West Indian shanties are quite distinctive and really wonderful.

For some reason I assumed to begin with that this Sally-o/Mother Dinah was from England, perhaps because of the "fair maid" phrase which doesn't sound to me particularly West Indian, and the "fa-la-las" in the refrain, which seem typically English. And maybe originally it was before being taken up in the Caribbean.

I really like the "Good mornin Mudder Dinah, how does yer shabe yer peepul" verse. I suppose it means "how do you shave your girls?", an early reference perhaps to what are called "Brazils" on this side of the pond.