A Stan web site: http://www.summerfolk.org/songs/lyrics.html

Re: what Stan liked. I heard that the Battlefield Band played a half-remembered fourth hand version of Barrett's Privateers and Stan was pretty pleased -- loved the idea that his songs had a life of their own, and that someone was trying to do something with them, rather than slavishly trying to imitate him.

What is the best album? Between the Breaks, Live. But all his albums have at least three or four favourites of mine. Personally, I like SINGING his songs a bit more than I like listening to them -- there are a couple of tribute albums out that you can get all the music from.

His main five albums are:

Fogarty's Cove
Turnaround
Between the Breaks, Live
Northwest Passage
From Fresh Water

Words and interesting chording for the first four albums are in his songbook.

For the Family -- I think he's just singing songs relatives wrote on this one, and a few trad. songs and it's not as good.

There's also a CBC concert album, Home in Halifax, that some people have said is pretty good and includes MOST of his best songs. I'd rather have Between the Breaks, Live, even though it has fewer songs.

Also, I found this neat little gem about the REAL meaning of the Mary Ellen Carter: I once explained to another folk performer my theory that the song was not about a ship at all - it was about an ageing and overweight lady of the evening who entered into an agreement with several sailors in a bar, and was proceeding to her apartment with them when she fell down and was too drunk to get up herself, and so heavy that the customers had a great deal of trouble lifting her so they could go about their mutual business/pleasure. The guy had to quit performing the song for a few months because he would break out laughing in the middle and forget the words.

As for the merrits of these lyrics, I think the message is delivered far better in the original lyrics. I like the Gilligan's Island lyrics better -- though it really takes some concentration NOT to slip into the Gilligan's Island theme when trying this in your head:

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip,
Of seven stranded castaways aboard one tiny ship.
The mate was a mighty sailing man, the skipper brave and sure;
They set sail for a three-hour tour.
The weather started getting rough; their cookies all got tossed.
If not for the courage of the fearless crew, the Minnow would be lost.
They set ground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle,
And it looked like they'd be stuck there for a while.

Now Gilligan was not too bright, and he made the Skipper mad.
He got them all in trouble, and sometimes it was bad.
Mr. Howell was a millionaire, which means his wife was too,
And the strange thing was, he sounded like Magoo.
Ginger was a movie star who acted like a whore,
And Mary Ann was much too cute to be the girl next door.
The Professor tried his best to bring them rescue; even then,
We all knew they could NOT go home again.

Home again, home again.
To be reunited with family and friends
Would have plummeted the ratings and made the series end
So we all knew they could not go home again.

Sometimes the tide of life flows on, and sometimes it just ebbs,
And sometimes our friend Gilligan looked just like Maynard Krebs.
He never sang or played guitar; he never wrote a song
That's how we knew his name was Bob, not John.
They were set upon by cannibals and guest celebrities.
They must have built a thousand boats that never sailed the seas.
The whole world knew that they were there -- and watched them every week
But rescue was a word we did not speak.

One time they made poor Gilligan dress up in women's clothes.
He didn't want to do it, but they forced him, I suppose.
They used that bit to make into an ad, the lousy slimes;
I must have seen the clip a thousand times.
And when the series ended, even though the show was done,
Not any of them got sent home. Oh no, not even one.
I tuned in to the reunion but could not last till the end,
So I don't know if they all got home again.

Home again, home again.
To be reunited with family and friends
Would have plummeted the ratings and made the series end,
So we all knew they could not go home again.