Sharyn, thanks so much for the kind words. It's always a thrill when fellow singers praise your work.
Our detailed liner notes are not complete, Charley, but Sundown Below is:
Track 18 - SUNDOWN BELOW Lead: Richard Chorus: Peter, Dick Holdstock, Denis Franklin, Shay Black.
A cargo loading shanty taken from F.P. Harlow's Chanteying Aboard American Ships, 1962. Harlow says "Sun Down Below, Mobile Bay, Way Sing Sally, and Hilo, My Ranzo Way, are purely West Indian Negro chanteys sung while hoisting cargo from the hold of ships and seldom if ever sung by sailors at the halliards." They may have been sung more frequently than Harlow suggests. Stan Hugill, in Shanties from the Seven Seas, says that Mobile Bay was sung by sailors aboard ship at the halyards and at the capstan and pumps.
This song is also mentioned in Lydia Parrish's book, Slave Songs of the Georgia Sea Islands, 1942. Parrish says "This tune was sung at the end of the day as a hint to the captain, when the hold was too dark for the stevedores to see what they were doing." Verses three and four come from the Lydia Parrish book.
LYRICS:
SUNDOWN BELOW
Six o'clock I hear 'em say Chorus: Sun down, sun down below Six o'clock I hear 'em say Chorus: Sun down, sun down below
Aye-a-a-a-a Aye-a-a-a-a
The day's been hot, you all do say Time to quit and go away
Aye-a-a-a-a Aye-a-a-a-a
Sun is down an' I must go Sun is down in the hole below
Aye-a-a-a-a Aye-a-a-a-a
I hear my captain say Sun is down and I must go
Aye-a-a-a-a Aye-a-a-a-a
Pack our duds and dinna' pail Come back sure befo' you sail