It has become a tradition, over the last 3 years, for me to compose a topical shanty for Jim Mageean's Wednesday shanty session at Whitby folk week, because it's the only way of being sure of singing a shanty that hasn't already been sung. I was keenly scanning the newspaper on Tuesday 23 August for a suitable subject, and I'm very grateful to Piano Man for providing the only story about the sea, a lake, and music....

PIANO MAN STRANDED Kitty Vernon, 24/08/05


1. Do you know the young man found stranded by the ocean
Stranded, stranded all in the month of May
We'd like to know his name, but we've not the faintest notion
He's stranded, dumbfounded, with not a word to say

2. The Kent police have found him, down on the beach at Sheppey
Stranded, dumbfounded, with not a word to say
They don't know who he is, think he's Norwegian, mebbe
He's stranded, dumbfounded, with not a word to say

3. He's living in the hospital, the nurses all adore him
He's stranded, dumbfounded, his mind seems far away
Till he sits at the piano, and carries all before him
Piano Man can play Swan Lake for four hours a day

4. For four months or more his secret was concealed
He's stranded, dumbfounded, with not a word to say
Until at last in August the truth has been revealed
The stranded Piano Man was unmasked yesterday

Segue

And now the truth is known at last
The secret is no more
For we can confidently say
That the man washed up on shore
Had come from quite a different song
He was only a decoy
Piano Man was all a fraud
He is a farmer's boy
A Bavarian farmer's boy


Tunes: Verses 1-5, Wild Goose shanty, segue Farmer's Boy