The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #85881 Message #1594280
Posted By: Charley Noble
31-Oct-05 - 01:46 PM
Thread Name: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
TOM'S GONE TO HILO (Halliard Shanty)
Oh Tommy's gone, what shall I do? Away, to Hilo! Tommy's gone and I'll go too – My Tom's gone to Hilo!
Tommy's gone to Mobile Bay – Away, to Hilo! In a packet ship the other day – My Tom's gone to Hilo!
Tommy's gone to Baltimore – Away, to Hilo! A-dancing on that sandy floor – My Tom's gone to Hilo!
Tommy's gone to Vallipo– Away, to Hilo! When he'll come back I do not know – My Tom's gone to Hilo!
Tommy's gone up to Quebec – Away, to Hilo! A-stowing timber on the deck – My Tom's gone to Hilo!
Tommy's gone to Pernambuck – Away, to Hilo! Tommy's gone and I wish him luck – My Tom's gone to Hilo!
Oh Tommy's gone, what shall I do? Away, to Hilo! Tommy's gone and I'll go too – My Tom's gone to Hilo!
Notes by CFS, p. 38:
The Odyssey of Tom – or John – was always a favourite: it afforded plenty of scope for improvisation on the part of a fluent shantyman.
One version makes quite a romance of his wanderings – "he never kissed his girl good-bye," and so on: but I suspect this of being rather a "made-up" affair. It lacks the real shanty touch, and especially the note of good-humoured irony regarding affairs of the heart.
The great game was to take Tom the round of all the ports you could remember without getting stuck for a rhyme. X:1 T:Tom's Gone To Hilo C:C. Fox Smith 'A Book of Shanties' p 39 M:6/8 L:1/8 K:F z3F C D|F3A G D|F6zA|G4-G2F| w:Oh! Tom-my's gone, what shall I do? A-way_ to (A G3)zE|G G G3D|F E C2zD|F F A3F|G2F w:Hilo!_ Oh! Tom-my's gone and I'll go too My Tom-my's gone to Hi-lo