A friend asked if I could help him on this. As a tour guide on the US Salem he was taken aback when an old timer told him that there had been singing to the job of holystoning (using stone , sea water & elbow grease to scrub wooden decks). The way it was discribed was that each plank had to be scrubed back & forth a predetermined amount of strokes, only then would it be considered clean, rather than count the strokes, it was said that they sang songs that were timed to last as long as the task at hand. When the song was finished the plank was deemed fit. This is the first I've heard of this, are there any others out there that can shed some light on this. "The Banks Of Newfoundland" doesn't count. Thanks from me & my friend. Barry