The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #119776 Message #2608830
Posted By: Gibb Sahib
10-Apr-09 - 03:25 PM
Thread Name: 'Rare' Caribbean shanties of Hugill, etc
Subject: RE: 'Rare' Caribbean shanties of Hugill, etc
Thanks, Tom. The plot thickens!
***********
Another possible candidate:
"Hilo, Boys, Hilo"
Print: Hugill; Terry - "Hilo Somebody"; Bloomfield (1896)
Performers: "Mr. Robinson" (1920s?); Alan Mills (1957); AL Lloyd (1962); the Shanty Crew
Notes:
Hugill learned it from "Tobago Smith." However, I don't think he ever recorded it himself.
It appears in text as early as 1896, Bloomfield's A CUBAN EXPEDITION. The voyage was circa 1875 (?). Here's a cut n paste of the relevant passage:
//
The foretopsail rose off the cap with many jerks,
and gradually got stretched out to its full height
to the topmast head to the music of a "shantie,"
or song, given out by the carpenter, who happened
to be the " shantie man " on this occasion.
Sailors' shanties — probably a corruption of chant-
ing — or hauling choruses, not songs, are generally
improvised by the " shantie man '' who gives them
out. The choruses are old and well known to all
sailors, but between each pull and chorus the
" shantie man " has to improvise the next line, or
compose the " shantie " as he sings it. It is true
there is not much in them, and any words or ex-
pression, no matter how absurd or incongruous, will
answer as long as they rhyme with the line before.
Although they are often without sequence they are
not without music, and are as inspiriting to the
sailor as the fife and drum is to the soldier. On
one occasion at sea, after reefing the foresail in a
gale, the united efforts of the whole crew were un-
able to board the foretack, or get it hauled down
to its place on the cathead, until the mate of the
watch called out : " Strike up a shantie there, one
of you men." The "shantie" was struck up; the
chorus was like a shout of defiance at the elements.
It was fighting the gale, and was as inspiriting as
a cavalry charge, and perhaps as hazardous. I
enjoyed it, although every now and again a sea
would break over the bows, drenching and blinding
every one. The mate's voice would be heard shout-
ing encouragingly to the men at each pull : " Well
done, down with it, men, it must come ; time the
weather roll, bravo ; " and at every shout of the
chorus the men threw their whole weight, with a
will, into the foretack, and down it came inch by
inch steadily, and after a fierce struggle the tack
was belayed and the crew were victorious.
The " shantie " sung this morning on getting
under weigh and setting the topsails, we often
heard on the passage to England, and is a good
specimen of sailors' " shanties ; " the men have
breathing time to collect their strength and pre-
pare themselves for the pull, while the " shantie
man" is giving out the verse. At every repetition
of the word " Hilo " in the chorus the men all pull
together with a jerk, hoisting the heavy yard and
fiail several inches at every pull. " Give us * Hilo,'
Chips,'^ the men said to the carpenter, and he
began. The preliminary "Oh" long drawn out at
the beginning of each verse was to gain time to
improvise the verse :
Oh-o, up aloft this yard must go,
Chorus by all hands : Hilo, boys, hilo I
I heard our bully mate say so.
Hilo, boys, hilo !
Oh-o, hilo, bullies, and away we go,
Hilo, boys, hilo !
Hilo, boys, let her roll, o-he-yho.
Hilo, boys, hilo !
Oh-o, I knocked at the yellow girl's door last night,
Hilo, boys, hilo !
She opened the door and let me in.
Hilo, boys, hilo I
Oh-o, I opened the door with a silver key,
Hilo, boys, hilo !
The yellow girl a-livo-lick-alimbo-lee.
Hilo, boys, hilo t
Oh-o, watchman, watchman, don't take me !
Hilo, boys, hilo !
For I have a wife and a large familee.
Hilo, boys, hilo !
Oh-o, two behind, and one before,
Hilo, boys, hit© I
And they marched me off to the watchhouse door.
Hilo, boys, hilo !
Oh-o, Where's the man that bewitched the tureen ?
Hilo, boys, hilo !
Look in the galley and there you'll see him.
Hilo, boys, hilo !
Oh-o, the mate's on foc*sle, and the skipper's on the poop^
Hilo, boys, hilo !
And the cook's in the galley, playing with the soup.
Hilo, boys, hilo !
Oh-o, the geece like the gander and the ducks like the drake»
Hilo, boys, hilo !
And sweet Judy Callaghan, I'd die for your sake.
Hilo, boys, hilo I
" Oh, belay ! " shouts the mate, cutting short
the "shantie," for the yard is mastheaded. The
main - topsail was next mastheaded, and the yard
braced by, and then again came the order to man
the windlass once again.
//
"Mr. Robinson"'s recording is part of the James Madison Carpenter Collection. Anyone heard it?
Terry's printed version differs from Hugill's melody most noticeably in that the former is in a major key, the latter in minor. Sometimes, I suspect, these authors did not quite know what to do with "blue notes" or other non-equal-tempered pitches, it because of this things could flip flop between minor and major in their transcriptions.
Alan Mills' widely available recording, I'm willing to bet, was based on Terry's text.
Bert Lloyd et al appeared again on the SAILORS' GARLAND album singing this. I don't have it. Any chance you folks could tell me what it sounds like? There is a good chance that it correspond to Terry's, I'd expect.
For comparison of tune, here is a performance of Hugill's noted melody. When I recorded it, I had not heard any recording or live performance of it, so it is uninfluenced and based only on my reading of Hugill.
The solo lyrics seem to borrow from another song, perhaps "The Crow Song." I wonder if even "Twa Corbies" might have been a model??
Pending knowledge of whether or not Lloyd learned his from an authentic oral source, there seems fair evidence to argue that the oral link to this chantey has been broken.