The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #128220 Message #2894269
Posted By: Gibb Sahib
25-Apr-10 - 07:33 PM
Thread Name: The Advent and Development of Chanties
Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
Sailors are not total abstainers as a rule, and one would suspect that a song like "Whiskey Johnny " might find frequent utterance: —
WHISKEY JOHNNY.
Whiskey is the life of man,
Whiskey Johnny.
We'll drink our whiskey when we can,
Whiskey for my Johnny.
I drink whiskey, and my wife drinks gin,
Chorus.
And the way she drinks it is a sin.
Chorus.
I and my wife cannot agree,
Chorus.
For she drinks whiskey in her tea.
Chorus.
I had a girl, her name was Lize,
Chorus.
And she put whiskey in her pies.
Chorus.
Whiskey's gone and I'll go too,
Chorus.
For without whiskey I can't do.
Chorus.
Another popular song is:--
KNOCK A MAN DOWN.
I wish I was in Mobile Bay.
Way, hey, knock a man down.
A-rolling cotton night and day.
This is the time to knock a man down.
The words already quoted will enable a person to sing this and neariy all the songs of this set. He can wish he was in every known port in the world, to whose name he can find a rhyme. If New Orleans was selected, he would add, "Where Jackson gave the British beans." At " Boston city," his desire would be, "a-walking with my lovely Kitty." At " New York town," he would be, "a-walking Broadway up and down," or at Liverpool he would finish his education, "a-going to a Yankee school."
I am really enjoying the total fluidity / interchangeability of lyrical themes that Adams' chanties exemplify.