George-

Thanks for refreshing this great poem. I'd forgotten who well fashioned it was and what a fine overview it provides of how the old work songs were used.

Here's a reworking of the poem for singing with some rearrangement of verses and some rewording (copy and paste into WORD/TIMES/12 to line up chords):

By George C. Bugbee (1916)
Adapted for singing by Charles Ipcar 5/9/10
Tune: after some variant of "The Yellow Rose of Texas"

THE PASSING OF THE CHANTEY


C-----F---C--------F-----C
Now my mind to-night is busy
--------------F---------------G---C
With those hell-bent pac-ket days,
--------G--C-------------G-C
When the Seven Seas re-sounded
--------------------G--------C--G
With full-throat-ed chan-tey lays.
G7--------C
Whether down the Roaring Forties,
----------F-----------------G---C
Off the Plate, or 'round the Horn,
---------G----C----------------G---C
Those wild nights the chan-ties lightened
-------------G--------C--G-C
Our black marches up to morn.
------F
Oh, "Stormalong" and "Way, O Rio!"
------------C
Pounded out a measured pace
--------F--C--------------F-----C--F----C
When all hands tailed down to busi-ness,
------------------G--------C--G
Hiked the big yards up to place:
G7------C-------F--------C
"Sacra-mento" greased the halyards
-----------F---------------G--C
With its cheery "Hoo-dah-ho!"
---------G-C------------------G--C
When we straightened out the leaches
---------G------C----G-C
Of our tops'ls years a-go.


"Whisky Johnny" kept us steady,
Sheeting home the lagging clew,
When those pitiless sea bullies
Thrashed us fairly black and blue.
"Boney" rove the weather earring,
While we pulled down inch by inch,
The great reef bands arched above us
In a savage-fighting clinch.
"Sally Brown" and "Johnny Boker"
Gripped us sternly by the throat,
Chasing round the midship capstan
At a pace which rocked the boat.
"Ranzo, Boys!" and "John Francois!"
Rolling down to old Rio,
Set the stuns'ls in fine weather
To the trade wind's steady blow.

Oft our "Bully Ship a-Rolling"
Rove the bowline for the main,
And with "Paddy Doyle" we harnessed
Gaskets round the bunts again;
"Mobile Bay" and then "Lee Braces"
Walked the yards hand over hand,
Taking up the slack to windward
With a stave of "Rio Grande."
The big towing hawser was hauled in
To "The Plains of Mexico,"
From a long twist up the Hoogley,
Or the Gates of old 'Frisco.
Through the whale belt's weary doubles,
Or Antarctic's white-webbed lanes,
To the lilt lift of the chantey,
We forgot our aches and pains.

How oft "Rolling Home" set pawling
The great windlass clank and din,
And our hearts warmed to its music
As each shackle tumbled in.
Then with "Leave Her, Johnny, Leave Her,"
Bow spring, warp, and hawser fast,
Down the gangway with his duffle,
Old Jack zigzags home at last.
Now "Oh, Shenandoah's" forgotten,
And "The Dreadnought" but a dream;
Dear old "Homeward Bound" is buried
In this age of coal and steam;
Just a few old shellbacks humming
In their beards a roundelay:
With the passing of square riggers,
The roaring chantey fades away.

I expect there will be some more changes before I try to record it. So I would welcome suggestions.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble