"STAN said this Stan said that, Stan said the other, it might make a new shanty , most of them are work songs and a load of old cobblers anyway" quote myself.
I have to disagree with my comment about them being a lot of old cobblers., an overstatement, they do not have to have to have a meaning, they were work songs

they are great from the point of view of getting audiences to participate, and of course they were used originally for a similiar purpose of getting shanty men to join in whilst getting a job done, and now performers use them for the purpose of getting a job done, that job is audience participation, from a performers point of view in folk clubs and festivals they are still work songs, that "work" is audience participation