Little Susie Skinner
Says she's a beginner
She prefers it to her dinner
Haul (I do like the peel) her away
Little Flo Fanana
Slipped on a banana
Now she can't play the pianner
Hugill, at the end of this version writes;
"The tune of the foregoing has something in common with that of the Jamaican song 'Missy Ramgoat' , & also with 'Hill an' Gully Rider', another Jamaican song featured in the film Moby Dick, & later spliced to the West Indian work-song 'Banana Boat' & turned into a pop song"
Hi Roger ITS, I'd say Cliff might have at least some part of truth in his belief. The Alantic waterfront from New England to the West Indies was most commonly manned by black watermen & inshore sailors. This was the best trade for African Americans for the time of the Revolution to the Civil War. They were offered in their trade the most freedom & the least biasis & enough trust where plantion owners that ran their own ships manned those ships with all Black crews & in some cases Black officers. These sailors/watermen had a network that reached throughout the northern Alantic rim & they were privy to news & info that most weren't. They also were allowed to keep any & all earnings, in most cases, that were aquired on the side. They, as a group, always sang while working & this period was the time of their hayday. Most of the collectors agree that the golden age of the shanty was between the 1830's till the 1860's but many collectors refere to finding references to early (pre 1820's) shanties /worksongs from the West Indian. Whall, Terry, Colcord, Bullen, Doerflinger, Hugill & the lastly Abrahams give at least some credit to the West Indian & African American. Combine all of their comments & acknowledgements & their contributions seem to be grossly underestimated, combine that with the age & amount of the worksongs from the southern coast & outer islands with the fact that they were the majority of the then pilots, steveadores & wharf workers, roustabouts, inshorefishermen, cotton stowers. Mixed crews aboard whalers, cargo & passenger carriers 7 offshore fishers were very common & not so uncommon all black crews. In the song about the schooner Industry (written onboard by an annon. crew member) it sings of a gam (a social meeting of ships mid ocean) with the Traveler, both ships wholly manned by blacks, 1822. I don't say that they were the orgin or the only early source of shanties but their contributions seem to be far greater than supposed by most. Have I become aThread Creep? Barry