Lyr Req: Last chorus: 'Finished with engines...'

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Last chorus: 'Finished with engines...'
From: Helen
Date: 07 Mar 26 - 02:14 PM

Thanks JoshN. Maybe my questions helped your memory process. I have to say, there is no way I would have found that in a search from your clues. :-D

From 'The New City Songster'; magazines Peggy Seeger edited for The Singers club

Here is the direct link to Jim Carroll's post with the full lyrics of the song:

"The Western Trader"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Last chorus: 'Finished with engines...'
From: GUEST,JoshN
Date: 07 Mar 26 - 01:49 PM

Well, frost me and call me Lofthouse ... I found it. Where? Here.

I wonder now how I missed it. It's in this thread (posted by Jim Carroll), written by Jimmy Brown - "The Western Trader".

My memory was off (headline with a considerable shelf-life) but success anyway!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Last chorus: 'Finished with engines...'
From: Helen
Date: 06 Mar 26 - 11:22 PM

Thanks JoshN. I wasn't aware of the lore surrounding FWE either until I searched for it. My Dad, now passed away, was a motor mechanic so it would have applied to him at the end of his life.

Sing Out might be a helpful clue because a few people here at Mudcat are familiar with it.

If we're lucky, someone else will drop in to the discussion with some more clues.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Last chorus: 'Finished with engines...'
From: GUEST,JoshN
Date: 06 Mar 26 - 10:55 PM

Ah - good questions! I should have thought of some of them at least.

Let's see … it wouldn't have been about the Titanic; more to do with working freight, I think (or commercial fishing, at a stretch).

The source would probably have been Sing Out! or something like it - a magazine, not a book, and folk oriented. I've never actually heard it, only seen the lyrics and music. No idea of the tune or even its mood (major, minor, what have you) or the writer(s) or a performer.

Thanks so much, especially for the lore surrounding FWE. I wasn't aware of the connotations.

With kind regards,
-- JoshN

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Last chorus: 'Finished with engines...'
From: Helen
Date: 06 Mar 26 - 01:50 PM

Also, JoshN, do you have more information to help with the search?

To help with the search could you provide more information, please?

The usual questions:

Do you remember any more of the lyrics? Please post what you remember to help with internet searches.

What sort of book are you likely to have seen it in? Did you prefer certain types of music books, e.g. folk, blues, pop, sea songs, music hall, or did you have preferred performers or bands?

Do you remember anything about the tune: Lively, haunting, slow, fast, sea shanty, dance tune, etc, etc?

Any more information would be helpful.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Last chorus: 'Finished with engines...'
From: Helen
Date: 06 Mar 26 - 01:24 PM

I tried searching for the line "Sailing off to..." but no luck.

This is probably not the song you are looking for but it came up on a search using "Finished With Engines" - my trick is to use the double quotes to search for the whole phrase:

Finished With Engines

I can't hear the line "Sailing off to who knows where, and returning who knows when" in it. It is a song about the Titanic.

An explanation of the use of the term Finished With Engines is here:

"It is a maritime tradition that when a member of the engine department passes away he is said to be 'finished with engines'."

Another page about fixing motor cars has a brief explanation:

Finished With Engines or FWE is the final entry in a ships bell log marking the end of maneuvering. it is also traditionally written in the turnover/log by engineers who are departing the vessel.

Subject: Lyr Req: Last chorus: 'Finished with engines...'
From: GUEST,JoshN
Date: 05 Mar 26 - 05:21 PM

Looking for a song I saw in print but never heard. Probably UK origin; probably written in the last 50 years or so.

It's about working at sea. If I remember properly, the choruses vary a bit one from another, but they include orders from the old bridge-to-engine-room Engine Order Telegraph device - the one I remember was from the last chorus: "Finished With Engines."

And somewhere in the verses was the line "Sailing off to who knows where, and returning who knows when".

The searches I've tried so far haven't worked, so I'm hoping someone's memory will beat the algorithms.

:)

Many thanks!