songs about building boats/ships?

Subject: songs about building boats/ships?
From: beetle cat
Date: 11 Dec 04 - 06:03 PM

I can only think of a few songs that even mention or allude to the building of a boat, such as Roll Alabama (the first few verses, and then it is sinks to the bottom of the sea!!), or maybe Lukey's Boat (because he did a bad job).

So does anyone know any songs that credit the shipwrights, ships carpenters, or boat builders as anything besides deceitful murderers (the ship carpenters wife, the cruel ship's carpenter, the ship's carpenter...)

they are really not always that evil.. in fact I know a few very nice ones.. and it is troubling that I cant think of any folk songs praising the work they do, especially since it is such a folkish occupation.

Ideas?

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 11 Dec 04 - 06:32 PM

Bluenose ??? Martin

Shipyard Apprentice Archie Fisher

Giok

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: Nancy King
Date: 11 Dec 04 - 06:40 PM

Hmmm, the closest I can come is one about cutting the wood that was used to build ships. "Mauling Live Oak" is on The Boarding Party's second album, "Fair Winds and a Following Sea," (Folk-Legacy FSI-109 or C-109), and is about how miserable it was for lumbermen from Maine to go down to the swamps of the South to cut, or "maul" the live oak trees which made the best wood for shipbuilding. The song doesn't get into the actual building of the ships, so might not do for your purposes, but it's kind of a fun song. Alas, I do not find it on the Folk-Legacy web site at this point, but I'll bet if you called F-L, they'd be able to send you a cassette or make you a "custom CD" of it. It's a good album -- lots of great sea songs.

Cheers,
Nancy

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: Micca
Date: 11 Dec 04 - 06:56 PM

There is, of course, the Dick Swain setting of the poem about the The "Marco Polo" and the figurehead carver that has the chorus (as best I can remember) which goes

" While my hand is steady, while my eyes are good
I will carve the beauty of the wind into the wood"

I truly moving song and brilliant piece of work about a figurehead carver visualising his work at the bow of the clipper ship leading it home. If it isnt in the DT search the Forum I am sure there has been a thread .

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: Rabbi-Sol
Date: 11 Dec 04 - 07:04 PM

The famous Newfoundland song "I's The Boy Who Builds The Boats & I's The Boy Who Sails Them"

                           SOL ZELLER

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 11 Dec 04 - 07:05 PM

Perfect choice, Micca -- one minor word correction:

While my hands are steady, while my eyes are good,
I will carve the music of the wind into the wood.

Dick Swain found a poem by Hiram Cody of New Brunswick, put it to a tune and wrote the chorus.

I was going to suggest "Lukey's Boat" because Lukey seems to do a lot of remodeling to it in the song.

Linn

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: Margret RoadKnight
Date: 11 Dec 04 - 07:22 PM

"Somos El Barco"

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: beetle cat
Date: 11 Dec 04 - 08:15 PM

wow guys you are suggesting them faster than i can look them up!! no complaints though.

Goik; couldn't find shipyard apprentice in the DT.. but searched on google.. its also called The Fairfield Crane (also not in the dt). awesome lyrics.
The marco polo one is also just the kind. They should get in the DT.

anyway, this makes me feel better.
you guys rock.

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: mg
Date: 11 Dec 04 - 08:20 PM

Gordon Bok and Jim Stewart wrote we built this old boat with ?strength and endeavor...and Gordon Bok wrote dark old waters about fitting out a boat. Beautiful song I think by Ewan MacColl..it was tears that made the Clyde about ship building in WWII. Wasn't something just posted about a sailmaker? mg

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: Cluin
Date: 11 Dec 04 - 08:43 PM

Stan Rogers had a couple: "The Jeannie C.", "The Bluenose", "Man with Blue Dolphin".

And a couple involving salvage: "Wreck of the Athens Queen" and "The Mary Ellen Carter".

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: iancarterb
Date: 11 Dec 04 - 08:45 PM

Stan Rogers' Make and Break Harbor mentions in passing "This boat that I built with my father," but it's not about technique, is it.

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: Cluin
Date: 11 Dec 04 - 08:45 PM

There was one an old bandmate introduced to our setlist for a while a few years ago called "The Pride of the Panmure Yard", written by one Stewart Brown. We recorded it and that was the only version of it I ever heard.

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: beetle cat
Date: 11 Dec 04 - 09:24 PM

Cluin, do you have the lyrics to The Pride of the Panmure Yard?

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: beetle cat
Date: 11 Dec 04 - 09:27 PM

technique is a good word.

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: Deckman
Date: 11 Dec 04 - 09:33 PM

"And can you sing a song my friend,
And can you trim a sail,
Or sing a song on the deck at night
Or hoist a glass of ale?".

That's all remember. I also appologize for not knowing the song's title. But I do believe it was written by Franke. I'm sure (hoping) someone will correct my errors soon and post the words. This song is a delight. CHEERS, Bob(deckman)Nelson

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 11 Dec 04 - 09:43 PM

Shipbuilding-Elvis Costello.

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: beetle cat
Date: 11 Dec 04 - 09:50 PM

anything with Noah...

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: GUEST,Barry Finn
Date: 12 Dec 04 - 12:01 AM

"They are building a ship in the Northlands

The Albertina they will call her when she's done, pump away


The Albertina she will serve us, the Albertina will preserve us

The Albertina they will call her when she's done, pump away"


The pump shanty Albertina, collected from George Herbert, Master Rigger & Cape Horner, RIP


Barry

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: DonMeixner
Date: 12 Dec 04 - 12:55 AM

Hi Beetle Cat,

Do you sail one?

When I was younger I wanted a Cat Rigged boat some considerable. I always fancied a Sanderling and I still do. Or Charlie Witholtz 20' gunkholer would be OK too.

Most of the boat building songs I am aware of have already been mentioned.

The other "Bluenose" song I have heard by Ryan's Fancy. Ship yrds are mentioned in a Rovers tune, "When The ShipYards Go Back On Full Time".

I will tell you this. When I worked in the boatyards we sand a lot of Country Western and Rock and Roll.

Don

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: Lady Hillary
Date: 12 Dec 04 - 01:06 AM

The same guy who wrote Wee Pot Stove (Robinson) also wrote The Big Dry Dock and The Ship Building Men.

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: beetle cat
Date: 12 Dec 04 - 01:26 AM

Yeah, I sail a Beetle, and a Mystic 20' cat off Prudence Island, in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. Its a fun little boat. Wet. Constantly bailing the water that inevitably seeps in, or splashes over. Wouldn't have it any other way. Sanderlings sure are pretty. Never had the pleasure of sailing one. Never too late!

I'm having nasty luck with lyrics today.

Yeah, I suppose thats the thing; shipwrights never had much of an excuse to sing.

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: beetle cat
Date: 12 Dec 04 - 01:32 AM

Nasty luck!!

Any more clews on where to find The Ship Building Men, lady Hillary?

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: GUEST,Bluesmike
Date: 12 Dec 04 - 04:52 AM

Not really on subject but nevertheless a great song- Guy Clark wrote I've got boats to build, just listen to it anyway.OK

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 12 Dec 04 - 05:02 AM

Kishmulls Galley possibly, or you could do a quick rewrite of the Skye Boat [Builders] Song.
Giok ;~)

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: GUEST,The Vulgar Boatman
Date: 12 Dec 04 - 05:40 AM

How about Kipling - The Shipwwrights - set to music by Pete Bellamy

KYBTTS

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: GUEST,Boatman
Date: 12 Dec 04 - 09:20 AM

Check the thread below. Just cut and paste in your browser.


http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=48527#731508

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: Willie-O
Date: 12 Dec 04 - 09:37 AM

Well if one may plug one's own songs...this is in Aine's Mudcat Songbook:


The Anna Grace

W-O

Subject: Lyr Add: MARCO POLO
From: Cap't Bob
Date: 12 Dec 04 - 10:18 AM

There is a different version of "The Marco Polo" than the one in the DT. I have it on tape or cd but can't seem to locate it right now.

MARCO POLO

Where the Marsh Creek waters meet Courtenay Bay
HEAVE HER ROUND AND LET HER FLY
At James Smith's yard her keel did lay
THERE'S NO SHIP HERE CAN MATCH HER
She was launched with a groan and thud
SHE'S LIKE A DEMON SAILING BY
She was stuck two weeks in the Marsh Creek mud
THERE'S NO SHIP HERE CAN CATCH HER   

CHORUS:
Liverpool in fifteen days, the seven seas her name will praise
Wind in her hair and her sails unfurled, she's the fastest
ship in all the world, and her name is Marco Polo

Her keel's all bent, she'll never sail - HEAVE HER ROUND AND LET HER FLY
James Smith's hopes are doomed to fail - THERE'S NO SHIP THAT CAN MATCH HER
She's felt the wrath of jeers and scorn - SHE'S LIKE A DEMON SAILING BY
And through the pain the legend's born - THERE'S NO SHIP HERE CAN CATCH HER    ****THERE IS MORE TO THE SONG BUT I ONLY REMEMBER THE FIRST PART******

Willie-O's Song "The Anna Grace: is a wonderful ship building be sure to check it out.

Cap't Bob

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: Kenny B (inactive)
Date: 12 Dec 04 - 10:48 AM

a Song around the humour of the men who build ships.

"Uncle Wullie who works for Cunard?"

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: GUEST,Julia
Date: 12 Dec 04 - 11:12 AM

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: GUEST,Julia
Date: 12 Dec 04 - 11:26 AM

Sorry- slip o' th' digit

Check out Fred Gosbee's "Cappy John's Bride"- about a shy captain who needs a new boat and ends up with more in the bargain!

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/gosbee1

Also Frank Gotwals,a lobsterman from Stonington ME wrote a wonderful "Boat Blessing" to be played at launchings

Gordon Bok's "Dark Old Waters " is a classic

I also remember a song called "Boats to Build" by Guy Clark

We have a number of boat-building musicians here in mid-coast Maine-in fact Nick Appollonio (also guitar builder extraordinaire) is upstairs in our recording studio at this very moment! I'll ask him about boat-building songs when he takes a break

cheers- Julia/castlebay

Subject: Lyr Add: SHANTYMAN'S HAIL (Fred Gosbee)
From: GUEST,julia
Date: 12 Dec 04 - 11:29 AM

DUH!! Clean forgot about Fred's song "Shantyman's Hail" a tribute to shipbuilding in Bath Maine

Here are lyrics and the link will give MP3

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/gosbee1

SHANTYMAN'S HAIL
©1984 Fred Gosbee ^^

CHORUS: Hey, Ho! Roll and go!
Round Cape Horn to San Francisco
Shanteyman sing, boys, pull on the line
And we're back in record time

At Bath down in Maine they built many tall ships
They were faired up and planked, then launched down the slips
The strength of our nation was built on the pine
Of the mast-trees that harnessed the wind
There were schooners and sloops and all kinds of small craft
Warships with cannon both forward and aft
And the queens of the seas, the graceful clippers
Mighty proud men were there skippers

Then the steam-powered ships came along
Their engines replaced the handyman’s song
And men in the hellish heat down in the hold
Spent their watches shoveling coal
First coal, then oil, then nuclear heat
Replaced all the wind-driven ships in the fleet
And skills handed down for hundreds of years
Have all but disappeared

And where went the tall ships that once sailed so free
Under clouds of white canvas across the salt sea
With the wind in their rigging and foam at the bow
Tell me, where are they now?
Well some were scrapped and some can be found
Like the Luther and the Hesper, up the Sheepscot aground
Some were towed out to deep water and sunk
Regarded as no more than junk

We can't live forever on fuel from the ground
The prices go up and no more will be found
If we're still around for the next age of sail
We might hear that shantyman hail

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: Little Robyn
Date: 12 Dec 04 - 01:54 PM

Harland's yard get's a mention in Matt McGinn's song

'I'm looking for a job with a sky high pay,
A 4 day week and a 2 hour day,
Maybe it's because I'm inclined that way
But I never did like being idle!'
Robyn

Subject: Lyr Add: BOATS TO BUILD (Guy Clark)
From: beetle cat
Date: 12 Dec 04 - 02:08 PM

Wow, guys, I'm glad you guys are on top of this stuff. And I hope you sing it.
Willie-o, thats a gem.
The Kipling one is odd. He sure did follow the stereotypes.



Bluesmike, that is very much on subject!!
and because i couldn't find it on mudcat..

Guy Clark;
Boats to Build
^^
It's time for a change
I'm tired of that same ol same
The same ol words the same ol lines
The same ol tricks and the same ol rhymes

Days precious days
Roll in and out like waves
I got boards to bend I got planks to nail
I got charts to make I got seas to sail

I'm gonna build me a boat
With these two hands
It'll be a fair curve
From a noble plan
Let the chips fall where they will
Cause I've got boats to build

Sails are just like wings
The wind can make em sing
Songs of life songs of hope
Songs to keep your dreams afloat
I'm gonna build me a boat
With these two hands
It'll be a fair curve
From a noble plan
Let the chips fall where they will
Cause I've got boats to build

Shores distant shores
There's where I'm headed for
Got the stars to guide my way
Sail into the light of day

I'm gonna build me a boat
With these two hands
It'll be a fair curve
From a noble plan
Let the chips fall where they will
Cause I've got boats to build


So many of these songs are not in the DT, and not even in threads. What should I do? Should I post them here, or in seperate threads?

mary

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: Stewie
Date: 12 Dec 04 - 04:42 PM

Another from Bok - dismantling rather than 'building', but a good'un.

Saben the Woodfitter.


--Stewie.

Subject: Lyr Add: FAIRFIELD CRANE
From: mg
Date: 12 Dec 04 - 10:03 PM

here's the one about the Clyde

The Fairfield Crane
^^ Archie Fisher / Norman Buchan / Bobby Campbell
I was born in the shadow of the Fairfield crane
Where the blast of a freighter's horn
Was the very first sound that reached my ears
On the morning I was born
I lay and I listened to the shipyard sound
Coming out of the great unknown
And was sung to sleep by the mother tongue
That was to be my own

But before I grew to be one year old
I heard the sirens scream
As a city watched in the blacked-out night
A wandering searchlight's beam
And then at last I awoke and rose
To my first day of peace
For I'd learned that the battle to stay alive
Was never going to cease

I sat and I listened to my father tell
Of the days that he once knew
When you either sweated for a measly wage
Or you joined the parish queue
As times grew harder day by day
Along the riverside
I oft-times heard my mother say
It was tears that made the Clyde

Now I've sat in the school from nine till four
And I've dreamed of the world outside
Where the riveter and the plater watch
Their ships slip to the Clyde
I've served my time behind shipyard gates
And I sometimes mourned my lot
But if any man tries to mess me about
I'll fight like my father fought

(as sung by Archie Fisher)


also I remembered that I have one about welding on ships..probably in Bremerton WA.
^^
Solder and weld, solder and weld
I once was a student but I was expelled
I told my old man and he hollered and yelled
Didn't raise you to solder and weld Dear Billy
Didn't raise you to solder and weld

I got me a torch and I got me a lamp
Got me an ache and I got me a cramp
I hang upside down in the cold and the damp
All day as I solder and weld for a living
All day as I solder and weld

We breathe in the mold we breathe in the dust
Breathe in asbestos we breathe in the rust
There's not any air us poor welders can trust
All day as we solder and weld how it smelled
All day as we solder and weld

Someday I'll ask the God who made steel
Did you think of the heat us poor welders might feel
And it makes the hereafter seem a little more real
Just don't make me solder and weld for eternity
Don't make me solder and weld

Subject: Lyr Add: PRIDE OF THE PANMURE YARD (Stewart Brown)
From: Cluin
Date: 13 Dec 04 - 03:18 AM

As requested, the lyrics to "Pride of the Panmure Yard":


The Pride of the Panmure Yard
^^ (Stewart Brown)


"Build us a ship", said the men from the south
"A ship we can trust with a crew
In seas of ice, that grip like a vise
And winds that cut a man through"
So the Dundee lads talked to the ships
That sail where whalefish blow
That were built in the time of the oak and the pine
Like the bear and the Eskimo


(chorus:)
So, here's to the lads, the Lads of the Tay
Who built the ships that dared
Here's to Scott's "Discovery"
The pride of the Panmure Yard


For two long years the banks of the Tay
Echoed to the shipwright's din
Till down the slip ran a special ship
With years of skill in her trim
Oaken beams and pine for the mast
A steel-clad deck and bow
The captain bold his fate foretold
"She'll outlast us all, I vow"


(chorus)


Scott steer'd her south to Antactic seas
Down past the whaling grounds
As he strove for his goal, finding routes to the Pole
She froze in McMurdo's Sound
Two whole winters long she lay
In the grip of a stone hard sea
When a rescue failed, the Nova sailed
From Leith to set him free


(chorus)


The Polar heroes' names live on
When bards, their stories tell
Wilson, Bowers, Evans, Oates
And gallant Scott himself
On history's page, they take their place
Yet they all would surely say
"Make our shrine that vessel fine
The ship that led the way"


(chorus)

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: GUEST,ConcertinaChap
Date: 13 Dec 04 - 06:27 AM

Bob Pegg wrote an entire song cycle entitled "The Ship Builder". Much underrated LP, I reckon. Somewhat on the fantasy side of things, though, and an awful long way from the Clyde.

Chris

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: GUEST,Barnacle
Date: 13 Dec 04 - 11:55 AM

My favourite shipbuidling song is Alex Glasgow's "All in a Day"

"And come tomorrow, Willie, when the peeping Toms have canned their final pictures
And come tomorrow, Willie, when the cocktail party faces stiffen hard
And come tomorrow, Willie, the same wind will whistle up the river
And come, tomorrow, Willie, I'll meet you seven-thirty in the yard"

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 13 Dec 04 - 12:23 PM

Everybody's building
Ships and boats;
Some are building monuments
And others jotting down notes.

~Quinn the Eskimo, Bob Dylan

Sorry, I know this is not truly germaine to the subject at hand, but it's the first thing that came to mind when I read the thread title. Hope it's good for a laugh...

Subject: Lyr Add: BANKS OF THE CLYDE
From:
Date: 13 Dec 04 - 02:41 PM

Here's another song about the River Clyde.

I have no idea who wrote it. I learned it at Danny Kyle's festival pub in Edinburgh some years ago.
I've never come across it since

BANKS OF THE CLYDE
^^ (ch)
   There's grass now growin' where an empire stood
   Flowers on the banks o' the Clyde
   Tall trees stand now wi' their leafy boughs
   And there's salmon swimmin' in wi' the tide

A million men a million jobs,
Their hammers ringin' out in the dawn
And the cranes rose high tae the morning sky
Before all the work was gone
The shipyards lined the length o' the toon,
It's fame was known world-wide
For the finest boats on the seas afloat
Were stamped 'Made on the Clyde'

The shipyard barons turned the green tae black
With the sweat of the workers toil
They didn't give a damn that this pleasant land
Was a wealth that they shouldn't spoil
The fish in the river couldn't swim any more,
Pollution was the word that was used
But the blackened slums and the burnt oil drums
Showed a city that had been abused

Aye there she stood, a dear green place,
Before all the industry came,
Then a town of steel and the great pit-wheel,
The circle turns round again
For Glasgow now is a Greenpeace dream
That millions can enjoy
But amongst the hosts you'll find the shipyard ghosts,
The ranks of the unemployed

Jack

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: open mike
Date: 13 Dec 04 - 03:45 PM

HALOO BLUES MIKE! WELCOME BACK..LONG TIME NO SEE
NICE TO HEAR FROM YOU...THE BOATS TO BUILD SONG WAS
CO-WRITTEN BY http://www.verlonthompson.com/ AND IS
COMING OUT ON A NEW C.D. BY JIMMY BUFFETT: CALLED
"License to Chill" as a duet with ALAN JACKSON.

HOW ARE YOU, BLUESMIKE, YOU OLD CRAB, YOU!?

Subject: Lyr Add: ON THE BACKSIDE OF NANTUCKET POINT
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 13 Dec 04 - 04:21 PM

Curmudgeon just reminded me of "On the Backside of Nantucket Point" which I sort of sing and is not in the DT. (My Random Access Memory is getting more and more random.)

I learned it from John Roberts who let me tape him singing it back in 1981. He set it to "The Black Joke" morris tune.

Here 'tis --

ON THE BACKSIDE OF NANTUCKET POINT
^^
Uncle Josiah and old Uncle Sam
They built them a sloop in the shape of a clam
      On the backside of Nantucket Point.
They got her caulked up both tight and staunch
And when it was done, she was ready to launch.
      On the backside of Nantucket Point.
Uncle Josiah says he, "Sam, come,
We'll go into town for a runlet of rum."
But one little rum soon turned into another
And before very long they were three sheets together.
    On the backside of Nantucket Point.

By launching time they were in for some fun
So down to the beach all the women did run.
    On the backside of Nantucket Point.
Nancy and Polly and Prudy and Sue
And a vast many others that none could outdo.
    On the backside of Nantucket Point.
Tabitha Bunker and Abigail Pease
Poor Uncle Josiah was weak at the knees.
But mothers and daughters and sweethearts and wives
All hurried out for the time of their lives.
    On the backside of Nantucket Point.

The sloop she was launched and got under way
But uncle soon found that the bitch wouldn't stay.
    On the backside of Nantucket Point.
They pulled on the helm to wear her around
But when she jibed over, she struck the hard ground.
    On the backside of Nantucket Point.
And Uncle Josiah was all in a fret
For fear he'd got taken in old Neptune's net.
Then Uncle Josiah says he to old Sam,
"For a thousand such sloops I'd not give a damn."
    On the backside of Nantucket Point.

But he called out all hands to man the boat
To take out an anchor and heave her afloat
    On the backside of Nantucket Point.
But Uncle Josiah did swamp it and swore
That he wished the darn vessel had rotted ashore
    On the backside of Nantucket Point.
But they got her into the harbor snug
And moored her safe as a bug in a rug.
Old Uncle Josiah then scrambled ashore
Swore he would never build sloops anymore.
    On the backside of Nantucket Point.

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: beetle cat
Date: 13 Dec 04 - 04:47 PM

Hehe, actually, come to think of it that is the song that inspired this question. I just forgot about it. I Know it from a CD; Ye Mariners All with John Roberts, John Rockwell, and Larry Young. What a wonderful song.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE LAUNCH OF THE JOHN PATCHETT
From: Padre
Date: 13 Dec 04 - 07:45 PM

"THE LAUNCH OF THE 'JOHN PATCHETT'"

Through the grey mist of dawn all curling around,
The ponderous notes of the shipyard resound;
By fires at which builders are plying their toil,
Loud voices are clashing, and increase the turmoil.

Hark the dock shore is struck and the blue lights appear,
Morning is breaking, the daylight is near,
Ere the gloom that o'er hangs the dark water has fled,
Men with sinewy arms and by friendliness led,

Hand o'er hand they silently climb her tall side,
To help this good ship to the deep rolling tide
Of her future they speak as they move to and fro
Yes they ponder her future, though little they know.

Now she moves, cheer me hearties, she's launched on the tide,
See the waters caress her and rush to her side,
Hurrah and hurrah, the 'John Patchett' is free,
She has found her new home on the dark rolling sea.

Padre

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 13 Dec 04 - 08:21 PM

The Clyde shipyards also get a mention in McColl's version of "Jamie Foyers" but the song is more about the Spanish Civil War.
How about some of John Conolly's songs about thte fishing boats too? And "The collier Brig" - not very complimentary to the ship-builder in this case - "she was built in Roman times, held together with bits of twine"
TB

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: mg
Date: 13 Dec 04 - 09:01 PM

Linda Allen also wrote one I think about the women welders in WWII..I think working on ships..but maybe it was airplanes. I am realizing how truly awful I am about knowing what a song is about...I do the chorus and la la la on a couple of verses and am left with a vague impression of what the words are but I confess to not really listening to the words that well..obviously...also what was Andrea Aldridge's Wawona song..did they build it in her song? I can't remember... mg

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: beetle cat
Date: 13 Dec 04 - 09:07 PM

yeah, a lot of the time the verse is just an excuse for the chorus.

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 14 Dec 04 - 01:36 AM

As long as we are touting our own stuff:

I used to own [or be possessed by] a 50 year old [and very tired] schooner. During the 80's El Nino, it rained every weekend and many of the weeks during '82 and '83.

To the tune and pattern of "Rosin the Beau."

I work on the hull of my schooner,
And all the 'glass boaters go by;
They ask when she'll be in the water,
And I tell them she'll sail by and by.

Cho: I tell 'em she'll sail by and by-I-I

My friends won't come by to help me,
The weather's too cold or not dry;
Then they ask when they're gonna go sailin',
And I tell them they'll sail by and by.

The engine's a hunk of scrap iron,
The sight of it makes strong men cry;
It coughs and it clanks and it wheezes,
But, I tell you she'll hum by and by.

The deck is old and it's rotten,
It leaks if a cloud's in the sky;
From weather it gives no protection,
But, I tell you we'll caulk by and by.

Subject: RE: songs about building boats/ships?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 14 Dec 04 - 01:41 AM

Let's redo that chorus for pattern and finish the song.

Chorus:
I tell 'em she'll sail by and by-I-I,
I tell 'em she'll sail by and by;
They ask when she'll be in the water,
And I tell 'em she'll sail by and by.

Now, she's back in the water this Summer,
Lookin' good--at least to my eye;
The sails like a gull on the ocean,
And I TOLD you she's sail by and by.

If a Joe clone wishes to combine the posts, I would appreciate it. Thanks, Eric