sea chanties

Subject: sea chanties
From:
Date: 07 May 98 - 03:38 PM

I have a collection of sea chanties on a homemade tape that I'd love to find on CD. The problem is a) I don't know the name (if any) of the original tape; b) I don't remember if the songs came from a single tape or whether I collected them at random off the radio and c) I don't have exact titles for the individual selections.

I'm hoping that perhaps someone will recognize the following and tell me if/where/how they're available as a collection. The songs include:

Rolling Down To Old Maui Get Up Jack John, Sit Down Bound For The Rio Grande Shallow Brown Blow The Man Down (bawdy) Strike The Bell Go To Sea No More Fiddler's Green Don't You Remember Cape Ann etc.

If first lines would help, I can supply those. I'd appreciate any help you can give me. Thanks!

Toby McErlean ([e-mail])

Subject: RE: sea chanties
From: Bill D
Date: 07 May 98 - 03:48 PM

all those songs are available on many different records/CDs...I don't have one album with all them together..but maybe someone does..(do they sound like they were all done by the same group?)

Subject: RE: sea chanties
From: Barry Finn
Date: 07 May 98 - 05:17 PM

On the LP "Steady As She Goes" (songs & chanties from the days of Commercial Sail) with Louis Killen, Jeff & Gerret Warner, Fud Benson, you'll find all of the above except Fiddler's Green & Don't You Remember Cape Ann. I don't know if this is available or been reissued, it was put out by Collectors Records #1928, released in 1977. Some of the other songs are Topman & The Afterguard, Ship In Distress, Bring Em Down, Bold Riley, Coast Of Peru, Paddy Lay Back & All For Me Grog. Barry

Subject: RE: sea chanties
From:
Date: 07 May 98 - 09:24 PM

Fiddlers' Green is not a sea shanty, although a very nice song indeed.

Get Up Jack John is probably Jolly Roving Tar.

Go To Sea No More -- Jack Radcliffe?

Do the singers on this CD sound North American or English? You say you don't know if you collected them at random -- can I take it from that each selection sounds like a different singer or band?

Stan Rogers sang a version of Rolling Down To Old Maui on "Between The Breaks Live", which he indicates he learned from someone named Emily Friedman in 1978. If it is his version you have there is no mistaking his voice, and it would be a live version.

Jolly Roving Tar has recently been done by Great Big Sea from Newfoundland, and Jim Payne and Fergus O'Byrne, also from Newfoundland. I believe but am not certain that they sing a Nova Scotian variant. The song Jack Tar sung by A.L. Lloyd and Ewan McColl seems related, at least to my ear, because some of the lyrics and part of the tune are the same, and the story line is almost identical. (The beginning of it sounds like The Ballad of Jesse James, though.)

Fiddlers Green has been done by a host of people. Archie Fisher did a really nice version but the tape is very hard to get, at least in Canada. I got mine sent from England, and then a friend of mine ran off with it.

Jack Radcliffe and Blow The Man Down have been done by any number of people.

Subject: RE: sea chanties
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 May 98 - 02:44 AM

"Don't You Remember Cape Ann" is by Gordon Bok (usually called just "Cape Ann"), and it's on an excellent CD by Bok called "North Wind's Clearing," available from Folk-Legacy Records. There's a Maine group called Schooner Fare who do a lot of maritime music (and also "Fiddler's Green"), and there's a terrific chantey CD from the Revels. Of course, sometime Mudcat visitor Lou Killen sings more chanteys than anyone alive.
Hope that helps.
-Joe offer-

Subject: RE: sea chanties
From:
Date: 08 May 98 - 12:59 PM

Another good source for nearly all of the above songs is the Victory Musicians' Cooperative, based near Tacoma, Washington. Their musicians have put out a number of glorious sea-song collections. I've nearly worn out one called "Victory (Sings) At Sea," which includes nineteen songs. Also, a women's group of chanty singers in Seattle, "St. Elmo's Choir," has a fourteen-song tape called "White Stocking Day." I know the Victory folks have put out further Sea Song recordings. Not sure if this address is current, but you might snailmail them at P.O. Box 7515, Bonney Lake, WA 98390. There's a good chance they could also have a website. This being a maritime area, the local interest has led to some excellent musical endeavors. Good luck on your search!

A h-uile beannachd leibh,

--Cuilionn