Subject: RE: Shanty or Chantey?
From:
Gibb Sahib
Date: 24 Feb 23 - 08:06 AM
The start of lining out some documentation, not of this whole subject but related to recent questions: (I'm not going to give full references and contextualize everything)
1806
Where Scotland's kings are laid; of Lewis, Sky,
And of the mainland mountain circled lochs;
And he would sing the rowers timing chaunt,...
1818
The reapers had their carol; the herdsmen had a song, which an ox-driver of Sicily had composed; the kneuders, and the bakers, and the galley-rowers, were not without their chaunt.
1825 (and similar French references):
BOULINA-HA-HA ! Arrache ! Boulina-ha-ha, déralingue ! etc. Ancien chant des matelots français pendant qu'ils bâient sur les quatre principales boulines , notamment celle du grand et du petit hunier. Ce chant est si ridicule que plusieurs capitaines militaires le défendent.
HISSA, O, HA , HISSE: chant de l'homme qui donne la voix pour réunir les efforts de plusieurs autres sur un même cordage afin de produire un plus grand effet. Ce chant ou cri n'a plus guère lieu que dans quelques ports.
1826
He was principally applauded for singing a common sailors' chant in character, having a sort of 'Sally Brown, oh, ho,' chorus; and requiring the action of pulling a rope, spitting upon the hand, and the accompaniment of a horrid yell.
1829
Our visitors were particularly animated in their extemporaneous effusions, and ran round the capstan rapidly, to words signifying their hope of soon sharing an allowance of spirits; ...The limit of the choral expression is always marked by the velocity with which the leader of the band, that is, the individual who first gives out the stave, completes a circle on the deck as he heaves round his bar, and he recommences his chant at the same spot at which it was begun. Hence, when the circumvolutions of the performers are quickened by the yielding of the ... No sooner had they got the ship under weigh, and felt her yield to the impulse of their warp, as if she gradually awoke from a deep lethargy, and slowly resumed her suspended faculty of motion, than they began their song, one of them striking up, seemingly with the first idea that entered his imagination, while the others caught at his words, and repeated them to a kind of Chinese melody; the whole at length uniting their voices into one chant, which, though evidently the outpouring of a jovial spirit, had, from its unvaried tone and constant echo of the same expression, a half-wild, half-melancholy effect upon the ear.
1831
It was the rude chaunt of some negroes returning down the river to their master's plantation, and beguiling the toil of their oars with a wild yet rich and well harmonized chorus.
1833
Every ship of war on arriving at Freetown, enters certain number of these Kroumen over and above her compliment, for the purpose of manning her boats when the may be sent on any service where there is likely to be much exposure to the sun or rain, and to the mephitic exhalation from the soil, such as weeding and watering so that our unassimilated seamen may be subjected as little as possible to the deleterious influence of the climate.
We received upwards of twenty of them on board, chiefly young men, all of them more muscular and athletic, though not generally taller, than our own people;…
In rowing, they have always a song of some sort or other at command, to which they keep time with the oar, someimes melodious, but usually harsh and untuneful, having generally for its subject something connected with the ship, or the officers, or the duty that is going on, each chanting a subject in turn, while the rest join in the chorus.
1834
Here is a song, or rather a chorus, which the negroes sing on such occasions, being a fair sample of their poetry and'music; kept up, perhaps, by a few of them working together, whilst the others at the same time sing some popular English tune, recently imported, forming together, something like that delectable compound of harmony and discord, a "Dutch Medley."
Shatteraynite aw cung la town
Chaun fine my deary hunney.
Aw run roun da lemon tree,
Chaun fine my deary hunney. [ETC]
1835
The hoarse panting of the high-pressure engines, the rattling of the drays on the paved wharfs, and the discordant cries in every tongue mingling with the song of the negro boatmen, as their wild chaunt on coming into port would rise ever and anon above the general din, made a confusion of sights and sounds that was bewildering.
1835
I now passed the estate belonging to Monsieur Honnemaison: the field-gang were cutting canes, and the muleteers loading their animals,—all were chaunting a short song. Negro songs are always short; it was what on French estates is called a "belle air," a kind of Creole chaunt, almost agreeable enough to merit its appellation.
1838
Ohio RIVER, 1838.-—-This morning we took on board a lot of very dry wood. and the negro firemen, as is usual, when they get good wood, and can make their furnaces hot, begin to sing, one of them chanting the burden of a song, and the rest, at the end of every two lines, striking in, by way of chorus. The whole was improvisatored for the occasion ; and it is remarkable what skill an African Orpheus of this class will exhibit in composing his extemporaneous song.
1839
Suddenly, on a signal from their spokesman, the negroes struck up a song, to which they kept time with their oars. The leading songster sang a line solo, taking up any occurrence that crossed his mind at the moment, or that took place in our progress. Thus, when the looms of the oars were thrown aft to replunge the blade in the water, the leader sang his line, whatever it might be, and as they one and all took their stroke together, every voice united in a general chorus. ... The boatmen could hear very little if any thing of our conversation; but seeing us earnestly engaged, they ceased their chaunt...
...…I was going to inquire who Hammerton was, but the question was delayed by the peculiar mournful cadences of the negroes as they continued their chaunt.
..."Massa Hammerton like for hearee we peaka too much sorry," answered Sam, the leader of the chaunt.
“Go, massa, go," continued the negro; "you no top longer; Golamity bless Massa Mitchell; go den quick, and no let em boys sing em chant hearee, spose you please."
1839
“THE STOKER'S CHAUNT.
The ebben tide ib floating past,
Fire down below!
The arrival time ib coming fast.
Fire down below!
1841
On either hand the posthumous fame of Fulton ascends with the spiral wreaths of smoke, that like dusky serpents curl from the funnels of the numerous steamers that ply to and fro upon the bay and river, while the "yo, heave ho," of the mariners, the monotonous chant of the stevedores, the measured stroke of the skilfully plied oars of the waterman, the "clinking hammers" of the ship-yards, the hurried shouts of the officers of vessels and the answering response of their crews, the rattling of iron cables, the creaking of swayed masts, and the flutter of shivering sails are the whisperings of the modern Babel, falling on the ear of the loiterer at Williamsburgh, in her seasons of repose.
1842
But if these chaunts have not much meaning, they will not produce the desired effect of touching the heart, as well as animating the arm of the labourer. The gondoliers of Venice while away their long midnight hours on the water, with the stanzas of Tasso; our sailors at Newcastle, in heaving their anchors, &c, use a song of this kind.
1842
SHANTY SONG.
TO A NEW AND APPROPRIATE AIR.
We leave all is dear, at the falling year, ?
'Fore the bleak snows come and the frosts appear, ?
O'er the wide lakes we creep, ?
Rocked by the billows sleep, ?
And through the rough rapids wc boldly steer. ?
Then row, brothers row, ?
Let the rude winds blow, ?
Shove the canoe like ranting boys, ?
With liquor and good cheer, ?
And none an heart to fear. ?
Merry be the woodland shanting boys.
To dangers we go, where the snow storms blow, ?
And the ice-bound rivers cease to flow,
Where the axe with the sound,
In the valleys resound, ?
As we chaunt to the woodlands, row boys, row, ?
Then row brothers, row, &c. &c. &c.
1843
Great masses of idle people were standing contemplating our arrival, the vessels teeming with negroes, oddly attired, were at work rolling cargoes in and out, and accompanying their labour with a lively chaunt, both musical and strange.
1850
Nothing to break the calm silence of the scene, save the occasional chaunt of a negro band, who were engaged, at some distance, putting up the sails of a windmill, and whose chorus, rude and imperfectly heard as it was, sounded pleasantly in the ear...
1851
I am told that negroes, although living in "Old Virginny," never did, and never would, sing such songs as Old Dan Tucker and Lucy Neale, which only originated in the brains of their sham Ethiopian personifiers. The songs they do sing are almost always of a religious turn, something between a nautical anchor-hauling chaunt and the "Old Hundredth."
1854
The little bay looks active and busy with shipping; loading and unloading goes on merrily to the chanting of the sailors, which sound is borne pleasantly across the water with every little breath of wind;
1855
Gen'el Jackson fine de trail,
Whaw, my kingdom, flre away,
He full um fote wid cotton bale,
Whaw, my kingdom, fire away.” ...
The song, a part of which I have just quoted, is fresh from the sable mint in which it was coined. Its originality and genuineness every one familiar with plantation life will at once perceive; while some Georgians may even be able to point to the very river on which the dusky troubadours still chant it.
1856
Another man had, in the mean time, stepped into the place he had first occupied at the head of the grave; an old negro, with a very singularly distorted face, who raised a hymn, which soon became a confused chant—the leader singing a few words alone, and the company then either repeating them after him or making a response to them, in the manner of sailors heaving at the windlass.
1858
But the sail wouldn't come, though. All the most forcible expressions of the Commination-Service were liberally bestowed on the watch. “ Give us the song, men!” sang out the mate, at last,— “ pull with a will!—together, men!—haltogether now! “—And then a cracked, melancholy voice struck up this chant:
“Oh, the bowline, bully bully bowline,
Oh, the bowline, bowline, HAUL!”
1859
and the barbaric African chant and chorus of the gang at work filling the cane-troughs ;—all these make the first visit at the sugar-house a strange experience. But after one or two visits, the monotony is as tiresome as the first view is exciting. There is, literally, no change in the work There are the same noises of the machines, the same cries from negroes at the same spots, the same intensely sweet smell, the same state of the work in all its stages, at whatever hour you visit it, whether in the morning, or evening, at midnight, or at the dawn of the day. If you wake up at night, you hear the “A-a-b'la A-a-b'la!” “E-e-cha! E-e-cha!” of the caldron-men crying to the stokers, and the high, monotonous chant of the gangs filling the wagons or the trough, a short, improvisated stave, and then the chorus;—not a tune, like the song of sailors at the tackles and falls but a barbaric, tuneless intonation.
1861
They are the product chiefly of the enterprising capitalists termed lumber-men,' and of the men and their woodmen, whose French name is "Gens de Chantier," from that habit of singing as they ply their task which was made known to our people by Moore's Canadian Boat-song." Their log-houses are called chantiers, whence the English shanty, and shanty-men.
1863
…and as the boat pushed off, and the steersman took her into the stream, the men at the oars set up a chorus, which they continued to chant in unison with each other, and in time with their stroke, till the voices and oars were heard no more from the distance. I believe I have mentioned to you before the peculiar characteristics of this veritable negro minstrelsy—how they all sing in unison, having never, it appears, attempted or heard any thing like part-singing.
... Except the extemporaneous chants in our honor, of which I have written to you before, I have never heard the negroes on Mr. —'s plantation sing any words that could be said to have any sense.
1867
Down the rigging they leaped, and to the windlass brakes. Then as they felt the old emotion, that they were at every stroke of the brakes slowly parting their last hold on Yankee land, they broke forth in a chanting that made the sleepy crews of the numberless coasters turn out in quick time. “ O, Riley, O,” “Whiskey for my Johnny,” and the loud toned “Storm along, my Rosa,” woke the echoes far and near.
... The anchor came to the bow with the chanty of “Oh, Riley, Oh,” and “Carry me Long,” and the tug walked us toward the wharf at Brooklyn.
...Every man sprang to duty. The cheerful chanty was roared out, and heard above the howl of the gale.
...A chanty gang was engaged to hoist out the cargo, and one of them in trying to steal hard bread, finding the bull-dog upon him, jumped overboard and swam safely ashore.......
The chanty men wanted biscuit, and waited to receive them.
......when the sugar began to roll in, the crew found I was at the head of the rope, and a “chanty man.” We rolled the sugar upon the stages, over the bows, and at every hogshead I gave them a different song.
1868 - first (?) reference to French etymology
Man the capstan bars! Old Dave is our “chanty-man.”* Tune up, David!
... [footnote:] *Chanter (French), to sing.
...Dave is familiar with the songs of all nations, for he has sailed over all seas, and h’isted anchor in many ports. Perhaps he will “chanty” a favorite English capstan-song:—
... And so “Dave,” the favorite “chanty-man,” in a rough, yet musical voice, and with that temulous quaver which expresses his idea of effective style, begins...
...By this time, usually, the mainsail is up, and the song concludes itself; but it sometimes happens that the huge sail lingers on its way, and more “chanty” is needed, in which case the song “suffers a sea-change.”
1868
Truly, as I once heard an old skipper remark, a good shanty is the best bar in the capstan ; but it is impossible to give an adequate idea of them by merely quoting the words : the charm all lies in the air : indeed, few of them have any set form of words, except in the chorus ; thus the inventive as well as the vocal powers of the singer are taxed—yet the shantyman has to extemporise as he sings to keep up his prestige...
... Shanties are of two kinds, those sung at the capstan, and those sung when hauling on the ropes ; in the former the meter is longer, and they are generally of the pathetic class.
...There is an air of romance about California, the Brazils, and Mexico, that has a peculiar charm for Jack, and has made them the subject of many a favourite shanty, as Rio Grande, Valparaiso, Round the Horn, and Santa Anna.
…In those lively shanties, Good morning ladies all, Nancy Bell, and Sally in the Alley, ample homage is paid to the girl he leaves behind him.
...There are many more capstan shanties,
...We now come to the hauling shanties: first, there is the hand over hand song, in very quick time; then the long pull song. When there are a number of men—perhaps twenty, or more— pulling on one rope, the reader will perceive that, to be effective, the pull must be made unanimously ; this is secured by the shanty, the pull being made at some particular word in the chorus.
...These remarks apply only to merchant ships ; in the Navy, the shanty is prohibited, and at the capstan the men move to the sound of the fife or fiddle—the musician being seated on the capstan-head.
1869
At the last word 'haul' in each couplet, every man threw his whole strength into the pull—all singing in chorus with a quick explosive sound. And so jump by jump the sheet was at last hauled taut I daresay this description will be considered spun out by a seafaring man; but landsmen like to hear of the sea and its ways; and as more fresh-water sailors read this Journal than sea-water ones, I have told them of one shanty and its time and place.
...The above is what we call a hauling shanty. Shanties are of two kinds—those sung at the capstan, and those sung when hauling on a rope
...There is an air of romance about California, the Brazils, and Mexico, that has a peculiar charm for Jack; and he has made them the subject of many a favourite shanty, as Rio Grande, Valparaiso, Round the Horn, and Santa Anna. Rio Grande is perhaps the greatest favourite of this description of songs, but all the beauty lies in the mournful air:
…There are many more capstan shanties...
...I remember once hearing a good shanty on board a Glasgow boat; something like the following was the chorus:
...We now come to the hauling shanties. First, there is the hand-over-hand song, in very quick time ; then the long-pull song. When there are a number of men—perhaps twenty or thirty—pulling on a rope, the reader will perceive that, to be effective, the pull must be made unanimously: this is secured by the shanty, the pull being made at some particular word in the chorus.
1870
At the bow of the boat were gathered the negro deck-hands, who were singing a parting song...The leader, a stalwart negro, stood upon the capstan shouting the solo part of the song, the words of which I could not make out, although I drew very near; but they were answered by his companions in stentorian tones at first, and then, as the refrain of the song fell into the lower part of the register, the response was changed into a sad chant in mournful minor key.
1870
Forty-eight hours after that we were off Sandy Hook with our jib-boom pointing toward the open sea, and all hands on the main topsail halliards, pulling away to the roaring chanty, —
1871
"There are large sugar cultivations on the mainland," writes Mr. Philpot from Abaco, "and the fields of waving cane, with their delicate green leaves and golden tassels, look very pretty, especially when they relieve a dark background of sombre pine-wood. A windmill crushes the cane, and when wind fails, manual labour is called in—a number of negroes turning the windlass to the wild chaunts of their own country."
1871
For example, when hauling on the topsail halyards, they may have this song, the shanty man, as they call him, solo singer, beginning with a wailing strain:
...Shanty man: “Haul the bowline; Kitty is my darling.
Crew: Haul the bowline, the bowline haul!”
1874
Shanty, a song. A term in use among sailors. From CHANTER.
1874
The men seemed of my opinion, for they went forward singing merrily one of those peculiar ditties that sailors always affect, and which you hear nowhere but in the forecastle, or else from the chanty-man when all hands are employed together doing heavy work.
... "Way, haul away, haul away, my Jo!”
roared the gunner in stentorian voice, as he led off in a sonorous chanty...
1876
We were not a little amused whilst heaving round the windlass at seeing Mr H leaning over the bulwarks deplorably sick. Our putting back made the men strike up the wellknown homeward-bound “chanty”—
...We filled up with water and took aboard some fresh meat; and the wind having hauled round to N.E., with fine and clear weather, we weighed anchor to the tune of the “chanty,”—”I served my time in the Black Ball Line,”—
...Whilst heaving up anchor prior to the tug towing us to the wharf, we had some good “chanties”—for Jack's spirits are at their highest at the thoughts of a run ashore. The “chanty” known under the name of “ The Rio Grande” is particularly pretty...
...Merchant Jack laughs with contempt as he watches their crew in uniform dress, walking round the windlass, weighing anchor like mechanical dummies. No hearty “chanties” there—
1876
The morning finds us still a dozen miles from Asioot where we desire to celebrate Christmas; we just move with sails up, and the crew poling. The head-man chants a line or throws out a word, and the rest come in with a chorus, as they walk along, bending the shoulder to the pole. The leader—the "shanty man" the English sailors call their leader, from the French chanter I suppose—ejaculates a phrase, sometimes prolonging it, or dwelling on it with a variation, like "O ! Mohammed!" or "O! Howadji!" or some scraps from a love-song, and the men strike in in chorus:
1879
There’s half a dozen old “shanty songs” that are never heard on shore, sung by sailors at work. Such as “The Bully Boat’s a Coming,” “Santy Anna,” Miranza Lee,” “Storm along, John.” Take any of these chanted by a Blackball liner’s crew as they were making everything taut in the dog watch with top gallant sails set and a lively breeze humming through the rigging, and there’s music which would, with a little trimming and polishing, out-Pinafore “Pinafore.”
1879
And Short pretended to chanty a sailor's song. …
“An' away, my Johnny boy, we 're all bound to go!” …
1879
The majority of the men who volunteered for the Water Transport Corps, were, as may be imagined, those who had been used to a sea-faring life, and accustomed to boats and rowing. They were a rough-and-tumble lot, and many are the wild stories told of their escapades. The boats' crews (8 and 12 oars), used generally to sweep up against the stream to the chorus of a sailors shanty song, "I'm bound away," or "Ye rolling rivers," usurping the canoe chant of the natives.
1879
The men, who are now prevented from working about deck or aloft at their usual jobs, are only worked at tending the sails, and between orders stay under the lee of the forward house. ... Through all their hardships, and this weather is really very hard on them, they seem as cheerful as possible, and sing their queer monotonous songs with a vim when pulling on the ropes, where all hands, or a whole watch is needed. ... The song or "shantee" as they call it, and which is sung when a whole watch or more are hauling, consists in the leader singing a line, then all hands the chorus, which is only one line long, and at the same time giving two long steady pulls; as the leader chants the next line the men rest, then another chorus and pull, and so on until the yard is hoisted or the sail sheeted home.
1879
Every morning they were waked up by the song of the crew, as they commenced at five o'clock in the morning to hoist out the tobacco, for it is not customary in port to “ turn to “until six, and all day long such choruses as “Walk along my Sally Brown,” and “Hoist her up from down below,” rang over the harbor, with all the force that a dozen hearty negroes could give them. When the “shanty man“ became hoarse, another relieved him, and thus the song and work went along,...
...The shantyman, as the solo singer is called, standing up “beforehand,” as high above the rest of the crew as he can reach, sings with as many quirks, variations and quavers as his ingenuity and ability can attempt, “Haul the bow-line, Kitty is my darling;”
...Great latitude is allowed in the words and the shantyman exercises his own discretion. If he be a man of little comprehension or versatility, he will say the same words over and over, but if he possesses some wit, he will insert a phrase alluding to some peculiarity of the ship, or event of the time, which will cause mouths to open wider and eyes to roll gleefully, while a lively pull follows that rouses the sheet home and elicits the mate's order “Belay!” A good shantyman is highly prized, both by officers and crew. His leadership saves many a dry pull, and his vocal effort is believed to secure so much physical force, that he is sometimes allowed to spare his own exertions and reserve all his energies for the inspiriting shanty.
...A good shantyman, who with fitting pathos recounts the sorrows of “ poor Reuben “ never fails to send the topsail to the masthead at quick notice,...
...Of all the heroines of deck song Sally Brown's name is most frequently uttered, and a lively pull always attends it. She figures in several of these songs; one has as its chorus “Shantyman and Sally Brown.”
...Each line is usually repeated twice, even if there be a rhyme impending, for the shantyman's stock must be carefully husbanded.
1881
For the first six weeks all the "Shanti songs" known on the sea had been sung.
1882
Undoubtedly many sailor songs have a negro origin. They are the reminiscences of melodies sung by negroes stowing cotton in the holds of ships in Southern ports. The “shanty-men,” those hards of the forecastle, have preserved to some extent the meaningless words of negro choruses, and have modified the melodies so as to fit them for salt-water purposes.
...There are pulling songs which approach so closely the structure of windlass songs that they were sometimes made to do duty at the windlass or the pump by shanty-men whose artistic consciences were somewhat dull.
All sailor songs consist of one or more lines sung by the shanty-man alone, and one or two lines sung by the men in chorus. Windlass songs always have two choruses, while pulling songs should have but one. The choruses are invariable. They are the fixed and determinating quantities of each song, while the lines sung by the shanty-man were left in a measure to his discretion. It is true that custom wedded certain lines to certain songs, but the shanty-man was always at liberty to improvise at his own pleasure. He was also permitted to slightly vary the melody of his part, and the accomplished shanty-man was master of certain tricks of vocalization which can not be reproduced in print, but which contributed vastly to the effectiveness of his sinking. Those who have heard Irma Marie in Barbe Bleu may remember that in some of her songs, notably in the first act, she had a trick of slurring from a note in her proper register to another in her head voice. This was one of the favorite mannerisms of the shanty-man.
...Presently some one says, “Oh, give us the 'Bowline,'“ whereupon the shanty-man's sharp clear voice is heard, the men join in the chorus, and as they sing the last syllable they haul on the halyards, and the stubborn yard yields.
...This is clearly of negro origin, for the “Shanandore” is evidently the river Shenandoah. In course of time some shanty-man of limited geographical knowledge, not comprehending that the “Shanandore” was a river, but conceiving that the first chorus required explanation, changed the second chorus.
...Much care was evidently given to “Lowlands” by the shanty-men. It has often been improved. In its original form the first chorus was shorter and less striking, and the words of the second chorus were, “My dollar and a half a day.” It is to be regretted that no true idea can be given on paper of the wonderful shading which shanty-men of real genius sometimes gave to this song by their subtle and delicate variations of time and expression.
...Who Stormy was, and why he received that evident nickname, even the most profound and learned shanty-men always confessed themselves unable to explain.
1882
They always have a foreman, one of their own number, who directs their work and leads their song or chant. Sometimes he merely utters, in a high, sing-song tone, a constant succession of orders, to which the hands respond now and then as the work goes on; everything that is said is chanted, with a well-defined cadence and rhythm, often extremely musical and interesting: "Ready now! Give us light dar! What do yo' say now? All togedder dar!" and so on. Some of their songs or chants include queer, inarticulate shouts or cries and vocal explosions,
1883
“SHANTY SONGS”.
OLD STORM ALONG.
“CHANTY SONG.”
BLACK BALL. “CHANTY” SONG.
1883
But the lack of variety is no obstruction to the sailor's
poetical inspiration when he wants the “ old man” to know
his private opinions without expressing them to his face, and
so the same “chantey,” as the windlass or halliard chorus is
called, furnishes the music to as many various indignant
remonstrances as Jack can find injuries to sing about.
1883
'Then give us one of the old chanteys,' exclaimed my uncle. “Haul the Bowline,” or “Whiskey, Johnny,” or “ Run, let the Bulljine run.”
1884
The most popular of the sea songs are known
as “shanties.” Whether this is an original word
or is a corruption of “chants” it would be difficult
to say. Whenever the sailors heave up the
anchor, or man the pumps, or undertake some
difficult operation which requires the use of the
capstan they are apt to indulge in “shantying.”...
The “shantyer,” or soloist, chants one or two rude Iines and is followed by
his comrades in a brief chorus. In nearly all shanties there are two choruses, which are sung alternately.
...There are a number of songs which sailors sing while hauling on the ropes which are not called
shantys, but are in many respects similar to the latter. The soloist chants a line, and his comrades follow with a chorus, at the last word of which they give the rope a terrific tug. One of these songs is known as “Hanging Johnny.”
...When seamen furl one of the larger sails it requires their united efforts to roll the canvass
up on to the yard. For the final effort they stimulate themselves by a brief chant at the last word of which all pull together. In the selection of the two sets of words which Jack has set to this chant he has displayed his love of
honesty and truthfulness. One version of
the yard-arm chant is “Wea-hay-hay; we will pay Paddy Doyle for his boots.”
The composer of these words undoubtedly owed
a man named Patrick Doyle for a pair of boots,
and he took a public occasion for announcing
his intention of paying for them like an honest
man. The other version of the chant is “Wea-hay-hay; oh, my wife she's a devil for gin.”
...The shantyer's face invariably glows with enthusiasm
when he reaches this line,
...The following is a portion of one of
the most popular of the shanties:
...One or two land songs have of late years been
transformed Into shantys. “Marching Through
Georgia” is becoming a great favorite with Jack,
although the air of this does not compare with
those of several of his shantys. The song in
which a young man meets a pretty maid, who,
upon being cross-examined, informs him that her
face is her fortune, and in a very pert and forward
manner says: “Nobody asked you, Sir” when he announces his disinterested Intention of
marrying her, has, after some alterations and
renovations been transformed into a shanty,
with the following somewhat irrelevant chorus:
“I was bound for the Rio Grande.”
...There is however, one shanty the words of which were very appropriate. This is rarely sung except by the crew of some sinking vessel who are about to abandon her.
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