Lyr ADD/Tune Req: Nasty Nell (Janie Meneely)

Subject: Lyr Add: NASTY NELL (Janie Meneely)
From: Haruo
Date: 25 May 08 - 04:31 AM

At Folklife's Maritime Showcase Saturday afternoon, Pint & Dale did several of Janie Meneely's songs, including Nasty Nell, The Brigantine, and The Ballad of Anne Bonney. These are all wonderful songs, but I was so impressed with "Nasty Nell" that I was moved to post this request for the tune (anybody have it?) and the lyrics:

---

NASTY NELL
(Janie Meneely)

Bunky he was waiting for a big old fish to strike
Daydreamin' 'bout women and the fight on Friday night
He spat a loogie o'er the side and took another chew
When something starts to thrashing such as feisty fishes do
No sooner Bunky cocks his head, a female form appears
It's Nasty Nell, the mermaid, just as sure as Bud is beer
"Dammit, Captain," she pipes up, "you've snaggled my caboose.
I'll give you to the count of two to up and cut me loose."

"Hold on, Sister," Bunky sez, "I don't believe we've met.
Whyn't you just thrash until that hook is good and set,
And then I'll haul you up on deck and won't we have a time.
A salty gal such as yourself would prob'ly suit me fine."
Now Nelly ain't no beauty—I forgot to tell ya that.
Tattoos on her biceps, and barnacles up her back,
Seaweed sprouted from her chest and a scar ran cross her gut
And she cursed like any blue-nose when she got her dander up:

Chorus:
"Go to hell!" sez Nasty Nell, a-stubbing her cigar
You're nothing but a lily-livered lousy lump o' lard
I'd jump the bones of Davy Jones or sit on Ahab's knee
Before I'd let the likes of you lay chiggered mitts on me

Bunky starts to chuckle, just to see the mermaid spit
And he settles in his deck chair so's to watch her pitch a fit.
"Tell me when you're tired, Luv," he sez to Nasty Nell.
"I don't want you all tuckered when I ring that party bell."
"Look here," Nasty Nell starts in, "this isn't any joke.
Piss me off and in a flash, I'll up and sink your boat."
"I love a spunky lady," Bunky answers with a grin,
And he gets his fishing tackle and he starts to crank her in.

Chorus

"There, there," Bunky tells her, "No need to feel distraught.
All's fair in love and fishing, and you're the one got caught."
But Nelly held a mirror up and flashed it from her hand.
"Fifty bucks sez you ain't setting foot again on land."
With that she flipped her scaley tale and jiggled loose that hook
She flipped old Bunk the finger and without a second look,
She dove down deep and swam away without a pretty please
As Bunky felt the water start to swirl around his knees.

Chorus

It's a lesson for the learning, for them's as would be wise.
Watch out for them there mermaids what'll cut you down to size
They are the stuff of legends such as found in any book
Why, a mermaid, she can sink ya with a single dirty look!
There's countless songs and stories though no witnesses survive
They don't appear inclined to leave us sailor boys alive
They'll flash that bloody mirror and down in the sea you'll drop
Just ask our buddy Bunky next time he washes up.

Chorus

---

A very very strong song, extremely enjoyable. The tune somehow reminded me of the hymn "Come and Dine", but I don't think it's particularly close to it. Doesn't scan right anyhow.

Haruo

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Nasty Nell
From: Haruo
Date: 27 May 08 - 03:04 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Nasty Nell
From: Haruo
Date: 29 May 08 - 01:06 AM

one last try

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Nasty Nell
From: SussexCarole
Date: 29 May 08 - 02:53 AM

Suggest that you contact Janie through her website www.janiemeneely.com    I've heard Janie sing this - it's a great song

Carole

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Nasty Nell
From: Nerd
Date: 29 May 08 - 10:42 AM

I'm singing with Janie and Paul at a festival this weekend. She may be busy preparing right now, but I'll let her know this thread is here.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Nasty Nell
From: Haruo
Date: 29 May 08 - 03:26 PM

And I sent her email as suggested. Had trouble getting her website's "send email" feature to work, but was able to cut-n-paste the address.

Haruo

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Nasty Nell
From: Haruo
Date: 29 May 08 - 03:35 PM

Just checked and sure enough she replied with an MP3, which doesn't do me as much good as a simple Mudcat-style melody-line MIDI, but it'll be fun to listen to anyway.

Haruo

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Nasty Nell
From: SussexCarole
Date: 29 May 08 - 06:04 PM

Hard to please some folk eh? Perhaps a show of appreciation for the MP3 and contact from Janie and help from catters would be appropriate rather than a childlish grizzle for something else!

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Nasty Nell
From: Haruo
Date: 29 May 08 - 08:09 PM

Sorry, sorry, sorry. I am grateful for the contact from Janie and for the MP3 she sent, and for catters' help (particularly yours), SussexCarole!

Haruo

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Nasty Nell
From: Nerd
Date: 30 May 08 - 12:54 AM

I phoned Janie to let her know about the thread, but it looks like Haruo had already heard from her by then!

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Nasty Nell
From: Nerd
Date: 02 Jun 08 - 03:14 PM

By the way, for anyone who wants to sing the song, Janie and Paul (who perform as the duo Calico Jack) reminded me that the tune one of the ones used for "Jim Jones," and is the first tune on this page. Although you'll have to adapt the tune as MIDI'd for the differences in unstressed syllables/notes, you can pretty much use this MIDI as a reference.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Nasty Nell
From: Haruo
Date: 02 Jun 08 - 10:20 PM

Thanks, Nerd. Pass my thanks on if you have a chance.

Haruo

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Nasty Nell
From: Calico Jenny
Date: 15 Jun 08 - 09:55 AM

Greetings all. I'm a virgin mudcatter and this is my first post. All this flurry about Nasty Nell piqued my curiosity and here I am (thank you, Mr. Nerd, for your prodding).

I'm delighted to hear that Nasty Nell is being well received. William Pint and Felicia Dale are the ones who fingered the Jim Jones tune for the lyric, by the way. I'm not so well schooled in the traditional canon.

My partner and I are currently reveling in the delights of the Mystic Sea Music Festival; we'll be doing th humor workshop today, and figured we'd toss Nasty Nell into the mix. It will be interesting to see how it fares.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Nasty Nell
From: Celtaddict
Date: 16 Jun 08 - 12:32 AM

Calico Jenny, welcome to the 'Cat and it was great to see you at Mystic (and here at the house too); thanks for all!

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Nasty Nell
From: GUEST,William Pint
Date: 16 Jun 08 - 01:55 AM

Glad that folks are discovering this wonderful song.

The original post might be a bit confused, however.

Felicia and I started using a alternate melody for our version of Nasty Nell. Janie and Paul really took to the 'JIm Jones in Botany Bay' melody. Recently we noticed that the melody of the song 'Strike the Bell' fits the lyrics just as well, and we worked up our own 'West Coast' version of the song.

We just do stuff like that. Brigantine and Anne Bonny are mostly the same as originally written -- okay we added a little extra chorus thingy for Anne Bonny.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Nasty Nell
From: Wincing Devil
Date: 16 Jun 08 - 12:30 PM

Harou: What trouble did you have with Janie's Email link on her website (I'm her Web Bo'sun).

Also, I personally think she is a Singer/Songwriter of the 1st tier. Her song "Twiddles" was paid the ultimate compliment when someone commented "Oh, I thought that it was trad!".

A whole bunch of her lyrics are here (including Nasty Nell).

Disclaimer: I am her BIGGEST fan (by volume, Paul, merely by volume!)

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Nasty Nell
From: Haruo
Date: 07 Jul 08 - 02:10 PM

Sorry for the delay in getting back to this thread, all. Thanks for the clarification on the tune you used, William, and good to see you here at the Mudcat, Calico Jenny, thanks for the wonderful lyrics. I agree, Wincing Devil, that she's a great lyricist. As for the problem with email, I think it was in my computer, probably, rather than in the webpage, though if you had a form for submitting email rather than a thing that opens one's own default email client, it would not have been a problem for me. I think the problem was probably that I was logged on as my wife, and it wanted me to send email as her, anyhow I eventually figured out how to circumvent it.

Haruo

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Nasty Nell
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Aug 10 - 02:27 AM

Click here for a YouTube video of Pint & Dale singing "Nasty Nell's Revenge."
Great song!
As William Pint says above, the tune Pint & Dale use for this song is Strike the bell - and there's a MIDI in the Digital Tradition.

-Joe-

Subject: Upcoming Pint & Dale gigs
From: Haruo
Date: 02 Aug 10 - 12:07 PM

Thanks, Joe! Great song indeed, and nice to see a video from Northwest Folklife.

Let me take this opportunity to pass along info about 3 upcoming Pint & Dale gigs, from their email:

On Friday, August 13th, we'll be playing in Seattle's Greenwood neighborhood again, but this time at a NEW VENUE!

Please come and check out the Couth Buzzard Book Store/Coffeehouse
8310 Greenwood Avenue North.
We really like this place -- very friendly folks, a good acoustic space (no sound system required) great coffee and food, and lots of books to browse. (Probably including a copy or two of Moby Dick!) We think you will enjoy this buzzard and its intimate atmosphere! Please come by and check it out. Music starts at 7:30PM. No Cover -- donations appreciated.

On Saturday, August 14th we cross the water to perform at 2010 Port Gamble Maritime Music Festival at the charming and historic Port Gamble Waterfront overlooking Gamble Bay. The Festival starts at noon and runs through the afternoon. Free Admission.

ON THE HORIZON:
Also on the Olympic Peninsula -- mark your calendars for the 34th Annual Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival. We'll be playing both the 11th and 12th of September! This is quite a spectacular event with amazing displays of boatbuilding, maritime crafts, art, music and much more spread across Port Townsend's lovely and historic waterfront. (Did you know that Port Townsend was one of the two most notorious 'Shanghai Ports' on the west coast? Second only to San Francisco, Port Townsend was infamous -- a very dangerous place to visit. One drugged drink or a knock on the head and even the most landlubberly fellow could wake up to discover he was at sea, outward bound for the next few years).

Hope they don't mind me spreading the word... ;-)

Haruo