Lyr Req: Heave Her Up and Bust Her

Subject: Lyr Req: Heave her up and bust her
From: CET
Date: 24 May 09 - 04:32 PM

Does anyone have the lyrics for this? I'm looking for the version recorded by The Boarding Party and the Johnson Girls. There is a completely different set of lyrics in Windjammers: Songs of the Great Lakes Sailors, but I like the lyrics on these recordings better. I can make out most of the lyrics, but there are a couple of lines I'm not sure of. No luck with Digitrad or Google Search.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Heave her up and bust her
From: Ken Schatz
Date: 24 May 09 - 05:40 PM

^^
HEAVE HER UP AND BUST HER (Traditional)

Gather round, boys, now all hands
    HEAVE HER UP, LADS, HEAVE HER HIGH
Lean and heave her all who can
    HEAVE HER UP AND BUST HER

We'll say farewell to this fair town
We'll ship once more, she's outward bound

I looked around and what did I find
Her grub is low and her pump rods shine

Her nose is blunt and she keeps a crank
And in the river she'll hit both banks

When we tow out and then let go
We'll point her nose from Buffalo

We take coal up or grain back down
And any damn load that can be found

The wind's nor'east, Lake Erie's rough
For this old tub it'll be damn tough

The moon last night wore a golden ring
And that rough weather is sure to bring

The green seas roll and the whitecaps roar
And many old sail will put up ashore

About the straits are pretty bad reefs
And on old Huron many come to grief

Her canvas is moldy, her sticks are old
But on the wind she's a merry old soul

And then some day or in the night
We'll see before us the old home light


As recorded by The Boarding Party on Too Far From The Shore (Folk-Legacy)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Heave her up and bust her
From: CET
Date: 24 May 09 - 09:09 PM

Thanks, Ken. Might have known you'd have these.

Is there anybody who can elucidate a couple of the technical points:

"Her grub is low and her pump rods shine" - what's a pump rod, and why is it, apparently, a bad thing for a pump rod to be shiny?


"Her nose is blunt and she keeps a crank" - the blunt nose part is easy, but what's "keeping a crank"?

Not that I have to have the technical info to sing the songs, but I'm curious.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Heave her up and bust her
From: Padre
Date: 24 May 09 - 09:36 PM

I don't think my last response went through

A shiny pump rod is the result of being used a lot...the ship in question leaks excessively, so the pumps must be run often, causing the pump rods to remain shiny. Imagine a stretch of railroad which has a lot of traffic on it, the rails will remain shiny from the friction of wheels passing over it. Just so with a pump kthat is used often.

A blunt nosed ship will respond more slowly to rudder commands, and will veer all over - this would be called a cranky ship. "On the river she hits both banks"

Padre (formerly with the Boarding Party)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Heave her up and bust her
From: EBarnacle
Date: 24 May 09 - 10:34 PM

I suspect the line originated as "and she's crank," short for a crank vessel, ie one which handles very poorly. I've sailed my share of those.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Heave her up and bust her
From: Artful Codger
Date: 24 May 09 - 11:42 PM

The Johnson Girls, Dan Milner and David Coffin singing "Heave Her Up":
YouTube clip.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Heave her up and bust her
From: CET
Date: 26 May 09 - 06:05 PM

Thanks, Padre. It's a great song.

Edmund