'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 28 Jan 10 - 07:07 AM

Another Stan Rogers one - The Mary Ellen Carter and our very own Micca's derivation thereof, A Shantyman that's never been to sea.

Cheers

DeG

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties
From: Hamish
Date: 28 Jan 10 - 07:21 AM

Rolling Down the River - Jack Forbes

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties
From: SylviaN
Date: 28 Jan 10 - 07:36 AM

The Luckiest Sailor - Linda Kelly

I could add more Hissyfit songs.

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties
From: SINSULL
Date: 28 Jan 10 - 07:59 AM

Barry Finn's Shanty

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties
From: shipcmo
Date: 28 Jan 10 - 06:15 PM

Current List:
A?, Andrea " ? "
Baxter, Ron "Tramps (Chantey for Coaling)"
Bell, Vic "Snap The Line Tight"
Bellamy, Peter "Around Me Brave Boys", "Roll Down"
Bok, Gordon   "Hills of Isle au Haut", "Cape Anne", "Fundy Bay" The Ways of Man, Frankie on the Sheepscot,
                         Three Boot Philbrick's Lament, his long ballads, Seal Djirl and Saben The Wood Fitter
Bustin, Dillon "Way Down in Shawneetown", "All Aboard the Spray"
Campbell, Jon "Tangueray Martini-o","Catch and Release (new age whaling song)","Keep on Fishing"
Chobotuk, Linda "Canning Salmon"
Cody & Swain "The Old Figurehead Carver"
Collins, Peter "The Last Fisherman"
Conolly, John "Fiddler's Green", 'Trawler town requiem"
Denver, John "Calypso" ( song about diver Jack Custard's converted French minesweeper)
Dunlap, Gina "River Lea."
Durant, Giles"The Wheelhouse door"
Dyer, Bob "The Jim Johnson"
Dylan, Bob "When the Ship Comes in",
Fischer, Archie "Final Trawl"
Forbes, Jack "Rolling down the River"
Garvey, Mary "The Cannery Shed."
Goodenough, Tony "Pump Shanty"
Grainger, Richard "Whitby Whaler"
Joel, Billy "Downeaster Alexa"
KT? "Old Salt"
Kalma, Nanne "Hand Over Hand"
Kaplan, Larry "Alice Wentworth"
Kastle, Tom and Chris
Kelly, Linda "Lament", "Luckiest Sailor"
Kimber "Don't Take The Heroes"
Knight, Peter   "Let her Go Down"
Lewis, Tom "The Last Shanty", "Legend (Marching Inland)", "Dutchman's Trousers", "Sailor's Prayer"
Lightfoot, Gordon "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald","Christian Island"
Lloyd, A. L. "Seamen's Hymn"
Lowe, Jez "The Bergin"
Maclaren, Hamish "Yangtse River Shanty"
Mallett, Dave "Arrowsic" is a really good one about a Maine fisherman.
McColl, Ewan "Shoals of Herring", "The Shellback Song"
McKay, Andrew "Made Of Wood", "Lifeboat Horses", "Dead Reckoning".
Meek, Bill "Time Ashore is Over."
Meneely, Janie "Twiddles
Miles, Dick "Jack the Lad", "Home to the Haven", "Around the Harbour Town"   
Morse, Kendall "The Last Whalehunt", "Ashes on the Sea"
O'Connor, Mike "Carrying Nelson Home"
O'Hegarty, Charlie "Classic Yankee Clipper"
Patterson, Micca "I'm a shanty man that's never been to sea" (Tune Mary Ellen Carter, Stan Rogers)
Payne, Jim "Wave Over Wave"
Pint, William " ? "
Robertson, Harry "With the Antarctic Fleet", "Wee Pot Stove","Ballina Whalers","Heave Away"
Rogers, Stan "Barrett's Privateers", "The Jeannie C", 'Lockeeper', "Make and break Harbor", "White Squall",
                      "The Mary Ellen Carter"
Russel, Kelly " ? "
Seeger, Peggy "The Lifeboat Mona"
Steven, Ken "Survivor Leave
Sunde, Rudy "Auckland to the Bluff"
Tawney, Cyril "Diesel and Shale", "Chicken on a Raft", "Grey Funnel Line" "Haul Away the Dhhajsa",
                        "On a British Submarine","Sally Free and Easy",
Trickett, Ed "Sea Fever"
Triggs, Stanley G. "The Wreck of the C.P. Yorke","The Wreck of the Green Cove"
Trueman-Border, Ron "Rageing Sea"
Warner, John "Anderson' Coast","Batavia"
Watson, Bob 'Mollymauk', 'Shantyman', "Neptune's Daughter", "Tasman Buster."
Wisner, Tom "Cheseapeake Born"
Wooley, Shep "Down By The Dockyard Wall"
Zentz, Bob "Light From the Lighthouse"
?                   "Birkenhead Drill"
?                   "Lower the Yawl Boat Down"
?                   "The Old Sailor"
?                   "Old Fid"
?                   "Fisherman's wife"
?                   "Fisherman's Song"
?                   "Cornish Lads"
?                   'The Merchant Navy Men'

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties
From: Charley Noble
Date: 28 Jan 10 - 08:35 PM

Nice list! Thanks for consolidating it.

Old Fid was composed by Bill Lowndes

Fisherman's Song was composed by Andy M. Stewart

In addition there is the hard-driving Marco Polo song by Jim Stewart of New Brunswick, composed as part of The Marco Polo Suite.

Then there are the contemporary musical settings for old nautical poems of C. Fox Smith, John Masefield, Bill Adams, Harry Kemp, Burt Franklin Jenness, Kipling, and William McFee but maybe they fall into a different category.

None of my creations have achieved a threshold of popularity to merit a mention.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties
From: shipcmo
Date: 28 Jan 10 - 09:59 PM

Yeah, My long time friend Bob Zentz has set a number of C. Fox Smith's poems to music, but I think I'll not cover that category at this time.
Cheers,
Geo

Subject: Lyr Add: PACK O' PIRATES (John Warner)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 29 Jan 10 - 12:19 AM

John Warner has written a host of nautical songs - some are listed on his website

A quick list from his singing partner Margaret Walters -

John has about 12 songs in the Old Tom the killer whale of Twofold Bay series - all sea related

13 songs in his Pirates collection - mostly oriented towards young kids;

and another dozen or so songs not so easily classified - Whale Road (for example), Sydney Harbour Tugs, Murray River Shipwright.

And there were a whole lot about the Wharfies strike in 1998 - one in particular that talks about working on the cranes that move containers onto ships.

LYR ADD:   PACK O' PIRATES
John Warner © 11/10/96

We're a pack of pirates, what are we?
Pirates, pirates, yo ho ho!
Rattling along on a rolling sea,
Pirates, pirates, yo ho ho!

Patches on our eyes and big, black hats
Cannon, cutlasses and yellow-eyed cats
Heave her up and away we go!
Pirates, pirates, yo ho ho!

We've a big fat ship with room in the hold ...
For plunder, prisoners, silver and gold ...
If there's no gold in the loot we take,
We'll take lemonade and a chocolate cake ...

Under the Harbour Bridge we'll sail ...
The Skull and Crossbones at our tail ...
We'll bombard a ferry or two,
With water bombs full of paint and glue ...

Out through the Heads in our pirate barque ...
Followed by a pack of hungry shark ...
Mean black fins follow in our wake,
I wonder if sharks like chocolate cake? ...

Don't we look such a scurvy crew? ...
Covered in chocolate, paint and glue ...
Didn't we had a such a lovely day?
Won't mum have a few words to say? ...

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: KathyW
Date: 29 Jan 10 - 12:43 AM

I see you have Tom & Chris Kastle on the list but without any song titles. Of their original songs, I'm particularly fond of "Cold Winds," "Burnham Harbor" (new lyrics for an old tune), "Song for the Whales" and "Shine Out Your Light."

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: sciencegeek
Date: 29 Jan 10 - 09:33 AM

I'm glad to see that Jim Payne ( hailing from Newfoundland) appeared on a list.... but I feature to add that many on the list have a number of grand songs in the nautical vein & deserve a listen to.

So I'll just add a few names off the top of head...

like Dave Littlefield & Rick Spencer of Mystic, CT.

and Lee Murdock of IL who writes of the Great Lakes & canals.

well... back to work.

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: Cuilionn
Date: 29 Jan 10 - 12:40 PM

Re: request for more songs from female composers:

The Seattle vocal group, Righteous Mothers, have a song entitled "She Shanty" that gives a whole new meaning to "heave away."

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: Charley Noble
Date: 29 Jan 10 - 01:42 PM

Cuilionn-

Well, Righteous Mothers are certainly breaking new ground with their launching shanty.

Wow!

Here are several more favorites composed by Fleetwood's Ron Baxter(?) as recorded on BLOOD ON THE ICE:

White Feathers
Common British Tars
Bite of Benin
Farewell to the Clan Line

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: Mrs Scarecrow
Date: 29 Jan 10 - 01:49 PM

I've written a number of sea songs to add to the female contributors

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: Cats
Date: 29 Jan 10 - 04:48 PM

guest arthur, Pete did not write Last fisherman, just did an excellent recording of it. The guy in the Anchor Middle bar did

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: Wotcha
Date: 29 Jan 10 - 05:38 PM

No More Fish, No Fishermen: Words by Sheldon Posen, Music by John Goss (performed by The Finest Kind).

The Farewell Shanty; words by Mervyn Vincent (performed by The Boarding Party and Shanty Jack).

Subject: Lyr Add: GIRLS OF EVERY COLOUR (Andy Sugden)
From: Sugwash
Date: 29 Jan 10 - 06:50 PM

Girls of Every Colour                                        © Andy Sugden 2006

I was just a lad of fifteen years.
Destined for the mine,
But I couldn't stand that gloomy place
I like the sun to shine.
So I ran away, hitched to Hull,
Signed on the Empire Line.
I've been on that journey neigh on sixty years.

First run ashore, Lisbon town,
A lady of the night.
She took away my innocence
Then robbed me out of sight.
The other sailors laughed and howled
And said it served me right,
"But cheer up lad it'll stand you in good stead."

Chorus:

I've courted girls of every colour
In every distant land.
I've seen sights to make your eyes stare,
Let fortune slip my hand.
I've played mandolin and fiddle
In a roving gypsy band
I never had the urge to settle down.

Amelie in Toulon;
I was smitten from the start.
She got right underneath my skin
And wrapped around my heart.
She swore that she loved only me,
I adored her for my part.
She dumped me when the Yankee fleet came in.

For the love of a girl in Naples
I got put away for fourteen days.
Her papa said I "Was no good,
Beware a sailor's ways."
He was a man of great influence,
And influence always pays.
When they let me out, I still stole that girl away.

I've been chased by a jealous knifeman
Through the back streets of Rome,
Near froze on a Swedish balcony
When a husband, he came home.
Tried to shin over a harem wall
Behind a blue mosque's dome.
I've serenaded senoritas in Santiago.

I've been love struck by a geisha girl
In Tanobe, south Japan,
Had my eye blacked by a princess
In regal Rajasthan
And spent a fortune on a girl down Bugis Street
Who turned out to be a man.
Theres some lessons I'm just never going to learn.

I've had my heart broke and broken hearts
All around the Seven Seas,
From Vera Cruz east to Panama,
Where e'er I could take my ease.
From Spitsbergen in the far flung north
To Antarctica's icy seas,
These itching feet will always drive me on.

But now my bones are aching
And my eyesight's damned near failed,
I'm returning to that little town
Against which I've oft time railed.
And I'll tell tales in the pub at night
Of all the seas I've sailed.
Any regrets? No, not a blasted one!

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: Charley Noble
Date: 29 Jan 10 - 10:00 PM

Sugwash-

Wow! Where was that recorded?

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: KathyW
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 01:04 AM

Charley: you can find Sugwash's song on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvjRPghID9E (pops)

Good song!

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: Crane Driver
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 09:12 AM

Thanks for including me in this illustrious list

Words of many of my songs are available on our website Crane Drivin' Music

I'm always happy for people to sing my songs

Andrew "Crane Driver" McKay

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: Sugwash
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 02:04 PM

Thanks Charley and Kathy. YouTube is the only place I've recorded the song as yet, and that was only to pass the tune on to a friend.

It was based on the tall tales of two American seamen I met in a dockside bar in Toulon. They were both in their sixties had some great yarns to tell. They spent the evening trying to out do each other with ever more improbable situations they'd been in. And they didn't actually use the word 'courted', but needs must in polite society, so I altered that. The song was was also informed by my time in the Royal Navy's submarine service; happy daze.

Cheers

Andy

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: shipcmo
Date: 01 Feb 10 - 03:46 PM

Thanks for all the contributions. He're's the current list. Italicised titles did not come across.

Tuneful Tales with Rousing Choruses
                     and
       Ballads to a Lost Time

Armour, Matt   Shores O' the Forth
Baxter, Ron   Tramps (Chantey for Coaling), White Feathers, Common British Tars, Bite of Benin,
                      Farewell to the Clan Line
Bell, Vic   Snap the Line Tight
Bellamy, Peter   Around Me Brave Boys, Roll Down
Bok, Gordon   Hills of Isle au Haut, Cape Anne, Fundy Bay The Ways of Man, Frankie on the Sheepscot,
                         Three Boot Philbrick's Lament, Seal Djirl and Saben, The Wood Fitter
Bryant, Jerry   Harbo & Samuelson
Bustin, Dillon   Way Down in Shawneetown, All Aboard the Spray
Campbell, Jon   Tangueray Martini-o, Catch and Release (new age whaling song), Keep on Fishing
Chobotuk, Linda   Canning Salmon
Cody & Swain   The Old Figurehead Carver
Colclough, Phil   Liverpool John
Collins, Peter   
Conolly, John   Fiddler's Green, Trawler Town Requiem, The Grimsby Lads (with Bill Meek)
Cove, Edward C. Where's Your Money Gone
Denver, John   Calypso (song about diver Jack Custard's converted French minesweeper)
Dickie, Neil   The Clumsy Lover
Dunlap, Gina   River Lea (new arrangement)
Durant, Giles   The Wheelhouse Door
Dyer, Bob   The Jim Johnson
Dylan, Bob   When the Ship Comes in
Eaton, Nigel   Last Chance
Fischer, Archie   Final Trawl
Forbes, Jack   Rolling down the River
Garvey, Mary   The Cannery Shed
Goodbrand, D.S. The Kola Run
Goodenough, Tony   Pump Shanty
Grainger, Richard   Whitby Whaler
Hansell, Bert   Ho Ro Ho
Joel, Billy   Downeaster Alexa
KT? Old Salt
Kalma, Nanne   Hand Over Hand
Kaplan, Larry   Alice Wentworth (O'Zeb)
Kastle, Tom and Chris   Cold Winds, Burnham Harbor (lyrics for an old tune), Song for the Whales,
                                     Shine Out Your Light
Kelly, Linda   Lament, Luckiest Sailor
Kimber   Don't Take The Heroes
Knight, Peter   Let her Go Down
Lewis, Tom   The Last Shanty, Legend (Marching Inland), Dutchman's Trousers, Sailor's Prayer,
                     Inside Every Sailor
Lightfoot, Gordon   The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, Christian Island
Littlefield, Dave
Lloyd, A. L.   Seamen's Hymn
Lowe, Jez   The Bergin
Lowndes, Bill   Old Fid
Maclaren, Hamish   Yangtse River Shanty
Mallett, Dave   Arrowsic is a really good one about a Maine fisherman.
McColl, Ewan   Shoals of Herring, The Shellback Song
McKay, Andrew   Made Of Wood, Lifeboat Horses, Dead Reckoning
Meek, Bill   Time Ashore is Over
Meneely, Janie   Twiddles
Miles, Dick   Jack the Lad, Home to the Haven, Around the Harbour Town
Morse, Kendall   The Last Whalehunt, Ashes on the Sea
Murdock, Lee
O'Connor, Mike   Carrying Nelson Home
O'Hegarty, Charlie   Classic Yankee Clipper
Patterson, Micca   I'm a shanty man that's never been to sea (Tune Mary Ellen Carter, Stan Rogers)
Payne, Jim   Wave Over Wave
Pint, William " ? "
Posen, Sheldon   No More Fish, No Fishermen (Music by John Goss)
Reader, Ann    Sailor's wife, Lost at Sea, Whatever the Tallships Bring, Singing in the Public House tonight,
                        Tomorrow we'll be on our way, Hold Fast, Christmas Shanty
Robertson, Harry   With the Antarctic Fleet, Wee Pot Stove, Ballina, Whalers, Heave Away, Deep Sea Tug
Rogers, Stan   Barrett's Privateers, The Jeannie C, Lockeeper, Make and break Harbor, White Squall,
                      The Mary Ellen Carter
Russel, Kelly " ? "
Seeger, Peggy   The Lifeboat Mona
Shearman, Rod   Is the Big Fella Gone?
Skilling, Doug and Martin, Davit BLUENOSE
Smith, Buzz (words), Neil Downey (tune)   CW-9-cn "PEEWIT"

Spencer, Rick
Steven, Ken    Survivor Leave
Stewart, Andy M.   Fisherman's Song
Stewart, Jim   Marco Polo
Sugden, Andy   Girls of Every Colour
Sunde, Rudy   Auckland to the Bluff
Tawney, Cyril   Diesel and Shale, Chicken on a Raft, Grey Funnel Line, Haul Away the Dhhajsa,
                      On a British Submarine, Sally Free and Easy, Six Feet of Mud
Trickett, Ed   Sea Fever
Triggs, Stanley G.   The Wreck of the C.P. Yorke, The Wreck of the Green Cove
Trueman-Border, Ron   Rageing Sea
Vincent, Mervyn   The Farewell Shanty
Warner, John   Anderson' Coast, Batavia
Watson, Bob   Mollymauk, Shantyman, Neptune's Daughter, Tasman Buster
Wisner, Tom   Cheseapeake Born
Wooley, Shep   Down By The Dockyard Wall
Zentz, Bob   Light From the Lighthouse

                   The Last Fisherman
?                   Birkenhead Drill
?                   Lower the Yawl Boat Down
?                   The Old Sailor
?                   Fisherman's Wife
?                   Cornish Lads
?                   The Merchant Navy Men
?                   The Loss of the Evelyn Marie

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: Sugwash
Date: 01 Feb 10 - 05:25 PM

Also, and I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner, 'Port of Call' by Kieran Halpin.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE DOWNEASTER "ALEXA" (Billy Joel)
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 01 Feb 10 - 05:49 PM

From an unlikely source, Billy Joel, comes this song named, I believe, for his daughter. Maybe not a shanty, but with a good nautical sentiment.


THE DOWNEASTER "ALEXA"

Well I'm on the Downeaster "Alexa"
And I'm cruising through Block Island Sound
I have chartered a course to the Vineyard
But tonight I am Nantucket bound

We took on diesel back in Montauk yesterday
And left this morning from the bell in Gardner's Bay
Like all the locals here I've had to sell my home
Too proud to leave I worked my fingers to the bone

So I could own my Downeaster "Alexa"
And I go where the ocean is deep
There are giants out there in the canyons
And a good captain can't fall asleep

I've got bills to pay and children who need clothes
I know there's fish out there but where God only knows
They say these waters aren't what they used to be
But I've got people back on land who count on me

So if you see my Downeaster "Alexa"
And if you work with the rod and the reel
Tell my wife I am trolling Atlantis
And I still have my hands on the wheel

Now I drive my Downeaster "Alexa"
More and more miles from shore every year
Since they told me I can't sell no stripers
And there's no luck in swordfishing here

I was a bayman like my father was before
Can't make a living as a bayman anymore
There ain't much future for a man who works the sea
But there ain't no island left for islanders like me

Subject: Lyr Add: THE DARK AND THE ROLLING SEA
From: mousethief
Date: 01 Feb 10 - 06:17 PM

Not a shanty, but nautical throughout. Allegedly about an unhappy love affair -- a very elaborate form of "may you choke on it"!

THE DARK AND THE ROLLING SEA
Al Stewart

Oh you slipped away from the harbour side
In the morning bright and clear
And your sails were filled with the rising wind
And you laughed for all to hear
But you never glanced at the ragged dance
Of your lovers on the quay
Don't call on them when the winds rise high
On the dark and the rolling sea

Oh you set your course for the furthest shores
And you never once looked back
And the flag you flew was a pirate cross
On a field of velvet black
And those landsmen who you but lately knew
Were left stranded on the lea
Don't call on them when the storm clouds rise
On the dark and the rolling sea

Oh I have no need of a chart or creed
You told your waiting crew
For the winds of chance, they will bear us straight
And you spoke as though you knew
So you paid no mind to the warning signs
As you gave your words so free
Don't change your tack when the timbers crack
On the dark and the rolling sea

Now the thunder rails in the great mainsails
And the stars desert the skies
And the rigging strains as the hands of rain
Reach down to wash your eyes
And your oarsmen stands with his knife in hand
And his eyes spell mutiny
Don't call my name when your ship goes down
On the dark and the rolling sea


O..O
=o=

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: shipcmo
Date: 08 Feb 10 - 08:42 AM

Still looking for input.
TNX

Subject: Lyr Add: WAKE UP SUSIANA
From: Charley Noble
Date: 08 Feb 10 - 01:39 PM

George-

Well, here's a newer shanty that I found in the lining of an old sea chest:

Parody written by Charlie Ipcar © 2001
Adapted from Felice & Boudleaux Bryant © Wake Up Little Suzie
Tune: a slow shanty shout roughly based on the original tune

WAKE UP SUSIANA

Chorus:

Wake up, Susiana, wake up!
Wake up, Susiana, wake up!

We've both been sound asleep – Umph!
Wake up, Susiana, and weep – Umph!
Blue Peter's flying, there's no denying,
We're in trouble deep!
Wake up, Susiana! – Umph!
Wake up, Susiana! – Umph!
We gotta ship out! (CHO)

Now we said we'd be aboard by ten – Umph!
Susiana, we've goofed again – Umph!
The bosun's a-calling, the capstan's a-pawling,
And we're three sheets to the wind!
Wake up, Susiana! – Umph!
Wake up, Susiana! – Umph!
We gotta ship out! (CHO)

Now the rum it wasn't so hot – Umph!
But we drank up all of our tot – Umph!
You're still asleep, our duff is deep,
Our reputation is shot!
Wake up, Susiana! – Umph!
Wake up, Susiana! – Umph!
We gotta ship out! (CHO)

Now the mudhook's up and down – Umph!
But we're still stuck in town – Umph!
What we gonna tell the Old Man
When he looks at us with a frown?
Wake up, Susiana! – Umph!
Wake up, Susiana! – Umph!
We gotta ship out! (CHO)

We've both been sound asleep – Umph!
Wake up, Susiana, and weep – Umph!
Blue Peter's flying, there's no denying,
It's time for the pierhead leap!
Wake up, Susiana! – Umph!
Wake up, Susiana! – Umph!
We gotta ship out!
We gotta ship out!

You can hear a MP3 sample of how this is sung: Click here for MP3!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: Cats
Date: 08 Feb 10 - 04:27 PM

Cornish Lads was written by Roger Bryant

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: Tim Leaning
Date: 08 Feb 10 - 05:27 PM

http://www.myspace.com/timleaning
Just uploaded my song Three weeks on the player.
Its sort of a sea song.

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: KathyW
Date: 08 Feb 10 - 10:28 PM

I have a few more for the list.

I can think of least one by William Pint: "The Packet Rat" (C. Fox Smith poem set to music by William Pint)

Add to the listings for Tom & Chris Kastle, "The Black Dog of Lake Erie," "The Eastland," and "Amor Es El Rio" (Our Love is the River). There are others . . .

You don't have my absolute favorite Bob Zentz song listed: "Ocean Station Bravo." And "Eight Bells" is also quite wonderful. But of course he's written many.

For Jerry Bryant, add "Jimmy's Mobile Phone," "Crossing the Line," "The Dreadnought Mutiny," and "Thomas Bird."

By members of Bounding Main:
*"To Ireland We'll Go" by Maggie Hannington
*"Pass the Mug" by Gina Dalby and Christine Dalby
*"Toss and Roll" by David Yondorf

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: bubblyrat
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 07:13 AM

"The Good Ship "Calabar" "----origin unknown !

excerpt ;
             "Put on more speed !!" the Captain cried,
                For we are sorely pressed !";
                The engineer on the riverbank said
                "The old horse is doing its best !"

etc.

Subject: Lyr Add: VENEZUELA TO TRINIDAD
From: Charley Noble
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 10:42 AM

One of the last songs that the late Barry Finn introduced to the sea music community was this modern day merchant mariner song:

By Roger Hussey, crew on the Norwegian MST (Motor Ship Tanker) Borjholt
From the singing of Barry Finn 9/17/07

VENEZUELA TO TRINIDAD

On the Venezuela to Trinidad run (Trinidad run)
Our ship goes to hell, we're all havin' way too much fun (way too much fun)

Chorus:

Venezuela to Trinidad,
Trinidad to Venezuela!

Venezuela is flamenco, an' hot guitar strums (hot guitar strums)
Trinidad is calypso, an' loud steel drums (loud steel drums) (CHO)

Carry crude oil to Trinidad refineries (refineries)
To Venezuela for more crude, we run back empty (run back empty) (CHO)

For most tankers it's long at sea, short time in port (short time in port)
But we've tied up long, our sea time is short (sea time is short) (CHO)

When we tie up, the bar girls an' taxi cabs come (taxi cabs come)
Here comes a weekend, of riot an' rum (riot an' rum) (CHO)

Lars is locked in his cabin, the rich owner's son; (rich owner's son)
He's a drunken exile, at thirty-one (at thirty-one) (CHO)

If we're rowdy ashore, we end up in jail (end up in jail)
Rum an' pesos from Lars, an' we're soon out on bail (soon out on bail) (CHO)

Miss our sailing, hung over, roll over an' then (roll over an' then)
Wait a week, stay drunk, an' our ship's back again (our ship's back again) (CHO)

Beg the purser, "Please, just one more advance!" (one more advance)
What with girls an' booze, your wallet does not stand a chance (not stand a chance) (CHO)

After eight trips the chief''s at the end of his wits (end of his wits)
After ten trips they send us, back home to refit (home to refit) (CHO)

So it's pack up an' back to the hirin' hall (the hirin' hall)
An' it's farewell to flamenco, an' steel drums all (an' steel drums all) (CHO)

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: Snuffy
Date: 10 Feb 10 - 09:35 AM

'F223' by Roy Jones, who sang it at Alcester Folk Club last night. Recorded by Karen & Colin Thompson on Time and Tide, 2001.

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: shipcmo
Date: 26 Feb 10 - 06:52 AM

Refresh,
Still here, but had 3 (three) computers crash, all at once!

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 26 Feb 10 - 07:22 AM

Is there a distinction to be made between modern songs of modern seafaring, as with the likes of Tawney and Stan Rogers, and those that are written as of another time, like Sailor's Prayer?

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: doc.tom
Date: 26 Feb 10 - 07:23 AM

"The Farewell Shanty; words by Mervyn Vincent (performed by The Boarding Party and Shanty Jack)"

Mervyn didn't write the Farewell Shanty. The words were found by Alan Molyneux in a book in Plymouth Library - he set it to music. He gave it to Mervyn in 1964/5. Mervyn introduced it into the local extant singing tradition in North Cornwall (he was particularly enthused by the possibilities for bass parts). From thence it went into the folk revival - largely via Collins & Mageean.

TomB

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: Charley Noble
Date: 26 Feb 10 - 08:10 AM

Tom-

"Mervyn didn't write the Farewell Shanty. The words were found by Alan Molyneux in a book in Plymouth Library - he set it to music."

Thanks for that update. That's the first time I've heard of anyone other than Mervyn associated with the origin of this song. Of course I'm now wondering what the title of the book was in the Plymouth Library. Anyone have a clue?

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: doc.tom
Date: 26 Feb 10 - 12:32 PM

Charley,
We never found out. Alan died of leukemia in 1967 (I think it was). But we were given the extra 'Deep blue ocean' verse on the Isle of Wight in 1975/6 by another guy who just sang us the verse and then disappeared before we could nail him (Ken Shephens was there as the time). You couldn't make it up, could you!
TomB

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: Banjiman
Date: 26 Feb 10 - 01:16 PM

Try this one:


The Visiter (who is that banjo player?)

and this one:

Sleep Well

Both written by Wendy Arrowsmith

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 27 Feb 10 - 02:29 AM

Richard Grainger's Whitby Whaler has been mentioned. My favorite of his is Scarborough Fisherman. It's a beautiful melding of music and lyrics. George Vancouver, and The Endeavor Shanty are also fine songs of his, just to mention a few.

Cindy Kallet composes many maritime oriented songs, and she a has a captivating voice. Her debut album, Working On Wings To Fly, is classic. These aren't chanteys, but modern songs of coastal communities. Her opening song on that cd, Nantucket Sound, had for me the same effect as when I first heard Grainger's Scarborough Fisherman: I was hooked, and I will never forget the first time I heard them.

Chanteyranger

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: GUEST,Roger Quigley
Date: 27 Feb 10 - 10:52 AM

Tyhere is a nautical theme song competition associated with 2010 Wessex Folk Fest. Cash Prizes and adulation on offer. Check www.wessexfolkfestival.co.uk

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Jul 10 - 02:16 PM

Anybody know of a song that has a line about "pollywogs get on your knees and pay your dues to mighty king neptune" ? Sorry, just heard a few seconds on the radio and want to track this sucker down.

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: The Sandman
Date: 18 Jul 10 - 03:02 PM

here is most of a song, I wrote 20 years ago, jack The Lad[copywrite 1987] the rest is available at my website, hope you enjoy.
of course amateurs and others are very welcome to sing it,if anyone does record it, it has to be logged with prs.thanks.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-uf8L6ZB3I

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: GUEST,Charlie Frederick
Date: 19 Jul 10 - 07:10 AM

I wrote the first song about the Edmund Fitzgerald. "Twenty-Nine More Men" was recorded and released after Gordon's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". I also wrote the song "Rough and Ready Son-of-a Sailor"...a song about a friend of mine who was a Captain who sailed the Great Lakes and beyond. These songs were written and recorded in the late 70's while I was on staff at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: Charley Noble
Date: 19 Jul 10 - 08:01 AM

Charlie Frederick-

Would you please post these songs on separate threads as "Lyric Adds."

They sound interesting.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: Lyr Add: SEA CHANTY (Abe Burrows)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 12:51 PM

Here's a humorous take on the traditional sea shanty by Abe Burrows that I haven't run across before:

By Abe Burrows (1910-1984), © 1955 Abram S. Burrows, William Morris Agency
From THE SEA, SHIPS AND SAILORS, edited by William Cole,
The Viking Press, New York, © 1967, pp. 122-123

SEA CHANTY

Our ship is leaving Portsmouth town,
Her name's the good ship Nancy Brown.

Yo ho,
Jib the boom,
Poop the deck,
Rattle the hatch,
Main the sail,
Pepper the mints,
Anchors aweigh in the morn.

Oh, we'll be sailing with the tide,
We've said farewell to our girls and brides,

Yo ho,
Rig the ratch,
Hoist the hitch,
Bury the hatchet,,
Poop the deck,
Beat the breeze,
That she blows in the morn.

And soon we'll ne out on the ocean foam,
So let's heave ho with a will,
And come, jolly tars, let's sing while we can,
For soon we'll be deathly ill!

For there's nothing life the life of a sailor,
Sailing on the briny foam,
With a good stout ship beneath your feet,
And a good stout wife at home.

Oh, there's nothing, nothing, nothing like a sailor's life,
The sailor's life is grand,
Oh, I'd never give up the sea unless
You offered me a job on land.

So it's three jolly cheers for the sea,
And a fond farewell to dry land,
So up with the anchor and we won't set it down
Till we reach old Coney Island!

Singing yo ho,
Hit the deck,
Follow the fleet,
Anchor's aweigh,
Scuttle the butt,
Roll the dice,
Deal the cards,
Pepper the mints,
We're sailing away on the sea.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: Lyr Add: THE GREENWICH PENSIONER
From: GUEST,John from "Elsie`s Band"
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 02:03 PM

This is certainly not new. It was published in London in by Robert Sayer in March 1791. I have put it to music and it is now part of our repertoire.

THE GREENWICH PENSIONER.

'Twas in the good ship Rover
I sail'd the world around.
And for three years and over,
I ne'er touch'd British ground;
At length in England landed,
I left the roaring main,
Found all relations stranded,
And went to sea again.

That time, bound straight to Portugal,
Right fore and aft we bore;
But, when we'd made Cape Ortugal,
A gale blew off the shore:
She lay, so did it shock her,
A log upon the main,
Till, sav'd from Davy's locker,
We stood to sea again.

Next in a frigate sailing,
Upon a squally night,
Thunder and lightning hailing
The horrors of the fight;
My precious limb was lopped off,
I, when they'd eas'd my pain,
Thank'd God I was not popped off,
And went to sea again.

Yet still am I enabled
To bring up in life's rear,
Although I am disabled
And lie in Greenwich tier;*
The king, God bless his royalty,
Who saved me from the main,
I'll praise with love and loyalty,
But ne'er to sea again.

*(Greenwich Tier refers to the Sailors Hospital there.)

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: Charley Noble
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 04:41 PM

John-

A very similar version of "The Greenwich Pensioner" was also published in John Ashton's Real Sailor-Songs, © 1891, pp. 147-148. What do you use for a tune? There's no clue in Ashton.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: Nancy King
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 05:52 PM

Still looking for sea-oriented songs by women writers? I nominate "Wiscasset Schooners" by my good friend Lois Lyman. It's been recorded by Gordon Bok (with Lois), David Coffin, Geoff Kaufman, and maybe a couple of others.

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: Charley Noble
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 07:19 PM

Nancy-

That's a nice one. Will you post the lyrics?

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
From: Leadfingers
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 07:35 PM

100