Tune Req: anne bonny & mary reed

Subject: anne bonny & mary reed
From:
Date: 28 Aug 99 - 11:06 PM

I am trying to find the ballad of the 2 female pirates of Anne Bonny & Mary Reed.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: anne bonny & mary reed
From: Barry Finn
Date: 28 Aug 99 - 11:19 PM

Like to hear anything about that one too. Real life female pirates traditionally didn't get much notice in song & verse (baring Grace O'Malley/Granuaile). Barry

Subject: RE: Tune Req: anne bonny & mary reed
From: emily rain
Date: 29 Aug 99 - 03:02 PM

i wonder if it's possible to get in touch with jane yolen? she's the author of a children's book about the twa, and spends enough time with folkies to have learned the ballad...

Subject: RE: Tune Req: anne bonny & mary reed
From: emily rain
Date: 29 Aug 99 - 03:38 PM

okay, a search of barnes and noble dot com turned up this:

The Ballad of the Pirate Queens, by Jane Yolen

a review by Leone McDermott - BookList:

Finally, equal time for female ruffians. In this picture book for older readers, Yolen's ballad recounts the last stand of Anne Bonney and Mary Reade, real-life women pirates of the early 1700s. When a government vessel attacked their ship, Anne and Mary fought back fiercely. Although they called to their fellow pirates for help, their male comrades (including the women's "husbands" ) lolled below deck, drinking rum and playing cards. The men were hanged, but the women "pled their bellies," and the judge freed the pregnant pirates. Yolen's jingly rhymes are a little forced in places but lend themselves well to theatrical reading aloud. Shannon's very handsome acrylic paintings convey the tale's excitement with dramatic compositions in bold reds against smoky backgrounds. The eighteenth-century feeling is enhanced by pen-and-ink borders and the use of a parchment-colored background for the text. Pirate fans will enjoy Yolen's informative author's note--and the alluring skull and crossed swords on the back cover.

*************

so i guess the book itself is in verse. here's a quoted stanza: "And silver the coins and silver the moon,/Silver the waves on the top of the sea/When the ghostly ship comes sailing in,/That gallant Vanity"

is this the ballad you're looking for? or is there a trad version as well?

Subject: RE: Tune Req: anne bonny & mary reed
From: Lesley N.
Date: 29 Aug 99 - 03:52 PM

Dianne Dugaw wrote a book, Warior Women and Popular Balladry, 1650-1850 - Cambridge University Press, 1989 which should have some information. In the reference I have to the book it evidently particularly mentions Anne Bonny and Mary Read - as well as Hannah Snell and other women who dressed as men at sea.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: anne bonny & mary reed
From:
Date: 29 Aug 99 - 06:13 PM

Sometime back I purchased a 2 video set called the Golden Age of Pirates While telling the story of the 2 women in the background they played a piece of this old ballad,just enough to let you know there was this song but not enough to learn it.It appeared to be an old # sounding Like something Child would have collected. You know what I mean just enough to drive a folk singer NUTS! Iwant to learn the song. But I had forgotten about Grace O'Malley I wouldn't mind info on songs about her either

Subject: RE: Tune Req: anne bonny & mary reed
From: emily rain
Date: 29 Aug 99 - 10:12 PM

wow. my curiosity is piqued.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: anne bonny & mary reed
From:
Date: 29 Aug 99 - 10:31 PM

I was wrong,it was on a pirate program on the history or learning channel that I heard the sound bite and not the video I mentioned earlier

Subject: RE: Tune Req: anne bonny & mary reed
From: Barry Finn
Date: 30 Aug 99 - 12:23 AM

I'd still love to hear any songs that were collected from a traditional source that deals with real women pirates even the ledgends have been scarce in song. Nothing has ever turned up about the fictional Fanny Campbell from Lynn, Mass or the legendary female Norse pirate Alwilda of the 5th century thought she does turn up in the artwork of whalers. br Hi emily rain, it's also said (taken from the Ocean Almanac by Robert Hendrickson) that Anne's lover, Calico Jack, on the way to the gallows with his crew exclaimed "If instead of these weaklings I only had had some more women with me" to which Anne replied as he passed by "Had you fought like a man, you need not be hung like a dog".
The most recent women pirates of any fame would be Lai Chon San (Mountains Of Fortune) plying her trade in the China Seas around 1920-1937 until being sunk by a Japanese destroyers then to soon be followed by Huang Pem-ci (Madam Two Revolvers) who is said to have worked for both Chiang Kaishek & the US Secert Service during WWII (there's some connection between her & "Terry & The Pirates" that is lost on me). br Barry

Subject: RE: Tune Req: anne bonny & mary reed
From:
Date: 30 Aug 99 - 09:50 AM

I want to be able to tell these 2 gal's story. If I can find this song I think it will stick with in peoples minds a little better. Kind of like my kids singing the battle of New Orleans to answer questions on their histoty test

Subject: RE: Tune Req: anne bonny & mary reed
From: William Pint
Date: 31 Aug 99 - 09:57 AM

Stuart M. Frank has written a splendid book of pirate songs called (appropriately enough) 'The Book of Pirate Songs' published by the Kendall Whaling Museum. He has a section devoted to songs about 'Women in Buccaneers' Clothing' but states that no genuine, traditional ballads about actual female pirates have surfaced in English. (Great book though -- with lots of songs and pirate lore.)

Subject: RE: Tune Req: anne bonny & mary reed
From:
Date: 31 Aug 99 - 10:47 AM

I have that book on order I was hoping the ann bonnie mary reed ballad would be in it.GOD THIS IS FRUSTRATING! I know the ballad is out there some where. In the meantime I'm going to check out the book emilyrain mentioned by jane yolen.If I have to, I'll write a song myself but I hate that. It's kinda hard to write a song that's as good as one that has stood the test of a couple hundred years.It just ain't the same.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: anne bonny & mary reed
From: charcloth
Date: 01 Sep 99 - 12:22 PM

O.K. so this is turning out to be a dry well too so can any one suggest some good traditional songs about female pirates? I would much appreciare it.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: anne bonny & mary reed
From: MMario
Date: 01 Sep 99 - 12:32 PM

uhmmm.....charcloth? see the post above from william Pint. The one dated August 31 at 9:57.

It looks like you will have to settle for modern songs if any.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: anne bonny & mary reed
From: charcloth
Date: 01 Sep 99 - 03:34 PM

oh well thanks any way. I was afraid that I would have to use a new song. oh well such is life. Maybe some where down the road someone will find it. ahh such is a folk singers lot.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: anne bonny & mary reed
From: Charcloth
Date: 20 Aug 00 - 11:56 PM

I thought I would give this another try. Here are some of the lyrics I was able to catch I hope this jogs someone's memory "She weighed the anchor ..........a lad.....and boldly went aloft, just 1 & 36 months She braved the tempest cold & always done their duty did the female pirate....." I can't find it in my Pirate song book

Subject: RE: Tune Req: anne bonny & mary reed
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 21 Aug 00 - 07:54 AM

I can't help with that, I'm afraid, but on the more general topic, you might like to look at  The Female Smuggler  at Lesley Nelson's  Songs of the Sea.  Not exactly a pirate story, but very close.

Malcolm

Subject: RE: Tune Req: anne bonny & mary reed
From: GUEST,Marcus
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 06:56 AM

Barry, do you have any info on Madame Two Revolvers that doesn't come from "The Ocean Almanac"? Lai Choi San seems reasonably well attested but that book contains the only mention of Huang that I've ever come across.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: anne bonny & mary reed
From: GUEST,DMcF
Date: 16 Nov 04 - 04:58 AM

Amazing to see this article pop up yesterday after originating back before I knew of Mudcat's existance
- and it touched base with me....
Last year a fan of mine from Ely sent me the following article....
Life in a Man's World: Mary Read, Author: Deanna J. Jones
She knew I wrote songs based on historical fact
(see last winter's EDS quarterly for my 'Bed Of Straw'). Being impressed with Mary's story
– and even more by her final statement in court, this fan asked if I'd put something into song
(neither she – nor I – had heard any existing song specifically on the topic).
Try going to http://www.piratesinfo.com/biography/biography.php?article_id=27
and read the original article I was sent. (apologies if my 'clickies' don't work
– you'll just have to type 'em if they don't)
Her final statement – knowing she was to hang (after a temporary stay of execution till her child was born!)
was a PRO hanging one – amazing!
"As to hanging, it is no great hardship. For were it not for that, every cowardly fellow would turn pirate
and so unfit the sea, that men of courage must starve."
Further research resulted in my penning my version of 'Mary Read'

Mary Read (D.McFarlane) 7thOct 03

Is evening come? - Heave away - haul away
The setting sun - Draws veil upon the day
My time is done - Heave away - haul away
My tide has run - Haul away my day

No hardship great to bear - For were this never there
All rogues and cowards would so unfit the sea
Then men of courage starve - This I could never have
Now help my child to stand up tall and think of me

When I was young - Heave away - haul away
Raised as her son - And lived a lie each day
Away I ran - Heave away - haul away
Became a man - Haul away my day

No hardship great to bear - For were this never there
All rogues and cowards would so unfit the sea
Then men of courage starve - This I could never have
Now help my child to stand up tall and think of me

Of love I learned - Heave away - haul away
Loved in return - yet always lost my way
So long I fought - Heave away - haul away
All come to nought - Haul away my day

No hardship great to bear - For were this never there
All rogues and cowards would so unfit the sea
Then men of courage starve - This I could never have
Now help my child to stand up tall and think of me

Is evening come? - Heave away - haul away
The setting sun - Draws veil upon the day
My time is done - Heave away - haul away
My tide has run – now - Haul away my day

I've performed this in many a folk club
- first time as guest at the Unicorn Folk Club,
Lion Inn, Egmond, SHROPSHIRE – right up to more
recently at Bishop's Stortford, St. Albans and Rugby.
It's slow, moody and only four chords to it!
But, wherever I've performed it, I've found audiences really take to it
– ALWAYS joining in the verse hook-line and chorus (on first hearing too!)
There are a few more websites you may want to peek at.
Go read about Read. It's worth it! – Hugs – Duncan McFarlane
(with apologies for the length of this post!)
Oh! And thanks to Ellie Gamble for sending me the story!

http://tinpan.fortunecity.com/lennon/897/read.html
This one has some grand woodcut/engraving/pictures.
http://www.arthur-ransome.org/ar/literary/pyrates.htm
http://www.infopt.demon.co.uk/pirates.htm