Tune Req: A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea

Subject: ADD Version: A wet sheet and a flowing sea
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Feb 11 - 01:24 AM

The version from Huntington's Songs the Whalemen Sang (P. 49-50) is somewhat different:

A WET SHEET AND A FLOWING SEA
(Allan Cunningham)

A wet sheet and a flowing sea,
And a wind that follows fast
That fills the white and rustling sail
And bends the gallant mast
That bends the gallant mast my boys
While like an eagle free
Away our good ship flies and leaves
Columbia on our lee

Oh for a soft and gentle wind
I heard a fair one cry
But give to me the roaring breeze
And the white waves heaving high
The white waves heaving high my boys
And a good ship tight and free
The world of waters is our home
And merry men are we

There's a tempest in yon horned moon
And lightning in yon cloud
And hark the music mariners
The wind is piping loud
The wind is piping loud my boys
The lightning flashes free
While the hollow oak our palace is
Our heritage the sea

Citizen 1844
Cortes 1847

Like "A Life on the Ocean Wave" this is a literary song that
sailors took over and made their own. In the original it was "Britannia on Our Lee." That as always has been changed to "Columbia."

The Cortes and Citizen versions are very similar as one would expect with a song of this type. The song was composed by Allan Cunningham, a Scottish poet who was also a collector of folk songs. And the melody seems to be a very old French air.

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Click to play

(MIDI by shipcmo)

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Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry on this song:

Britannia on Our Lee

DESCRIPTION: "A wet sheet and a flowing sea And a wind that follows fair... Away our good ship flies and leave (Columbia/Britannia) on our lee." The singer hopes for a good wind and rejoices in the life at sea
AUTHOR: Words: Allan Cunningham (1785-1842)
EARLIEST DATE: 1844 (Journal from the Citizen)
KEYWORDS: ship sea sailor nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 49-50, "A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: [No author listed], _The Household Treasury of English Song_, T. Nelson and Sons, 1872, pp. 182-183, "A Sea-Song" (1 text)
Roud #2014
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Columbia on Our Lee
File: SWMS049

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Subject: RE: Tune Req: A wet sheet and a flowing sea
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 20 Feb 11 - 07:04 PM

Ok some of the tunes found so far are 'similar' but the tune my friend learned in NSW school choir (60s) is more 'melodically wobbly' .. :-)

Any Aussies able to help?

Subject: RE: Tune Req: A wet sheet and a flowing sea
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 20 Feb 11 - 07:13 AM

Thank you Alan!

You know where the door is, you came in thru it!


:-P


:-)

Sadly I have to agree with you somewhat ....

Subject: RE: Tune Req: A wet sheet and a flowing sea
From: GUEST,Alan Whittle
Date: 20 Feb 11 - 06:35 AM

A Wet sheet and a flowing sea,
       A wind that follows fast


I confess as a young lad, these words always summoned before me the vision of doing an enormous fart following a wet dream.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: A wet sheet and a flowing sea
From: shipcmo
Date: 20 Feb 11 - 06:27 AM

BTW,
The tune above from Songs the Whalemen Sang is identical to 1883 Naval Songs, Wm A, Pond and Co, and the same except in a different key in The Book of Navy Songs.

Subject: Tune Add: A WET SHEET AND A FLOWING SEA
From: shipcmo
Date: 20 Feb 11 - 02:24 AM

X:1
T:A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea
L:1/16
M:2/4
K:A
c B | A2 E2 C2 E2 | A2 A2 A2 G A | B2 B2 B2 B2 | B6 E2 | c2 c2 c2 c2 | c2 (dc) B2 cB | A2 A2 (cB) (AG) | A6 (cB) | A2 A2 A2 A2 | A2 E2 C2 E2 | B2 B2 B2 B2 | B6 B2 | c2 c2 c2 c2 | c2 (dc) B2

(cB) | A2 A2 (cB) (AG) | A6 ||


To create a score, copy the abc notation above, and paste in Tune-O-Tron


from Songs the Whalemen Sang. Notes; Citizen 1844, Cortes 1847

"The Cortes and Citizen versions are very similar ... the melody seems to be a very old French air.

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Click to play

Subject: RE: Tune Req: A wet sheet and a flowing sea
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 20 Feb 11 - 01:03 AM

The Lied, Art Song, and Choral Texts Page
First Lines of Texts Beginning with A in English

This index was generated 2011-02-08 02:18:21 PM

http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=26415

A wet sheet and a flowing sea (Text: Allan Cunningham)
      * R. Still: A wet sheet and a flowing sea

The links on this page (alleging to have the sheetmusic) seem to be largely nonsensical advertising links to get you to their online shops.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: A wet sheet and a flowing sea
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 20 Feb 11 - 12:52 AM

Well the Collard Hill version can not be the tune from "1883 Naval Songs, Wm A, Pond and Co", as he wasn't alive then ... :-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~``
The song appears in
Book of Navy Songs
# Paperback: 160 pages
# Publisher: US Naval Institute Press (June 1983)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 0870211064
# ISBN-13: 978-0870211065

Don't have a copy, so don't know if tunes are therein ... might be an early used tune...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Also appears prior in
Francis T. Palgrave, ed. (1824–1897). The Golden Treasury. 1875.
a poem written by
A. Cunningham

AUTHOR:        Palgrave, Francis T., ed., 1824–1897.
TITLE:        The golden treasury of the best songs and lyrical poems in the English language, selected and arranged with notes by Francis Turner Palgrave.
PUBLISHED:        London: Macmillan, 1875.
PHYSICAL DETAILS:        332 p.; 17 cm.
ISBN:        1-58734-038-0.
CITATION:        Palgrave, Francis T. The Golden Treasury. London: Macmillan, 1875; Bartleby.com, 1999. www.bartleby.com/106/. [Date of Printout].
ON-LINE ED.:        Published January 1999 by Bartleby.com; © Copyright Bartleby.com, Inc. (Terms of Use).

so a poem with no original tune ...

~~~~~~~~~

another tune by David Parsons ..

so the claim (http://www.parsonsfamily.co.uk/music.php)

"A wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea, a song written by DP while still a schoolboy. (video on YouTube 2 mins 08 sec) " http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMOPmqlI4yo

maybe he composed this tune he plays (a rather dull staid and boring one compared to the tune my friend has!), but he did not write the words!!! (even as a schoolboy!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"A Good Sword and a Trusty Hand" also sounds insufficiently lyrical .... :-)

Subject: RE: Tune Req: A wet sheet and a flowing sea
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 20 Feb 11 - 12:26 AM

Someone PMed me to offer to make a midi out of the 1883 Naval Songs, Wm A, Pond and Co. My friend only heard one tune... now to figure out what it was ... :-0

Subject: RE: Tune Req: A wet sheet and a flowing sea
From: The Vulgar Boatman
Date: 19 Feb 11 - 08:36 PM

There are at least seven settings of this - seven entirely different tunes. Two are easily found on Google/you tube, a third, the one I remember singing in a choir festival when I was at school, is nowhere to be found,yet... Of the seven, one is set to the tune of the Cornish anthem "A Good Sword and a Trusty Hand", one (on You Tube)is performed by the composer who may be called Collard Hill. Another setting is on an album "They That Go Down to the Sea" by Ely Cathedral Choir, and is one of "four songs for sailors" set by George Dyson. Other settings are by Robert Still, Humphrey Proctor-Gregg, J Marshall Bevill and William Copper. Seems like the world and his dog has had a pop at it.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: A wet sheet and a flowing sea
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 19 Feb 11 - 07:13 PM

Thanks for the personal offer of a midi, but because of the significance perhaps this should be in the DT anyway.

I have a friend who sings it, but was looking for some historical trace of the tune, and/or if anybody has recorded it.

Subject: Lyr Add: A WET SHEET AND A FLOWING SEA (Cunningham
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 19 Feb 11 - 07:10 PM

A WET SHEET AND A FLOWING SEA
(Allan Cunningham)

    A Wet sheet and a flowing sea,
       A wind that follows fast
    And fills the white and rustling sail
       And bends the gallant mast;
    And bends the gallant mast, my boys,
       While like the eagle free -
    Away the good ship flies, and leaves
       Old England on the lee.

    "O for a soft and gentle wind!"
       I heard a fair one cry:
    But give to me the snoring breeze
       And white waves heaving high;
    And white waves heaving high, my lads,
       The good ship tight and free -
    The world of waters is our home,
       And merry men are we.

    There's tempest in yon hornèd moon,
       And lightning in yon cloud:
    But hark the music, mariners!
       The wind is piping loud;
    The wind is piping loud, my boys,
       The lightning flashes free -
    While the hollow oak our palace is,
       Our heritage the sea.

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Click to play

Subject: Tune Req: A wet sheet and a flowing sea
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 19 Feb 11 - 06:15 PM

The lyrics are readily available on the net = did not find a reference here.

Traditional Scottish Songs
- A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea

http://www.rampantscotland.com/songs/blsongs_sheet.htm

    Allan Cunningham, who wrote this evocative song, was born at Keir, Dumfriesshire - his father was a neighbour of Robert Burns at Ellisland. Allan Cunningham and his brother visited James Hogg, the "Ettrick shepherd", who became a friend to both. Some of Cunningham's songs hold a high place among British lyrics. "A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea" is one of the best British sea-songs, although written by a landsman.

etc


A tune please?