Lyr Req: nail your colours to the mast

Subject: Lyr Req: nail your colours to the mast
From: GUEST,brooko
Date: 06 Aug 11 - 12:14 PM

does any one know the words and who sings this song

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: nail your colours to the mast
From: GUEST,999
Date: 06 Aug 11 - 12:20 PM

John Waites ?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: nail your colours to the mast
From: brooko
Date: 06 Aug 11 - 12:25 PM

thats great i will try to find him on the net
thanks 999
brooko

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: nail your colours to the mast
From: GUEST,999
Date: 06 Aug 11 - 12:44 PM

I ain't 100% sure. Lots of things come up when I google 'nail your colours to the mast'. If he isn't it, please note anything else you recall about the song. (Was it a sea song, religious song, etc.)

Subject: ADD: Jack Crawford
From: GUEST,SRD
Date: 06 Aug 11 - 12:46 PM

Do you mean this one:


JACK CRAWFORD

Jack Crawford was a Sunderland man / He worked on board a keel
Up and down Wear Valley / He knew the river weel
But then he joined the Navy / Amongst the cannon's blast
And there became the hero / Who nailed his colours to the mast

    Nailed his colours to the mast / Nailed his colours to the mast
    And there became the hero / Who nailed his colours to the mast

Jack sailed aboard the 'Venerable' / The flagship of the fleet
They sailed into the Channel / The Hollanders to meet
The battle was at Camperdown / And shot flew thick and fast
And that's where Jack Crawford / Nailed his colours to the mast

Six times the flag was shot away / As the chain shot flew like hail
Till the mast top fell to the deck / And the fleet begun to fail
Jack Crawford picked up the flag / And nimble to the last
Climbed atop the main and / Nailed his colours to the mast

Oh what a cheer was heard that day / And the English Tars fought back
The Dutch were torn asunder / And the cry went up for Jack
Admiral Duncan stepped up to him / Saying "We've won the day at last
For Jack Crawford the hero / Nailed his colours to the mast"

Now Jack was called to London / Sent for by the King
He says "Jack you're a hero" / And the crowd began to sing
"Here's a pension thirty pound a year / For you fought them to the last
Raise a cheer for Jack Crawford / Who nailed his colours to the mast"

So if you go to Sunderland / Leave the streets and crowd
See the statue of him there / That stands up se proud
In the Mowbray Park / Pause as you go past
And Remember brave Jack Crawford / Who nailed his colours to the mast

And youtube has The Hush singing it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: nail your colours to the mast
From: GUEST,Fantum
Date: 06 Aug 11 - 02:13 PM

The last time I heard this song Jez Lowe sang it

Fantum

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: nail your colours to the mast
From: Charley Noble
Date: 06 Aug 11 - 06:04 PM

brooko-

"nail your colours to the mast"

A similar line is in an old Victorian pirate ballad:


Words by Letitia Elizabeth Landon, music by Horatio D. Hewitt. Boston: Geo. P. Reed, 17 Tremont Row, 1846.
From The Pirates' Own Book © 1924, p. 465
Dedicated to Miss Eliza Gaither of Washington, DC

The Pirate's Song

To the mast nail our flag, it is dark as the grave,
Or the death which it bears while it sweeps o'er the waves;
Let our deck clear for action, our guns be prepar'd;
Be the boarding-axe sharpen'd, the scimetar bar'd.
See the canisters ready, and then bring to me,
For the last of my duties, the powder-room key.
It shall never be lower'd, the black flag we bear;
If the seas be denied us, we'll sweep thro' the air.

If this be the song, I'll be happy to supply the rest of the verses, and a version of it that I've recorded.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: nail your colours to the mast
From: GUEST,Mackem
Date: 07 Aug 11 - 06:28 AM

Jack Crawford was written by Jonny Handle. It tells of a keelman who, having been press-ganged, was on HMS Venerable during the battle of Camperdown. When the colours were shot away from the mast he climbed the mast to nail them back on. He was later presented with a medal by King George III.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: nail your colours to the mast
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 08 Aug 11 - 10:04 AM

See also this thread: Lyr Req: Jack Crawford
And this thread: Lyr Req: The Hush - '...colours to the mast...'?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: nail your colours to the mast
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 08 Aug 11 - 10:24 AM

There is an article at Wikipedia about the sailor Jack Crawford.

A song list at Johnny* Handle's web site includes THE BALLAD OF JACK CRAWFORD (1997).

His discography says that JACK CRAWFORD is on the album "The Best of Johnny Handle" (CAR012) 2010.

* note spelling.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: nail your colours to the mast
From: Santa
Date: 09 Aug 11 - 05:15 AM

Bob Fox sings it currently. I'm not sure if he has recorded it other than with The Hush.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: nail your colours to the mast
From: brooko
Date: 13 Aug 11 - 11:42 AM

thanks eveyone Jack Crawford is the one iam looking for.I got the words and am learning it now thanks again
brooko

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: nail your colours to the mast
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 19 Apr 19 - 08:52 AM

Bob Fox just sang it this afternoon, at the National Folk Festival in Canberra.