A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'

Subject: A horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Skivee
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 12:28 PM

This is what happens when sea shanties vomit on the Macarena

Abandon hope, all ye who enter herein

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: GUEST,999
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 12:34 PM

Sufferin' Jaysus. I lasted 41 seconds. That's the record to beat.

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Stower
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 12:35 PM

I couldn't watch it all the way through, it was too distressing.

Martin Carthy (his name be praised) said the only bad thing you can do to folk music is not to sing it.

For once, and in this specific instance, he may have been wrong.

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Lighter
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 12:41 PM

Sounds like some people don't care for the ever-evolving "Folk Process."

(I watched the thing all the way through. But why?????)

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: PHJim
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 12:48 PM

I also watched only the first chorus.
My favourite verse to this song was from Sing Out!'s folk process column about 1989 or whenever the Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred:

Make him the captain of an Exxon tanker,
Make him the captain of an Exxon tanker,
Make him the captain of an Exxon tanker,
Earl-eye in the morning.

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 12:48 PM

I don't see how pirates brandishing such inadequately small cutlasses can expect to be respected.

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 12:50 PM

Push him in the lifeboat when his cruise ship founders.

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Jeri
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 12:58 PM

I love it--it gets better (?) when the boys with shorts get going. "Early, early up she rise, down to the left and slap your thighs, turn around give me high fives..." I imagine a huge flash mob...

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: EBarnacle
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 01:07 PM

This has been turned into a play party song, complete with false facial hair. Pretty putrid--but politically correct!

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Skivee
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 01:08 PM

Jack, "pirates brandishing such inadequately small cutlasses".

I'm sure that they are just as God made them.

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Ross Campbell
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 01:09 PM

It's no worse than some of the adjacent Youtube offerings.

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Skivee
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 01:42 PM

High praise, indeed, Ross

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: GUEST,raymond greenoaken
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 04:30 PM

It's a great song – and you can never murder a great song. Flesh wounds, no more.

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: michaelr
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 04:33 PM

It's a stupid song, and lampooning it is the best thing that can be done to it. I got a chuckle out of that video.

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 04:44 PM

I can't see what was horrible about it. Not my cup of tea but I am sure a lot of others will get a kick out of it so why decry other people's tastes?

Besides us old foggies need as many youngsters dancing about in skimpy costumes as we can get :-)

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 05:31 PM

Not the best by a long shot, but definitely not the worst,

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 05:36 PM

It's not clear to me what aspects of this I'm supposed to be shocked/appalled by.

The only clues I have are your use of "sea shanties" and "Macarena."

"Drunken sailor" is really a poor representative of shantieS as a genre...the song has been so much more, that I don't see holding onto it with shanty concepts in mind.
"Macarena" seems to reference the called-out group dancing. I dunno, not a far cry from folk dancing like contradancing and all that kind of stuff. Lots of precedents.

It's basically a kids' play song. When kids' songs get put in commercial versions, they tend to be dressed up on a low budget without much care for aesthetics beyond the presiding one: "fun."

It isn't to my taste, but just what *would* the proper presentation of "Drunken Sailor" look like?

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Paul Burke
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 06:04 PM

Sailor Vee.

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 08:47 PM

What is it about this song and undersized cutlasses?

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Greg B
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 09:09 PM

Hmmmm. Docksies and cabin-boys in short-shorts. Probably a summation of hazards faced by a drunken sailor, on land and at sea.

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Skivee
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 09:13 PM

here's a nice version


Why, that captain looks a might familiar

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: GUEST,999
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 09:15 PM

"It's not clear to me what aspects of this I'm supposed to be shocked/appalled by."

I don't think you are supposed to be shocked or appalled by any of it.

I left at 41 seconds because the singing was crap.

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Bill D
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 10:41 PM

That was beyond scary...but I did appreciate the cutelasses...... what's that? Oh...never mind...


In 1970, the audio-visual dept. at my university sent out a notice that they would be showing a 'movie' of Plato's Republic. As far as I know none of us in the Philosophy Dept. went to see it....but we DID imagine it, and a suggestion appeared on the bulletin board they the next 'production' should be "Kant's Critique of Pure Reason", starring Julie Newmar as 'the sensible manifold'.

I shudder to think what would have happened if they had the internet/WWW then.

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Skivee
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 11:22 PM

Gibb, not horrible in the "crimes against humanity" sense; but rather in the "wow, this is not good" kind of way.

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 12:15 AM

Bill D, "starring Julie Newmar as the sensible manifold" - was this an echo of Tom Lehrer's "with Ingrid Bergman playing part of hypotenuse"?

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 01:54 AM

Gibb, not horrible in the "crimes against humanity" sense; but rather in the "wow, this is not good" kind of way.

Well sure, though the "abandon all hope" was rather dramatic, and starting a whole thread thread on it suggests the horribleness would be of a certain extreme degree.

But what I am/was asking is: what aspect is supposed to be horrible, and in relation to what? I mean, you didn't say, so we're left to infer what is horrible. It seems to assume we all here know and agree on what's bad. I'm just as clueless about what is "nice" about the second video posted. Its anachronistic setting? Fruity costumes? misleading matching of work song to improper work tasks? Regulating the song to the background? Sticking to the style of singing that was current in films at the time?

It's as simple as saying what specifically is horrible, and why. It helps to make Mudcat a place for considered discussion and less for crabby who assume they're in the company of people who share the same tastes.

999 says the singing was crap. To my taste, the singing is nothing I'd like to hear for its own sake, but I realized immediately that my preferred singing quality/style does not figure into why it was made or why (presumably) some people would like it. In fact, it lost my interest because I like brunettes but the main woman was blonde.

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: GUEST,BobL
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 03:50 AM

Not the sort of stuff I go overboard for, but I did think it was rather fun. And nothing wrong with the singing, as theatrical show. TBH it made some of the more conventional renditions in the side links seem a bit lacklustre.

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 04:31 AM

This on the other hand is a bit special: Drunken Sailor

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Mr Happy
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 05:55 AM

The singers all affected that strange 'Arrrrrrrrchers' accent!

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: paul vaughan
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 08:28 AM

This is a great "tongue in cheek" version. The singer in this may be familiar too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD7Cl47uR1c

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Lighter
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 09:34 AM

It's hard to say precisely what's so awful about the video. Maybe it's the combination of utter silliness, a certain pretentiousness, the vague nod toward soft-core porn, the fact that the song's about a "drunken sailor" but the video has a "stalkin' zombie" instead, the total disregard for the song's history, the postmodern mix of historical eras and pure fantasy, the bland competence of the singing and dancing, etc., etc.

Is anyone ready to say what's great about it? (Well, it's light-hearted and peppy and the girls are pretty.)

Months ago I started a thread asking (just as an exercise in "folk criticism") what people really enjoyed about the song "Fiddlers' Green." It's so popular that it must "mean" something to singers and fans.

Not one person in the highly opinionated Mudcat Universe would venture a thought, much less an analysis.

Because that kind of thing is really hard! And why bother?!

Back to the video: none of those features *by itself* or even, perhaps, in limited combination, would necessarily spell disaster -but all at once, the mind boggles.

IMO.

Now, if I were thirteen years old, I might think differently.

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: GUEST,Devil's Advocaat
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 11:07 AM

Of course you could always contrast this with a dozen big hairy drunken blokes who've never reefed a sail in their lives singing it on stage!

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Skivee
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 12:40 PM

Lighter, You've well expressed the things that made me twitch.
Gibb seemed to be expressing the opinion that all versions of the song are equally respectable and worthy. He is welcome to that opinion.
PS Me disagreeing with him doesn't make either of us crabby, just in disagreement.

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 01:21 PM

What demographic were they after with that video? I have to give credit for originality to anyone who would even conceive of this concept, much less present it with costumes, stage sets, and production values.

On the whole, probably no worse than Celtic Woman doing traditional Irish music.The rude pirates vs gay pirates dance smackdown is worth the price of admission.

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Bill D
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 01:53 PM

Oh, absolutely no worse than "Celtic Women" which gets advertised on TV now & then. That purports to be....ummm... serious. I cannot bear the idea of an hours or two of those overdressed Miss America's channeling Lawrence Welk.

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Lighter
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 04:56 PM

You purist!

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Acorn4
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 05:48 PM

Surely, as said once before, the video is a harmless piece of fun.

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Skivee
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 05:58 PM

Acorn4, I agree.
Bill's comment about Celtic Women observation is in line with my thoughts.
I (as the kids say today) threw up in my mouth a bit when I saw it, but
no kittens were killed, nor were children made to cry.

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Tootler
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 06:01 PM

It was so bad it had a certain fascination.

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 24 Jan 12 - 02:46 AM

Ah, thanks, Lighter ~~ "purist!" as term of abuse yet again; albeit ironically?

Purists of the Scene ~ UNITE !!!

〠☺〠~M~〠☺〠

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Lighter
Date: 24 Jan 12 - 08:17 AM

My latest thoughts on Celtic Woman were at 1:16 pm yesterday on this thread ("Folk Singer v Entertainer"):


thread.cfm?threadid=142809&messages=52&page=1&desc=yes#3295110

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: alanabit
Date: 24 Jan 12 - 08:42 AM

I lasted twenty-five seconds. This version is about as necessary as a ribbon on a dog turd.

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Charley Noble
Date: 24 Jan 12 - 09:06 AM

The whole presentation, which I dutifully watched, seems a parody of itself. I do wonder what their intentions were, but perhaps the effect may best be summed up in this old West Indies verse "Deep the water, shallow the shore."

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Mick Tems
Date: 24 Jan 12 - 10:45 AM

I really loved it! It's entertaining, joyful and fun, and if it gets just one of the yoof to switch off their computer games and learn about the wonderful world of traditional music, all well and good. Right on!

Subject: RE: A Horrible example of 'Drunken Sailor'
From: Lighter
Date: 24 Jan 12 - 11:44 AM

>if it gets just one of the yoof to switch off their computer games and learn about the wonderful world of traditional music, all well and good.

Ah, but will it?