1920s Shanty Book Online - Proj. Gutenberg

Subject: RE: 1920s Shanty Book - Proj. Gutenberg
From: Artful Codger
Date: 03 Aug 12 - 07:23 PM

The "Add to Tracer" function is handy for that.

Subject: RE: 1920s Shanty Book - Proj. Gutenberg
From: GUEST,Charles Macfarlane
Date: 03 Aug 12 - 07:22 PM

> From: Artful Codger
>
> At some previous time I was able to find a single ZIP file with all the MIDIs in it, but now I don't recall where I found it. In any case, if you scroll to the bottom of the Gutenberg page and click "More files", you'll find a directory view which includes a ZIP file of about 1.7M--I suspect this includes not only the document (in HTML?) but the images and music files as well.

Yes 20774-h.zip contains everything: text as single html file, scores, and midi.

Subject: RE: 1920s Shanty Book - Proj. Gutenberg
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 03 Aug 12 - 05:12 PM

refresh - so I can find it to read tomorrow
Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: 1920s Shanty Book - Proj. Gutenberg
From: Artful Codger
Date: 02 Aug 12 - 08:33 PM

At some previous time I was able to find a single ZIP file with all the MIDIs in it, but now I don't recall where I found it. In any case, if you scroll to the bottom of the Gutenberg page and click "More files", you'll find a directory view which includes a ZIP file of about 1.7M--I suspect this includes not only the document (in HTML?) but the images and music files as well. If not, you can go into the one folder also in the list and there find a subfolder called "music"; you may be able to download the entire folder with a single right-click.

Subject: RE: 1920s Shanty Book - Proj. Gutenberg
From: meself
Date: 02 Aug 12 - 01:26 PM

I've had it sitting on the bookshelf for years - as I recall, it was the oddly literary quality of the shanties and songs that limited its appeal for me; maybe it's time for another look.

Subject: RE: 1920s Shanty Book - Proj. Gutenberg
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 02 Aug 12 - 01:10 PM

A good book, has been posted before, as I previously saved it, but I don't remember by whom. Worth re-posting anyway.

Another good one online is
Alden, W. L., Sailor Songs, Harpers New Monthly Magazine, July 1882, Vol. 65, issue 386. (Has brief musical scores).
http://harpers.org/archive/1882/07/0034016

Subject: RE: 1920s Shanty Book - Proj. Gutenberg
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 02 Aug 12 - 12:48 PM

There are many free books available by Kindle etc..I have been reading some old Scottish ballads, and there have been songs and history of the slavery tragedy and just all kinds of things if you keep looking..

Subject: RE: 1920s Shanty Book - Proj. Gutenberg
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 02 Aug 12 - 12:48 PM

The midis are pretty funny, because the piano accompaniments are so pretty and the "voice" tone over the midi piano is so lovely.

If others like me have trouble playing the midis directly from the web page, it worked for me to right click (or on my Mac, ctrl-click) and "save link as" or "save target as" a file, then play from the file.

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: 1920s Shanty Book - Proj. Gutenberg
From: GUEST,999
Date: 02 Aug 12 - 11:37 AM

What a gold mine. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Subject: RE: 1920s Shanty Book - Proj. Gutenberg
From: GUEST,Charles Macfarlane
Date: 02 Aug 12 - 11:33 AM

> From: CJB
>
> http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20774

Good find! Thanks for the link.

Subject: RE: 1920s Shanty Book - Proj. Gutenberg
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 02 Aug 12 - 11:27 AM

For those like me who wondered ;-) ... it's "The Shanty Book, Part I, Sailor Shanties" by Richard Runciman Terry, J. Curwen & Sons Ltd., 1921

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: 1920s Shanty Book - Proj. Gutenberg
From: ChrisJBrady
Date: 02 Aug 12 - 10:54 AM

The foreword is by prominent Liberal politician and shipping magnate's son Sir Walter Runciman – what he has to say is loaded with sadness at the loss of sail-powered shipping from a 1920s perspective.

"It is sometimes difficult for old sailors like myself to realize that these fine shanty tunes—so fascinating to the musician, and which no sailor can hear without emotion—died out with the sailing vessel, and now belong to a chapter of maritime history that is definitely closed. They will never more be heard on the face of the waters, but it is well that they should be preserved with reverent care, as befits a legacy from the generation of seamen that came to an end with the stately vessels they manned with such skill and resource."

then follows the text from the first post above.

Subject: 1920s Shanty Book - Proj. Gutenberg
From: ChrisJBrady
Date: 02 Aug 12 - 09:42 AM

http://intheboatshed.net/2012/08/02/splendid-1920s-sea-shanties-book-available-from-the-gutenberg-project/

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20774

The book intro. has:

'In speech, the old-time "shellback" was notoriously reticent — almost inarticulate; but in song he found self-expression, and all the romance and poetry of the sea are breathed into his shanties, where simple childlike sentimentality alternates with the Rabelaisian humour of the grown man. Whatever landsmen may think about shanty words — with their cheerful inconsequence, or light-hearted coarseness — there can be no two opinions about the tunes, which, as folk-music, are a national asset.'

'I know, of course, that several shanty collections are in the market, but as a sailor I am bound to say that only one — Capt WBWhall's 'Sea Songs, Ships, and Shanties' — can be regarded as authoritative. Only a portion of Capt Whall's delightful book is devoted to shanties, of which he prints the melodies only (without accompaniment); and of these he does not profess to give more than those he himself learnt at sea. I am glad, therefore, to welcome Messrs Curwen's project of a wide and representative collection. Dr Terry's qualifications as editor are exceptional, since he was reared in an environment of nineteenth-century seamen, and is the only landsman I have met who is able to render shanties as the old seamen did. I am not musician enough to criticize his pianoforte accompaniments, but I can vouch for the authenticity of the melodies as he presents them, untampered with in any way.'