Lyr Req: Legend of the USS Titanic (Jaime Brockett

Subject: Jaime Brockett: Titanic
From: Mountain Dog
Date: 12 May 97 - 05:58 PM

Does anyone recall Jaime Brockett's wonderful, inventive and looooong satirical ballad about black prizefighting champion Jack Johnson, the Titanic and the First Mate who carried his notorious "97 and a half feet of rope"? I think it was called "The Legend of the Titanic" and I know it was recorded in the late 60s, early 70s.

I remember the gist of the story and the chorus: "They wouldn't let Jack Johnson on board, said 'This ship don't haul no coal', Fare thee well, Titanic, fare thee well."

If you know additional lyrics and/or chords, I'd be much obliged and amused.

Subject: Lyr Add: MIDNIGHT ON THE SEA (from John Bachmann)
From:
Date: 25 May 97 - 05:11 PM

A frind of mine, John Bachmann of Chapel Hill, performs this song better than anyone I've heard. He performs it as a narrative, with his 12-string going and singing occasional verses. He calls it "Midnight on the Sea" and attributes it to Huddie Ledbetter, AKA Leadbelly. I'm not going to enter everything here, because the power has gone off once after entering most of it, then after re-entering but before I sent, I froze up and had to restart. So here are the essentials. (I looked up John's address and requested info on the song - if he sends it I will forward to you. Otherwise, I have a low-fi cassette tape of him performing it a few years ago.)

"It was midnight on the sea,
the band played 'Nearer my God to Thee'
Farewell, Titanic, fare thee well:
(repeat)

Then some narrative about Jack Johnson being heavyweight champion of the world in 1912, going to Europe, being afraid of water and choosing the unsinkable ship, going to the dock, and being told.

"When Jack Johnson tried to get on board,
Cap'n said 'We don't haul no coal,'
Farewell, Titanic, fare thee well:
(repeat)
Then the boat leaves port, Captain Lord gets drunk and goes to his cabin, and
"Well, Titanic came 'round a curve,
And she run into a great big iceberg,
Farewell, Titanic, fare thee well:
(repeat)
More narrative with the lifeboats etc, and
"It was midnight on the sea,
The band played 'nearer my God to thee,
Farewell, Titanic, fare thee well,
(repeat)
Then
"There was lifeboats all around,
Men sayin' 'Don't let women and chillun go down,"
Farewell, Titanic, fare thee well;
There was lifeboats all around,
And even unsinkable Molly Brown,
Farewell, Titanic, fare thee well."

Then the narrative describes Jack Johnson going out for a newspaper, and reading about the sinking of the Titanic, and running back to his apartment, grabbing his wife, and saying

"When Jack Johnson heard that news, he said
Honey get me my dancing shoes,
Farewell, Titanic, fare thee well:
(repeat)

Sometimes, if John is really rocking and hammering the Guild, he'll include a Leadbelly field holler, like "keep your hands off her" along about this part. Then he describes how Leadbelly took this song to his publisher, and the publisher asked him why he wrote a funny song about a great tragedy, and Leadbelly tells him that the great thing about the Titanic was that not a single black person lost his life.

For the music, I'd have to get my guitar and work out the parts - I don't have one here. I haven't played it for a while, but I can work on it for you. I might even locate the tape - it's not John's best performance, but it's a signature song of his and I've never heard him not stop the show with it. I've never heard about the 97 feet of rope - I'd like to know if we're referring to the same song.
Bob Haight
[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Jamie Brockett: Titanic
From: Peter Timmerman
Date: 26 May 97 - 09:06 PM

This version of the song is woven into Leadbelly's life. You could read about it in The Life and Legend of Leadbelly. He said that he and Blind Lemon Jefferson sang it on the streets in 1912. In 1947 Leadbelly wrote a kind of personal testament about racism based on the song, which is one of the strongest statements about race in the period -- but it was archived away probably because it was so inflammatory (also it has to be said it was semi-literate). One of his versions is on the album "The Titanic" from Rounder records. Yours, Peter

Subject: RE: Jamie Brockett: Titanic
From: LaMarca
Date: 28 May 97 - 01:58 PM

I vaguely remember the Jamie Brockett version; he took Leadbelly's "Titanic" and added a running commentary/story line about the captain indulging in recreational pharmaceuticals, thus causing the famous crash. Since most of us who listened to Brockett's recording were also indulging, remembering the words becomes a challenge...This was one of those "forbidden" recordings that only got played on late-night college radio stations for fear of the FCC.

Subject: RE: Jamie Brockett: Titanic
From: bigj
Date: 28 Aug 97 - 06:36 PM

Does this song bear any relation to one that I have on a bootleg LP by Pink Anderson?

Subject: RE: Jamie Brockett: Titanic
From: Earl
Date: 28 Aug 97 - 06:39 PM

Pink Anderson has a bootleg LP?

Subject: RE: Jamie Brockett: Titanic
From: bigj
Date: 02 Sep 97 - 07:32 PM

Earl Welllll, it may be bootleg, or it may not; perhaps someone can tell me. I bought this 10" LP in London getting on for 40 years ago. It came in a plain brown sleeve with no information other than the track details hand-written on a label that carried the printed legend 'The Master Sound System'. On one side there's Greasy Greens/ Wreck of the Old 97/ I've Got Mine/ He's in the Jail House Now - and on the other - John Henry/ Every Day in the Week/ The Ship Titanic. Of course it's possible that it may be an illegal copy of an LP commercially available in the US.

Subject: RE: Jamie Brockett: Titanic
From:
Date: 02 Sep 97 - 07:51 PM

There are many songs about the Titanic. We used to sing one in camp:

When they built the ship Titanic, to sail the ocean blue
They said they built a ship that the water couldn't get through
But the good Lord raised His hand
And said that ship will never stand
It was sad when the great ship went down.

CHORUS
It was sad, so sad
It was sad, so very sad
It was sad when the great ship went down [sung in harmony, one group here sings "to the bottom of the sea]
Husbands and wives little children lost their lives
It was sad when the great ship went down.

I always thought it was a little unfair to blame God, since they had plenty of warning about the iceberg and it wasn't him who built it out of brittle steel with ineffective bulkheads. However, you do tempt fate when you assert that God himself can't sink it. . . .

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 24-May-02.

Subject: RE: Jamie Brockett: Titanic
From: Earl
Date: 03 Sep 97 - 09:37 AM

Bigj, There is an American LP with Rev. Gary Davis on one side and Pink Anderson on the other. It has all the songs you mentioned so there must be some connection. 40 years is a long time, they may have even made the LP from the 10"

Pink Anderson's "The Ship Titanic" is a version of the song Tim Jaques just listed.

PS, We used to sing:

Uncles and Aunts, little children lost their pants

ha ha

Subject: RE: Jamie Brockett: Titanic
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Sep 97 - 03:35 PM

Ever since I was in grammar school, I've known the version that goes "It Was Sad When the Great Ship Went Down." My rather irreverent neighbors, the ones who were Unitarians, would sing it when they got tipsy (and my Catholic parents would join in if THEY were tipsy). I didn't hear it sung again until I was a parent with kids at Scout camp. In both situations, it was sung as a rousing song, which I suppose is contrary to the meaning of the lyrics. I started singing it in rousing fashion at our song circle, and I got shushed. Has anybody ever heard this song in anything other than rousing fashion?
I suppose there is a moral dilemna here, singing for fun about a tragedy, but it happened so long ago. I also got shushed when I started to sing Peter and Lou Berryman's "Squalor"- somebody complained that it treated the topic of incest irreverently. Am I a cad for singing these songs?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Jamie Brockett: Titanic
From:
Date: 03 Sep 97 - 04:14 PM

The version I learned was rousing too.

Subject: RE: Jamie Brockett: Titanic
From: Earl
Date: 03 Sep 97 - 05:13 PM

Joe,
My advice is let common sense be your guide and err on the side of having fun. There are enough somber songs already without stealing our campfire songs.

Subject: RE: Jamie Brockett: Titanic
From:
Date: 03 Sep 97 - 06:02 PM

Yes, I rather like the rousing version. { The eastern Canadian song, Peter Emberlay (sometimes Amberlay) in the database has sad lyrics but is almost always sung in a rousing fashion. } It wouldn't do to sit around the campfire and sing dirges.

Subject: RE: Jamie Brockett: Titanic
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Sep 97 - 02:37 AM

Well, I'm a midwesterner transplanted to Northern California. I like it here, but sometimes the political correctness is enough to make a person choke. I sing "Mountain Dew" or "With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm" for Cub Scouts, and they love it - but some of their parents get VERY uneasy....
I guess I have to admit that I enjoy making 'em squirm. We weren't meant to take ourselves so seriously.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Jamie Brockett: Titanic
From: BK
Date: 05 Sep 97 - 10:10 PM

Joe - go for it! political correctness is for putzes... wonder how those parents would like The Ballad Of The Shape Of Things? or Liverpool Lullaby - how about The Mary Ellen Carter, or Barrett's Privateers??

Cheers, BK

Subject: RE: Jamie Brockett: Titanic
From: BK
Date: 05 Sep 97 - 10:22 PM

what happened to the message i just typed?? I said Joe - go for it!! political correctness is for putzes - do what seems right - try songs like The Ballad Of The Shape Of Things, The Mary Ellen Carter, or even Barretts' Privateers if you really want to zing politically correct types.

Cheers, BK

Subject: RE: Jamie Brockett: Titanic
From: BK
Date: 05 Sep 97 - 10:25 PM

Evidently, a delay can sometimes occur... I'll try to remember (that's a nice song too...) Cheers, BK

Subject: RE: Jamie Brockett: Titanic
From: rechal
Date: 06 Sep 97 - 11:46 PM

Those of you who are looking for Leadbelly's version:

They seem to be re-releasing lots of old stuff, and I saw a Leadbelly CD at the store today that was titled "Titanic."

In case you wanted to buy it.

I'm trying to imagine Pink Anderson singing about the Titanic...it seems like quite a departure from his usual genre.

Subject: RE: Jamie Brockett: Titanic
From: Earl
Date: 07 Sep 97 - 02:17 PM

Pink Anderson recorded some white country songs like "Wreck of the Old 97" and Jimmie Rodger's "He's in the Jailhouse Now" as well as country blues. His version of "Titanic" was neither somber nor rousing, sort of upbeat story telling.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE TITANIC (from Paddy Goes to Holyhead)
From:
Date: 09 Sep 97 - 03:36 PM

This is a newer song about the ship "The Titanic" sung by the German Folkrock-Band "PADDY GOES TO HOLYHEAD":

THE TITANIC

On the eleventh of April nineteen hundred and two
The Queen of the ocean had started her life
With thousand three hundred Passengers she sailed out from Cork
Led by nine hundred sailors on her way to New York

On the 14th of April at 11.40 p.m.
An outlook guy named Freddy Fleet the alarm-bell he did ring
Captain Smith gave the order: "Half steam ahead!" he cried
As the steamer got a narrow shave from a giant in the night

The water filled the liner the death-struggle takes 3 hours
The operator's working hard an emergency he morsed
"California can't you hear me - is your wireless working there?"
Wallace Hartley and his ragtime band played a tune called Derry Air

On the 15th of April 1912
The Queen of the ocean had ended her life
18 lifeboats were in store seven hundred for to save
But thousand five hundred passengers rest in their icy grave

CHORUS: Riddle of the century
Pride of the White Star Line
She become a wet reliquary
A victim of the brine

Subject: RE: Jamie Brockett: Titanic
From: dwditty
Date: 07 Nov 97 - 06:59 AM

Check out this place

Subject: RE: Jamie Brockett: Titanic
From: dwditty
Date: 07 Nov 97 - 07:02 AM

I mean, check out this place

Subject: RE: Jamie Brockett: Titanic
From: Mountain Dog
Date: 07 Nov 97 - 12:10 PM

Dear dwditty,

Thanks for the link! What a gas to have a transcription of Jaime's hallucinatory account of the great ship's demise at last.

Again, my thanks.

Subject: RE: Jamie Brockett: Titanic
From: Joe Offer
Date: 29 Jun 99 - 11:02 PM

Click here for a more recent article, complete with full text and RealAudio recording.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Jamie Brockett: Titanic
From:
Date: 30 Jun 99 - 09:52 PM

In light of the recent Clinton-Lewinski scandal, I don't think "putz" and "political" should be mentioned in the same posting

Murray

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Legend of the USS Titanic (Jaime Brockett
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 30 Nov 11 - 08:35 PM

Getting back to the original request, Jaime Brockett (note spelling) recorded LEGEND OF THE U.S.S. TITANIC [sic*] on his album "Remember the Wind and the Rain" (1969). Songwriting credit is given to "Brockett/Smither."

Lyrics have been posted twice at Mudcat: in the thread titled Lyr Req: Titanic (Leadbelly) and in the thread titled Lyr Req: Titanic sort-of parody.

* It was actually the RMS Titanic, not USS Titanic.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Legend of the USS Titanic (Jaime Brockett
From: clueless don
Date: 01 Dec 11 - 08:46 AM

I believe that album also contained what may have been Mr. Brockett's one hit on "Top 40 radio", a little ditty titled (as I recall) "The Talking Green Beret New Super Yellow Hydraulic Banana Teeny-Bopper Blues".

Don

Subject: Jamie Brockett's 'Legend of theTitanic'
From: Bobert
Date: 12 Apr 12 - 09:50 PM

Well, given that tomorrow is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic I figured that someone (why me???) had to post this...

About 30-40 years ago a fine folkie, Jamie Brockett, wrote an alternative history of the ship's sinking...

Ol' hillbilly strongly suggests that folks Google it up and...

...enjoy...

B~

Subject: RE: Jamie Brockett's 'Legend of theTitanic'
From: Jeri
Date: 12 Apr 12 - 10:43 PM

And here it is on YouTube.

Subject: RE: Jamie Brockett's 'Legend of theTitanic'
From: Bobert
Date: 12 Apr 12 - 10:47 PM

Thanks for the assist, Jeri...

Fun song, ya'll...

B~

Subject: RE: Jamie Brockett's 'Legend of theTitanic'
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 12 Apr 12 - 11:27 PM

bloody brilliant & so incorrect!

But why let the truth get in the way of a good story!

I've posted it on a thread on an Australian list looking for serious Titanic songs!

sandra

Subject: RE: Jamie Brockett's 'Legend of theTitanic'
From: JedMarum
Date: 12 Apr 12 - 11:48 PM

made Jaime a regional hero to New England, way back when. he was (and maybe still is) a talented and enjoyable folkie in those days. I enjoyed him. Saw him a few times and owned an album ...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Legend of the USS Titanic (Jaime Brockett
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 06 Nov 17 - 01:49 AM

J.Dixon - "Songwriting credit is given to "Brockett/Smither."

Smither = Chris Smither. Also wrote "No Love Today"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Legend of the USS Titanic (Jaime Brockett
From: GUEST,Bonehead {Skeleton Crewmember}
Date: 14 Feb 18 - 02:22 AM

...only to clarify: it was the First Mate who was 'getting away' and working in a Mexican rope factory. One day, when it ignited in flames, he decided to run back in to retrieve his two sardine sandwiches in a lunchbag and discovered an alternative value for processed hemp. That was the origin of the 497 and a 1/2 feet of rope. It was the First Mate who offers the Captain a toke one night at sea and the result is.. 'history', or at least legend.
I always thought that Brockett used the 'U.S.S.' prefix to divorce the song from any semblance of fact; an overt bit of poetic license, just in case.
The record got ALOT of airplay in the late 1960's on WTLB from Utica, New York (that's upstate, in the Mohawk Valley). For many it was a theme song because it reveled openly about the nature of indulging the 'evil weed'(and we were rebelling against just about everything). It's a great piece of bawdy, troubador musicianship; examples of which are too few and far between. Thanks for the stump; bless your heart and soul, Jaime!