Lyr Add: Tarpaulin Jacket

Subject: RE: Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket????
From: John Nolan
Date: 11 Dec 99 - 09:57 AM

A couple (or maybe three) decades ago BBC TV ran a documentary on Admiral Benbow and Tarpaulin Jacket was one of the accompanying songs. Does this programme ring a bell with anyone, and has it ever been re-run?

Subject: Lyr Add: WRAP ME UP IN MY TARPAULIN JACKET
From: Frank Maher
Date: 10 Dec 99 - 11:41 PM

This is a Frank Crumit Version from 1935

WRAP ME UP IN MY TARPAULIN JACKET

A tall stalwart lancer lay dying,
And as on his deathbed he lay,
To his friends who around him were sighing,
These last dying words he did say,

CHORUS:
Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket,
And say a poor buffer lies low,
And six stalwart lancers shall carry me,
With steps, solemn, mournful and slow.

Had I the wings of a little dove,
Far away, far away, would I fly,
Straight for the arms of my true love,
And there would I lay me and die. CHORUS

Then get you two little white tombstones,
Put them one at my head and my toe,
And get you a penknife and scratch there,
Here lies a poor buffer below, CHORUS

And get you six brandies and sodas,
And set them all out in a row,
And get you six jolly good fellows,
To drink to this buffer below. CHORUS

And then in the calm of the twilight,
When the soft winds are whispering low,
And the darkening shadows are falling,
Sometimes think of this buffer below. CHORUS

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 4-Oct-02.

Subject: Lyr Add: WRAP ME UP IN MY TARPAULIN JACKET
From:
Date: 10 Dec 99 - 10:56 PM

From the Burl Ives songbook "Seasongs" circa 1956 as follows. I have sheet music w/chords. May be related to Rosin the Beau, but that is not the same tune as recorded by Ives.

WRAP ME UP IN MY TARPAULIN JACKET

Oh, had I the wings of a turtle dove, so high on my pinions I'd fly.
Slap! Bang! To the heart of my Polly love,
And in her dear arms I would die.

CHORUS:
Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket, and say a poor duffer's laid low.
Send for six jolly seamen to carry me,
With steps mournful, solemn and slow.

Oh, then let them send for two holystones, and place them at head and at toe,
Upon them write this inscription,
"Here lies a poor dufffer below."

Chorus:

Then send for six jolly foretopmen, and let them a-rollicking go,
And in heaping two gallon measures,
Drink the health of the duffer below.

Chorus:

Line Breaks <br> added.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket????
From: Bruce O.
Date: 10 Dec 99 - 10:01 PM

Check title carefully, there's more than one 'Penguin Australian xxxx' (book of songs). The right one should be edited by J. S. Manifold. Legman's date may be wrong, as I can only find a 1976 date for the book.

Subject: RE: Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket????
From: Bruce O.
Date: 10 Dec 99 - 05:16 PM

Thanks lamarca. Now I'me even more envious of you. I haven't managed to find that or Firth's 'Naval Songs and Ballads' on the booksellers websites.

Subject: RE: Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket????
From: lamarca
Date: 10 Dec 99 - 04:36 PM

Bruce and John, I have both volumes of the Australian Book of Penguin Folksongs at home, and will check them this evening...

Subject: RE: Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket????
From: Frank Hamilton
Date: 10 Dec 99 - 03:51 PM

The song is found in the American Songbag by Carl Sandburg.

"One of several in the R. W. Gordon collection, this version (A) is from Frank Haworth of the British Club, Havan, Cuiba, while (B) {The Handsome Young Airman} is from Abbe Niles who comments on how landlubber songs often are in active duty on the high seas and vice versa.'Any living tune is a jack of all trades. This variant of Tarpaulin ajcket ten years ago on the flying fields was current among men who had never heard its original'"

Sandburg's Songbag came out in 1927.

Frank

Subject: RE: Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket????
From: kendall
Date: 10 Dec 99 - 08:29 AM

Actually, Tarpaulin jacket is close to Rosin, but, there is a slight difference. Alison, I no longer have mediaring. The reception sucked so I dumped it. Been thinking about netmeeting, but, Jon says it too has its problems.

Subject: RE: Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket????
From: Bruce O.
Date: 10 Dec 99 - 03:43 AM

John, Legman doesn't cite a vouume number.

Subject: RE: Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket????
From: bseed(charleskratz)
Date: 10 Dec 99 - 03:26 AM

Skip Henderson sings the song on his CD "Billy Bones and Other Ditties"--a fine album it is.

--seed

Subject: RE: Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket????
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 10 Dec 99 - 03:09 AM

Bruce, I wonder if he is referring to Vol II which I don't know nearly as well, but I'll check over the weekend. Regards, John

Subject: RE: Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket????
From: Bruce O.
Date: 10 Dec 99 - 02:02 AM

John, mention should be on p. 110. Legman isn't clear as to whether "Lady Monroe" is printed there. "Moll Roe" and "My name is old Hewson the Cobbler" are a bit similar to "Rosin the Beau". Anyone want an ABC of the tune that S. P. Bayard though might be that from which "Rosin the Beau" was derived?

Subject: RE: Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket????
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 10 Dec 99 - 12:01 AM

Bruce, I'm sure you're right - I don't recall the reference. I'll check it out over the weekend. Regards, John

Subject: RE: Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket????
From: kendall
Date: 09 Dec 99 - 10:48 PM

You got it Micca...nuff said (except, if you still want to argue, check your dictionary)

Subject: RE: Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket????
From: Micca
Date: 09 Dec 99 - 08:07 PM

MMario, Let a Certificated Able Seaman explain, It is (or was) spelled holly stones but pronounced Holy stones, but not because of "Holy as in saintly" but as in "Holy as in full of holes", they were bade from machine-cut blocks of Pumice like abraisive-like material and were used (certainly when I served in the mid-60s) as a means of removings damaged and dead wood and foot marks from sun-bleached wooden decks. A Holly stone looked like a large squeezey Mop you know the kind, with a large square of sponge at the bottom with a handle that folds it to squeeze out the water, except ,of course, the stone did not bend.It was propelled in front of you like a broom and weighed several pounds and used dry for coarse work and wet for fine."The Prayer book" was a small version for doing akward corners. It was frequently in use on wooden decked Passenger ships and cruise liners. Needless to say this was a very tedious job and was given as "day work" to Deckies on long trips along with in-board ship painting and maintenance. Only worn and used-up Holy stones (because along with the weight they became saturated with water and any junk metal was used as a sinker for a corpse. The Ships Carpenter, usually the best at canvas sewing, did the job and it was a point of honour that the "Tarpaulin jacket" fitted like a second skin. The final stitch, by tradition, goes through the canvas and the nose of the corpse and a large loop of the tarred sail twine left sticking up so that the captain can check there actually is a corpse inside. The stitcher-up is paid a special fee for this.

Subject: RE: Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket????
From: Bruce O.
Date: 09 Dec 99 - 01:57 PM

Anyone have 'The Penguin Australian Songbook", 1964? Evidently "Tarpaulin Jacket" and "Rosin the Beau" are identified there as the same tune. [Note from Randolph/ Legman, 'Roll me in your arms', #18]

Subject: RE: Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket????
From: kendall
Date: 09 Dec 99 - 01:29 PM

It is the same tune as Rosin the Beau, but only the A part..no refrain
I heard Buryl Ives sing this 40 years ago. He also sang holly stones, but, I stick to my story..HOLY stone makes more sense, becaue the smaller one was called a prayer book. I dont just read about going to sea...I've been there, and, I know that landlubbers like Oscar Brand have really mucked up the lingo.
Anyway, believe me, it is HOLY stone.

Subject: RE: Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket????
From: MMario
Date: 09 Dec 99 - 08:49 AM

according to an old friend of mine - who spent many a year on and under the sea...."holy stones" is SPELLED "holly stones" --just another one of those lovely english the way we don't speak it things. [and he CLAIMS that it is probably derived from "oily stones"]

Subject: RE: Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket????
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 09 Dec 99 - 05:23 AM

A tarpaulin jacket and holy stones is the sailor equivalent of a shroud and concrete overcoat. The tarpaulin was used to wrap a body for burial at sea, the 'holly' or holy stones to weight it, so that when the poor unfortunate started to swell with internal gasses, as these things do, wouldn't float to the surface again and create more legends of sailors haunting the sea....

LTS

Subject: RE: Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket????
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 09 Dec 99 - 05:15 AM

In my impressionable youth I believe that I heard the late Declan Affley sing this at a National Folk Festival in Melbourne in 1972/3? There was an LP produced of the main concert, but I don't have a copy. While I have cartainly heard the Tarpaulin version, it is possible that Declan sang Fiddlers Green that night. As I recall the two tunes are very similar - if not clones. Bob Bolton may have a copy of the LP.

Subject: RE: Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket????
From: Martin _Ryan
Date: 09 Dec 99 - 02:53 AM

Kendall

In fact its "holly stones" in the text - which is stranger still!

Thanks for help so far.

Regards

Subject: RE: Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket????
From: Bruce O.
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 09:49 PM

An ABC of "The Unfortunate Rake", 1808, is T060 in file T1 on my website. An earlier copy, c 1805, differs little. www.erols.com/olsonw

Subject: RE: Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket????
From: MMario
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 09:34 PM

any one else see a resemblence to "rosin the bow"?

Subject: RE: Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket????
From: alison
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 09:13 PM

sing me the tune as a voicemail through mediaring Kendall and I'll post it....

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket????
From: kendall
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 08:57 PM

I have the tune, and a slightly different set of words. Yhat one sounds like it was made by a landsman. I dont know what a holy tablet is, but, a holy stone was used to sand the decks. A smaller one was called a prayer book. If you call me I'll give you the tune.

Subject: Lyr Add: WRAP ME UP IN MY TARPAULIN JACKET
From: Martin _Ryan
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 07:57 PM

I picked up an old (no date - probably 1930's) booklet called Walton's "181 Best International Songs". It includes the following:

WRAP ME UP IN MY TARPAULIN JACKET

Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket
To speed an old buffer below
But six jolly sailormen bear me
With a step sober, measured and slow

Then get six jolly loyal fore top men
With a rollicking royal yo ho
To drink down a six gallon grog, sir
To the health of the buffer below

Then two white holly tablets obtain, sir,
At my head and my feet to bestow
And chisel upon them this line sir
To the jolly old buffer below!

Any one seen/heard it before? I looks like a glee club number - but the connection back to The Unfortunate Rake and, maybe, forward to Fiddler's Green is curious. Anyone got a tune?

Regards