Lyr Req: All Around Cape Flattery

Subject: Lyr Req: All Around Cape Flattery
From: sciencegeek
Date: 17 Jun 20 - 06:12 AM

would love to get the lyrics for this song and any background info.. dang ears refuse to clearly hear the words on the two recordings I have found

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Around Cape Flattery
From: cnd
Date: 17 Jun 20 - 11:13 AM

Would this be the song you're after?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD5c1O7yUoU

If it is I can give it a try later - just remind me

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Around Cape Flattery
From: sciencegeek
Date: 18 Jun 20 - 04:22 AM

yes it is... I also have it from Hank Cramer as an mp3... might be my laptop speakers combined with my poor hearing, but just can't make out the lyrics, sigh

thanks for any help... google has not come up with much at all that's useful


Chris

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Around Cape Flattery
From: cnd
Date: 18 Jun 20 - 06:44 PM

I've constructed this from the singing of both Hank Cramer and David Lovine; the version by Cramer is shorter and skips one verse Lovine includes, which I've shown in my transcription below. The Cramer version has an introductory chorus which the Lovine version skips, but otherwise the differences are notated. There's still a few spots which I'm not totally confident in, but I feel someone more familiar with either sailing or the Washington State region should be able to fill in those gaps.

I've emailed Mr. Cramer to help verify the lyrics and see if he knows who wrote the song; I've invited him to respond here, but if he responds via email I'll post it here as well.

Transcribed by ear from the videos above.

ALL AROUND CAPE FLATTERY

CHORUS
All around Cape Flattery, Tatoosh* shone bright
Up the Strait of Juan de Fuca on a full moon night
All around Cape Flattery, Tatoosh shone bright
Up the Strait of Juan de Fuca on a full moon night

Come all ye jolly mariners and listen to my tale
It's of the Lady Washington, a wooden ship of sail
Where we praise the ?sheep? for tallow and the ?stern bergs? for their tar
But if you wanna get out of old Aberdeen town, you cross the Westport bar

CHO.

Out of Grays Harbor, Washington we motored north all day
Wished we had a southerly so we could set some sail
Rolling in the trough, thinking this will never end
Watch and wait for the helmsman to take her round the bend

CHO.

Well, it's nice to have an engine when that leisure comes in sight
The drone can help you sleep through a sloppy, choppy night
But to wake with a wind and a belly full of sail
Makes a motorboat ride by comparison to pale

CHO.

Orders came to furl ????, oh, lads, and sail the Lady in
The Olympic Range like pumpkins lit the night sky with a grin
"Topsails, course, headsails, lads, make it so," said Brown
While off the stern of Washington the blood-red sun went down

CHO. ** [If you're following Lovine's singing, skip to the ** marking below]

Past Neah Bay we sailed her, all on a flooding tide
To port we saw the shining lights of old Victor-i-ay
Past the Elwha to Port Angeles we were bound that night
As we ran before the win beneath a full moon's light

CHO.

** And it's great to have your right-hand mates trim her sailing coil
Plowing, rising, hanging, falling, green seas o'er the rail
Shooting stars, all ?scupperbound?, shimmer as they fly
For the decks in the dark like the emeralds of the night

CHO.

Makah Bay slipped by that night as by her way did glide ***
Off our port fog twinkled bright, old Victor-i-ay
Past Elwha to Port Angeles we were bound that night
As we sailed towards the east on a full moon's light

CHO.

So, you sailor lads and lasses, come take this advice for free
Hold your log exact while your underway at sea
For as the days go slipping by, your recollections fade
Like the misty morning summer's day may vanish in haze

CHO.

###################################################################

* I assume that "Tatoosh" here refers to the former location of the Cape Flattery Light, which now resides at Neah Bay; it could alternatively be "Tatoosh on right" but that makes less sense to me - seafaring people would be more likely to use starboard or port
** While the verse after the jump in versions is partially repeated, I felt it easier to separate the songs here.
*** Some uncertainty with these lines

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Around Cape Flattery
From: cnd
Date: 20 Jun 20 - 12:29 AM

I received the following reply from Hank Cramer earlier tonight:

"Thanks for the interest in the song. I just sent a response to the Mudcat thread. David LoVine wrote the song. He and I were shipmates and shanty men in the early 90s. The Sternberg family owned a mill or shop that supplied the tar for caulking the Lady Washington. In the old days, they used tallow from sheep. The other mystery line is "orders came to fuel Detroit'sl" our nickname for our diesel engine. (We hate to acknowledge that our 18th century replica vessel has one). Another euphemism is "hoist the iron spinnaker." Thanks for your interest in the song! Fair winds - Hank"

I've checked the recent, threads but it appears as if sadly Hank's comment got lost in the interwebs. I've let him know to see if he has anything else to add, but that answers most of our questions.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Around Cape Flattery
From: sciencegeek
Date: 20 Jun 20 - 08:24 PM

thank you so much for your help... I once had some contact with a gal from the Lady Washington about the Mystic Sea Music Festival, but that is one area I need to just learn more about... here on Lake Erie we have the Brig Niagara and museum - a small but dedicated organization.

Maybe when this gets sorted out, the lyrics can go into the DT collection

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Around Cape Flattery
From: Charley Noble
Date: 21 Jun 20 - 08:56 PM

Nice to know that most of this song has been nailed down.

Cheerily,
Charlie Ipcar

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Around Cape Flattery
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Jun 20 - 09:31 PM

My husband and I were once light house keepers on Tatoosh Island when he was stationed there in the Coast Guard. It was on lease from the Indians at Neah Bay.
The Lady Washington is a replica of the original that is now harbored at Grey's Harbor Washington.
I have been very fortunate in the last few years to take passage on her and her sister ship when they stopped at Coos Bay.
One, or both I don't remember now, were used in the filming of the Pirates of the Caribbean. It was fun to listen to the crew share their experiences with the cast.
It was wonderful to see this song, which I'd never heard before.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Around Cape Flattery
From: sciencegeek
Date: 22 Jun 20 - 10:58 AM

link to song on youtube All Around Cape Flattery · Shantyman David LoVine & The Mortal Coilers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD5c1O7yUoU


I was able to order the CD