Reuben Ranzo

Subject: RE: Reuben Ranzo
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 28 Jan 23 - 08:12 PM

Once one puts narrative in a song, it gives it some stability and discourages any improvisation aside from superficial variations... unless there is co-exists the memory of the genre as one meant for improv.

The following specimen uses the Solomon Grundy ~narrative again (seen above in L.A. Smith).

I know nothing of the author. It's a pseudonym, and the book is fiction. It's set first in the 17th century and then jumps to the 19th; Fitzerse is a time-traveller. "Ranzo" is first included in the 17th century part, and then comes back. The words, while typical enough, don't obviously match any prior publication that I know of. The author might just as well have cribbed them from a piece of writing as heard them sung by sailors directly.

Fitzerse, Alfred [pseudonym]. The Trance of Fitzerse: A Tale of Two Centuries. London: The London Literary Society, 1888.

pp 37-38
//
        The incidents of the voyage, with very few exceptions, were such as have often been related of others. The utmost order prevailed. The weather was favourable, though at times the wind was high and the sea rough. Alfred Fitzerse was not long in making friends with all on board, and growing accustomed to this new life. He was greatly interested in the manners and customs of the sailors, whom he found, in general, to be good-natured men, though somewhat rough and overbearing towards each other. What struck him most was their cheerfulness, by which he thought they had fairly earned their common title of jolly tars. Whenever they were called upon to act in concert, they always supported each other by singing some song, the refrain of which was the signal for a united effort. One such song in particular impressed itself upon his memory, and it may be interesting to some who read these lines:

“Ranzo was born on a Sunday,
   Ranzo, Boys, Ranzo !
He went to school on a Monday,
   Ranzo, Boys, Ranzo !
He ran away on a Tuesday,
   Ranzo, Boys, Ranzo !
He went to sea on a Wednesday,
   Ranzo, Boys, Ranzo !
He was rated mate on a Thursday,
Ranzo, Boys, Ranzo !
   He was cast away on a Friday,
Ranzo, Boys, Ranzo !
   He skipped the deck on a Saturday,
Ranzo, Boys, Ranzo!”

   The sailors could not give any coherent account of the origin of this song. They said they had picked it up from one another, and that they supposed Ranzo, if such an individual had ever existed, was some Portuguese sailor of whom his shipmates had made a kind of hero.
//


Pp287-8
//
While we were still engaged in conversing upon indifferent matters, my ear caught the strain of another song the sailors had started on deck and I thought I would go and listen to it. On reaching the place I was nearly thrown off my balance by what I heard, acting as it did in the way I have found any sudden reminiscence of my former state to do upon my mind. Could I believe my senses? There was the whole history of Ranzo, the mythical Portuguese, from his cradle to his watery grave, recited in the same sing song strain which I had often heard on board the “Trustwell.” The same emphatic chorus, too, confirmed it, as the singers hauled together with a will:

Ranzo, boys! Ranzo!

   “That's an old song,” I remarked to the third officer who was standing by. “Do you know where the sailors picked it up?"
   "Hard to tell that,” said he. “Old Blowhard there would say, if you asked him, that Shem, Ham and Japhet had sung it in the Ark when Adam was an oakum boy in Chatham Dockyard."
//

The text also quotes "Haul the Bowline" in the 19th century episodes.

Subject: RE: Reuben Ranzo
From: Lighter
Date: 28 Jan 23 - 08:19 PM

Hugill, 1961 (and 1969):He also gives some miscellaneous extra verses, plus a Sicilian fisherman's song to clearly the same tune. Which song came first is uncertain.

Oooh! poor ol’ Reuben Ranzo
– RANZO, boys, RANZO!
Ooh! poor ol’ Reuben Ranzo
– RANZO, boys, RANZO!

Oh, Ranzo wuz no sailor,
He wuz a New York tailor,

Though Ranzo wuz no sailor,
He shipped aboard of a whaler.

The ‘Pierre Loti’ wuz a whaler,
But Ranzo wuz no sailor.

Ranzo joined ‘Pierre Loti’,
Did no’ know his dooty.

Shanghaied aboard of a whaler,
They tried to make him a sailor.

Ranzo couldn’t steer ‘er—
Did ye ever know anything queerer?

The mate he wuz a dandy,
Far too fond o’ brandy.

Put him holystonin’,
An’ cared not for his groanin’.

They said he wuz a lubber,
And made him eat whale-blubber.

He washed once in a fortnight,
He said it wuz his birthright.

They took him to the gangway,
An’ gave him lashes twenty.

They gave him lashes twenty,
Nineteen more than plenty.

They gave him lashes thirty,
Because he wuz so dirty.

Reuben Ranzo fainted,
His back with oil wuz painted.

The Capen gave him thirty,
His daughter begged for mercy.

She took him to the cabin,
An’ tried to ease his achin’

She gave him cake an’ water,
An’ a bit more than she oughter.

She gave him rum an’ whisky,
Which made him feel damn frisky.

She taught him navigation,
An’ gave him eddication.

They gave him an extra ratin’
An’ made him fit for his station.

They made him the best sailor,
Sailin’ on that whaler.

Ranzo now the skipper
Of a Yankee whaler

An’ when he gets a sailor,
Who’s iggerant on a whaler,

He takes him to his cabin,
An’ larns him navigatin’.

He married the Old Man’s daughter,
An’ still sails on blue water.

He’s known wherever them whalefish blow
As the toughest bastard on the go.

Hurrah for Reuben Ranzo,
Hurrah for Captain Ranzo!

The "Pierre Loti" is presumably the steel French whaling barque of that name, sunk by a German cruiser in January 1915.

The "dandy/brandy" couplet which we've seen before, also appears in the foc's'le song "The Campanero."

Subject: RE: Reuben Ranzo
From: RTim
Date: 28 Jan 23 - 09:45 PM

With all these different versions of the Reuben Ranzo texts..do we also have multiple tune versions also....or are they all similar..??

Tim Radford
(If this has been addressed early....I am sorry if/that I missed it!)

Subject: RE: Reuben Ranzo
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 29 Jan 23 - 01:03 AM

Tim, I believe the simple answer is, "They are all similar."

Verbose, opinionated answer: I consider it to be all one tune, "THE" tune, where the differences between performances aren't significant enough to say "Ah, that's a different tune." I don't actually think there's really such a thing as "versions" of chanties. (For the most part. There are probably exceptional cases that aren't coming to mind.) Because that "certain degree of variability" is built in, on the one hand, and on the other hand you need "the" tune to anchor you; the tune itself "is" the chanty. (Whereas, as an example of contrast, the narrative text "is" a ballad, and when you see either the narrative going in divergent directions OR the text is set to clearly different tune, we begin to talk of "versions.") So it all comes down to what degree of difference one thinks is significant. If I say "water" and you say "water," there *is* a difference in sound. But for most situations we're concerned with, they are the "same"; it's only in some arcane context (like a linguist mapping regional phonology) that their difference is significant.

(Yes! I did just write a whole paragraph basically stating the obvious. Good thing Mudcat doesn't charge me by the word.)
***

Here are the texts mentioned so far, I think, that have information about tune. I can have a look at each of them later.

Gordon (This is a recording. I transcribed the lyrics from the recording at LoC. Looking in my notes, however, I see that I wrote down the tune for other songs I listened to at that time, but didn't do it for this. Which tells me I didn't think the tune was notably different from the most popular way people now sing Reuben Ranzo).

Noble Brown

Gardiner

Linscott

Adams - I remember that the second half stands out a bit. Subjectively and without strong argument as to why, I think something sounds "older" or more "authentic" about it and I like to sing it.

Whall

Bullen

Davis and Tozer

Masefield

LA Smith

Alden

Dick Maitland

Tayleur

Rutzebeck- I don't have this. Is there a tune?

Robinson

Walton

Hugill

Subject: RE: Reuben Ranzo
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 29 Jan 23 - 01:32 AM

Linscott

/F S F M / R D M - /
/ t t D - / M R - - /
/S S F M / D - s - /
/D M S - / R D - - //

Noble Brown

/F S F M / R - M - /
/R R R - / M R - - /
/R M R D / t - s - /
/D D S - / M D - - //

Tim Radford :)

M /M S F MR / R M M - /
/R R R - / l R - - /
/R M RD l / D - s - /
/D M S M / R D - (-)//

Subject: RE: Reuben Ranzo
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 29 Jan 23 - 05:04 AM

Gardiner

s/M S F M / R D M - /
/R R R - / l R - - /
/R M RD l / D - s - /
/D M S M / R D - (-)//

Colcord

M/F S F M / R - M -/
/R R R - / M R - /
D/ M R D l / D - s -/
D M S - / R D - (-)//

Whall (1910 etc)

M/F S F M / R D M RD/
/R R R D / M R - /
MR/ D D t lt / D - s -/
D M S - / R D - (-)//

Davis/Tozer

S/M S F M/ R - M - /
/R R R D / M R - /
R/D R D l/ D - s - /
D MS S M/ R D - (-)//

Bullen

/F S F M / R - M - /
/R R R - / M R - - /
/R M RD l / D - s - /
/D M S - / R D - - //

Dick Maitland

RM/F S F M / R - M - /
/R R R - / M R - - /
RM/F S F M / D - s - /
/D MS S - / R D - (-) //

P Tayleur

S/M S F M/ R D M - /
/R R R D / M R - /
DR/R M RD l/ D - s - /
D M S F/ MR D - (-)//

Hugill

S/M S F M/ R D M - /
/R R R - / M R - /
MR/D R D l/ l - s - /
D M S -/ R D - (-)//

Subject: RE: Reuben Ranzo
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 29 Jan 23 - 06:03 AM

Alden

D/ M M MR DR/ M- R D/
/R R R D/ M - R - /
R/ R R RD lt/D - s - /
/D M M D/ R D - (-)//

LA Smith - This tune's notation is messed up. Smith (or the singer) got turned around and switched keys mid-stream; it makes no musical sense. It doesn't even match the rhythm of the text. She's got the key signature in Bb but clearly starts the tune in F, goes somewhere, and ends in Bb.

/D R D t / l - t - /
/l l t - / l - t - /
/D R D t/ l - t -/
/D R M - /R - D - //

RC Adams (1876)

/M S F M / R - M - /
/R R R - / M R - /
s/D - D l/ D - s - /
/D M M - / R D - (-)//

Walton

M/F S F M / R - M - /
/R R R - /M R - /
MR/D R D R/ D l s - /
/D M S - / M D - (-)//

Robinson - Puts key signature as G but tune is in D

/F S F M / R - M -/
/R R R - / M - R - /
/D l D l / D - s - /
/D M S - / R D - - //

Stanton King

M/F S F M / R D M - /
/R R R D /M R - /
MR/D R Dt ls / D - s - /
/D M S - / M D - (-)//

Subject: RE: Reuben Ranzo
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 29 Jan 23 - 06:40 AM

George Haswell's exposition of chanties in the shipboard newspaper _The Parramatta Sun_, 1879, includes the note (reproduced in LA Smith),

//
Ranzo is suspiciously like a 'crib' from a wellknown old sea-song concerning a certain 'Lorenzo,' who also 'was no sailor.' However the versions of Reuben Ranzo may alter one salient point in each remains, and that is the fact of 'his being no sailor.'
//

What is that well known old sea-song?

I don't have Haswell's full text. These are the lyrics I have:

//
O poor old Reuben [Ruben?] Ranzo
   Ranzo Boys Ranzo
O poor old Reuben Ranzo
   Ranzo Boys Ranzo

[...]

I wish I was old 'Ranzo's' son.
“I'd build a ship of a thousand ton;

I'd give my sailors plenty of rum
Old 'Ranzo' was a good old man,

But now old 'Ranzo's' dead and gone,
And none can sing his funeral song.
//

Thus, it ends with a typical "Stormy" theme.

TUNE:
M/F S F M / R D M - /
/R R R - / M R - /
R/R M F MR / D l s - /
/D M S M / R D - (-)//

Subject: RE: Reuben Ranzo
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 29 Jan 23 - 07:20 AM

So, to follow up on the "wellknown [sic] old sea-song," there's this.

[no name] Man Overboard. London: F.V. White & Co., 1887.

This novel was published in or before May 1887. It's shipboard but not a working context. Indeed, the song is implied to be a "fore bitter" (something for entertainment) though our chanty chorus is there.

Pp 61-62
//
Then there was a long silence. No one seemed inclined to break the ice. At last the Captain called out to the First Officer.
“Come on, Mr Beattie; if nobody else will sing, you must, for the honour of the ship;” and Mr Beattie, a jovial, good-natured seaman, was dragged out to the piano by half-a-dozen willing hands.
“Give us a fore bitter!” cried O'Shea.
“Yes, a fore bitter, a fore bitter,” repeated a dozen voices.
“All right. What will you have ?” asked he good-humouredly. "'High randy dandy high-ho Chiliman,' or what? And who'll play my accompaniment?”
“Give us Orlanzo,' and Mr Oxenham will accompany you on the banjo. Never mind the piano: we're not educated enough for that,” said the impudent O'Shea; “but we'll give you a chorus, at any rate."
“All right,” said Beattie; “anything to oblige. Will you play, Mr Oxenham?”
“Oh, do,” said Grace Chippendale; "you play so beautifully, Mr Oxenham."
A remark which her mother unfortunately overheard, and thereupon looked poison at her.
“Here you are,” said a young passenger, who had run to Hugh's cabin and fetched the banjo. “You have no excuse now; and we must have your own song afterwards."
So, after Hugh had put the instrument in tune, he played a bar or two of the accompaniment, and then Beattie struck up in a manly bass the simple and affecting ditty: “Orlanzo was a Ploughboy," and every one in the cabin, with the exception of Mrs Chippendale and half-a-dozen others, perhaps, joined in the not too scientific chorus of "Orlanzo, boys, Orlanzo;” and the watch below, most of whom were on deck this hot night, could be heard echoing it in the distance.
This song brought down the house. The veil of stiffness, if not of propriety, which Mrs Chippendale had thrown over the performances of the evening, was torn completely aside, and it seemed as if the audience were now really going to enjoy themselves.
//

Subject: RE: Reuben Ranzo
From: Lighter
Date: 29 Jan 23 - 08:34 AM

Rutzebeck’s tune, like Haswell’s, is recognizably the “same.” I haven’t found my copy of Sampson’s “Seven Seas Shanty Book,” but I’m confident that it also is the “same.”

Here is Haswell’s full text - reprinted by Graham Seal from the “Paramatta Serio-Comic Sun” in “Ten Shanties Sung on the Austraian Run 1879” (1992).


                   RANZO

Oh! poor old Reuben Ranzo!
Ranzo, boys! Ranzo.        

He sold his plough and harrow….

Ranzo was no sailor….

He shipped on a Yankee whaler….

He could not do his duty….

He could not furl a “Royal.”…

The “Mate” he was a bad man….

The Captain was a good ‘un….

They took him to the gangway….

And gave him six and thirty….

He was taken in the cabin….

And there had wine and brandy….

And they taught him navy-gation….

Now, he’s skipper of a whaler….

I wish I was old “Ranzo’s” son….

I’d build a ship of a thousand ton….

I’d give my sailors plenty of rum….

Old “Ranzo” was a good old man….

But now old “Ranzo’s” dead and gone….

And none can sing his funeral song….

[Note:] Ranzo is suspiciously like a “crib” from a well-known old sea song concerning a certain “Lorenzo”, who also “was no sailor.” -Mus. Ed.


****
I too have looked in vain for that "old sea song" about "Lorenzo," allegedly known to Mark Twain or Bret Harte. (Maybe it was in the pre-Civil War song book where Whall saw “Shannadore.” Yeah, right.)

The anonymous author of "Man Overboard" may have had a muddled understanding of the difference between a "chantey" and a "fore bitter."

(Compare William Fender's chantey chorus recorded by Carpenter in the '20s:

"To me way, hey-ay-ay-ay, high low man!")

"Orlonzo" now lets us speculate that the real Ranzo was named Orlando Ranzo, which sounds more likely than Reuben Lorenzo. (Just messin' with your mind.)

Subject: RE: Reuben Ranzo
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 29 Jan 23 - 03:04 PM

To my mind the most useful and interesting point from the last 2 posts is the 'ploughboy' mention. White tells us R was a ploughboy and Haswell tells us he sold his plough and harrow. We have plenty of ploughboy turned sailor ballads but none that mention a Ranzo/Lorenzo that I know of.

Subject: RE: Reuben Ranzo
From: Lighter
Date: 14 Feb 23 - 12:54 PM

Here's another case of "Ranzo" being extended to show his benevolence, not his bastardy:

Hugh St. Leger, "Chanties," Black and White (July 2, 1892):

"...after a few more stanzas, we find him an excellent skipper.

    'Now Ranzo is our old man (Captain),
    Ranzo - boys - Ranzo.'

This lyric goes on to say that Ranzo was a captain who supplied his men with a generous amount of grog,...and the lines alluding to this trait are sung in a very pointed manner when the captain is near, on a ship where no grog or very little is allowed."

Subject: RE: RUEBEN RANZO
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Feb 23 - 09:24 PM

Re: RUEBEN RANZO

Subject: RE: Reuben Ranzo
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 21 Feb 23 - 07:57 AM

I used to introduce this as being about someone who got to the top through nepotism.

Subject: RE: Reuben Ranzo
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 03 Sep 23 - 05:22 AM

Some guesswork:

The article "On Shanties" in _Once A Week_ 1 August, 1968, mentions, in one breath,

"Land ho, boys, Land ho; Haul away, my Josey; and Boney was a Warrior".

I wonder is "land ho, boys, land ho" was the author's hearing of "ranzo, boys, ranzo."

This was the same author that heard "Oh Shanandore" as "Oceanida," so...

Subject: RE: Reuben Ranzo
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 03 Sep 23 - 01:51 PM

I like it!

Subject: RE: Reuben Ranzo
From: Lighter
Date: 30 Sep 23 - 08:59 AM

David W. Bone, "The Lookoutman" (1923), referring to ca1890:

"I should like to hear 'Reuben Ranzo' once again, before I forget it.
There are many verses, but only three remain with me.

      But Ranzo was no sai-i-lor,
          Ran-zo, boys, Ran-zo!
      No use aboard a whai-i-lor,
          Ran-zo, boy-es, Ran-zo!

[Similarly:]

      But th' Mate he wos a go-o-d'un...
      An' taught 'im, nav-i-gai-ishun...
   
      Now 'e's Captin of a Black-Ball li-i-ner...
      An' nothing could be fi-i-ner...

"We were rarely allowed to finish the last verse. and that was a pity, for in it lay the whole substance of the song. Certainly it was only a repetition, but we invested it with tremendous ironic emphasis to call forth an angry and stentorian 'Belay!' from the officer.

      But Ranzo was no sai-i-lor,
          Ran-zo, boys, Ran-zo!
      No use aboard a whai-i-lor,
          Ran-zo, boy-es, Ran-zo!"

Subject: RE: Reuben Ranzo
From: Lighter
Date: 30 Sep 23 - 08:59 AM

David W. Bone, "The Lookoutman" (1923), referring to ca1890:

"I should like to hear 'Reuben Ranzo' once again, before I forget it.
There are many verses, but only three remain with me.

      But Ranzo was no sai-i-lor,
          Ran-zo, boys, Ran-zo!
      No use aboard a whai-i-lor,
          Ran-zo, boy-es, Ran-zo!

[Similarly:]

      But th' Mate he wos a go-o-d'un...
      An' taught 'im, nav-i-gai-ishun...
   
      Now 'e's Captin of a Black-Ball li-i-ner...
      An' nothing could be fi-i-ner...

"We were rarely allowed to finish the last verse. and that was a pity, for in it lay the whole substance of the song. Certainly it was only a repetition, but we invested it with tremendous ironic emphasis to call forth an angry and stentorian 'Belay!' from the officer.

      But Ranzo was no sai-i-lor,
          Ran-zo, boys, Ran-zo!
      No use aboard a whai-i-lor,
          Ran-zo, boy-es, Ran-zo!"

Subject: RE: Reuben Ranzo
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 03 Sep 23 - 01:51 PM

I like it!

Subject: RE: Reuben Ranzo
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 03 Sep 23 - 05:22 AM

Some guesswork:

The article "On Shanties" in _Once A Week_ 1 August, 1968, mentions, in one breath,

"Land ho, boys, Land ho; Haul away, my Josey; and Boney was a Warrior".

I wonder is "land ho, boys, land ho" was the author's hearing of "ranzo, boys, ranzo."

This was the same author that heard "Oh Shanandore" as "Oceanida," so...

Subject: RE: Reuben Ranzo
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 31 Dec 23 - 04:53 AM

The following describes antebellum corn-shucking song. We see the pattern of complaining about the master (cf. Abrahams) and a "Johnny...Hilo" chorus in the first example. My curiosity here, though, is piqued by the "old Robin Ranger" in the second song. Old Reuben Ranzo?

“Maryland in the Olden Time.” Democratic Advocate [Maryland], 24 November, 1877: 1.

//
While they husked corn the negroes would sing, the whiskey bottle, or rum or apple jack circulating round and round among the huskers the while. The pile was divided by a rail or pole; captains were chosen and a match was made as to which party whould finish its end of the pile first. The victors would set their captain on their shoulders and march round the barn yard in triumph, singing as they went. Challenges often were exchanged beyween them, and the husking sometimes wound up in a free fight. But, if everything went harmoniously and pleasantly, the husking ended with a grand banquet of roast turkey, roast pig, pot-pie, ducks, chickens, ham, coffee, bread and butter, and, if convenient to the rivers, fish and oysters. While one table was feasting, those waiting their turnwould be beating juna and dancing on the potato-hole in the kitchen which was usually covered over with stout boards forming part of the floor. The banjo was a favorite instrument on such occasions, the dancers keeping time with their feet. The practical jest and the loud laugh filled up the time between the dances, and men and women vied with each other as to which should excel. The whites were frequently spectators, at a respectful distance, of their extravagant mirth and merrymaking.

I have said that the corn-songs very frequently contained taunting or bitter allusions to enemies or those whom the singers disliked. A specimen of this kind recurs to my memory. A farmer in the neighborhood had the reputation of being a hard task-master and cruel to his slaves. One of their songs lampooned him for it in this wise:

Harry Copper killed a nigger,
        Johnny boy, hellow!
Skinned him for his hide and taller,
        Johnny boy, hellow.
Oh! you Harry Copper!
        Johnny boy, hellow.
Oh! you Harry Copper!
        Johnny boy, hellow.

        In singing this song one person would sing the first line, and then all would join in the chorus of “Johnny boy, hellow.” Sometimes the “unlettered muse” would attempt something of a higher order of composition than the simplicity of the foregoing song. The following specimen was sung as a kind of recitative or chant, by one person, the company all joining in the refrain of “Oh ho-o-o-o-o” at the end:

Old Robin Ranger
Stole Loney’s horses
Carried ‘em down to the drawbridge
To get ‘em shod and plated
Going out to war, man!
        Oh ho-o-o-o-o!
Going out to war, man!
//

Subject: RE: Reuben Ranzo
From: Lighter
Date: 31 Dec 23 - 08:12 AM

Especially interesting in the light of Rutzebeck's "Robin Ransor," upthread.

My own guess, however, would be that "Reuben Ranzo" preceded both "Robin Ranger" and "Robin Ransor."

Consider that what's written as "Ranger" would, in nineteenth-century AAVE, most likely have been pronounced more like "ra(y)njah," i.e. non-rhotic, which brings it closer to "Ranzo."

For that matter, "Ransor" may have been non-rhotic too, making it almost identical to "Ranzo."

FWIW

Subject: RE: Reuben Ranzo
From: The Sandman
Date: 31 Dec 23 - 08:34 AM

Harry Copper killed a nigger,
       Johnny boy, hellow!
Skinned him for his hide and taller,
       Johnny boy, hellow.
Oh! you Harry Copper!
       Johnny boy, hellow.
Oh! you Harry Copper!
       Johnny boy, hellow.
If i was singning this i would alter NIGGER, in my opinion a much more important alteration, than singning reuben ranzo or robin ransor