Stan Hugill Unexpurgated Songs Published

Subject: Stan Hugill Unexpurgated Songs Published
From: and e
Date: 18 Jan 25 - 07:10 AM

Stan Hugill's unexpurgated song texts have been published as
Cabin Boys, Milkmaids, and Rough Seas: Identity in the
Unexpurgated Repertoire of Stan Hugill by Jessica M Floyd.
August 30, 2024.

During his correspondence with erotic folklore collector
Gershon Legman, famed chantey singer and collector Stan Hugill
(1906–1992) shared unexpurgated versions of the songs in his
repertoire. These bawdy songs were meant to be a part of Legman’s
larger project concerning erotic folksong. Upon Legman’s death in
1999, the unfinished and unpublished manuscript sank into obscurity
and was believed by many to be permanently lost. Thankfully this
“holy grail” of chantey texts had been safe in the private collection
of Legman’s widow, Judith Legman, all along. Cabin Boys, Milkmaids,
and Rough Seas: Identity in the Unexpurgated Repertoire of Stan
Hugill is the first critical investigation of this repository,
reproduced here for the first time....twenty-four unexpurgated texts...

On Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Cabin-Boys-Milkmaids-Rough-Seas/dp/1496853121

.

Subject: RE: Stan Hugill Unexpurgated Songs Published
From: sciencegeek
Date: 18 Jan 25 - 09:33 AM

Busy gal... here is an academic piece she authored:

https://www.academia.edu/35684418/Chanteys_are_Not_Pirate_Drinking_Songs?email_work_card=view-paper

Subject: RE: Stan Hugill Unexpurgated Songs Published
From: and e
Date: 18 Jan 25 - 09:46 AM

Jessica Floyd has four or five papers that are relevant to sea shanties.


See here: https://umbc.academia.edu/JessicaFloyd

Subject: RE: Stan Hugill Unexpurgated Songs Published
From: meself
Date: 18 Jan 25 - 02:57 PM

"Erotic"? Well ... whatever turns you on, I guess .......

Subject: RE: Stan Hugill Unexpurgated Songs Published
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 18 Jan 25 - 05:07 PM

Last I heard from the author was re: the Global Maritime History digital Conference for Maritime Toxic Masculinity. Where 'Maritime' = Anglo pop entertainment. Non-fiction maritime history was not on offer at that time.

IIRC the subject chanty was Blow the Man Down or somesuch.

Tropes, tropes everywhere/nor any thought to think.

Subject: RE: Stan Hugill Unexpurgated Songs Published
From: sciencegeek
Date: 18 Jan 25 - 11:08 PM

Hugill's workshop on the subject at the Mystic Seaport Sea Music festival was filled to the brim and he was always besieged with requests that he handled quite adroitly.

Mariners practiced self censorship ashore, most commonly at home to avoid getting their ears boxed by the ladies of the house. LOL Only socially acceptable language allowed, thank you very much.

It was when book and magazine publishing enterprises got involved that lyrics were cleaned up aka censored to avoid negative attention.

Subject: RE: Stan Hugill Unexpurgated Songs Published
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 20 Jan 25 - 03:03 PM

Diversity happens.

Sex sells. Presenting the global maritime as universally profane/toxic is one of the oldest pop tropes in the book. Older than books even. It was W.B. Whall's central marketing theme... the 'spicy' ones they never told you about &c &c.

fwiw: If one does the hard maths on anchor cable fathoms/chorus... methinks somewhere along about verse eleventy-seventeen Shenandoah and Spanish Ladies and all the rest reverted to fiddle-dee-eye-dee-dum-dee-OH! until the chantyman could think up something better. It'll do for work song.

Pop chanties need to keep it somewhere around 2-3 minutes or risk losing audience.

Subject: RE: Stan Hugill Unexpurgated Songs Published
From: Lighter
Date: 20 Jan 25 - 03:41 PM

The following texts from the manuscript have not yet been printed:

The Little Ball of Yarn

The "Inches" Song

Home, Boys, Home

Columbo

The Woodpecker Song

Blow the Man Down II (“The cunt hung up to dry”)

Rio Grande (a “milkmaid” version)

The Hogeye Man (version 2)

Portland Street

Whisky, Johnny (lobster version)

Oh, Aye, Rio (“Snapoo” version)

Blow Ye Winds

Paddy Lay Back (a few lines)

Paddy Doyle (one verse)

Haul Away Joe (one verse)

Yaw Yaw Yaw (some stanzas)

Fire Down Below (two verses)

The Bosun’s Wife

Slack Away Your Reefy Tackle

Do Me Johnny Bowker (one verse)

Derby Ram

Ballocky Randy Dandy O

Abel Brown the Sailor

A-Roving

Subject: RE: Stan Hugill Unexpurgated Songs Published
From: happyman379
Date: 21 Jan 25 - 01:12 AM

I've been thinking about writing about Hugill's choices in censorship, so this is a really cool book. Thank you!

Subject: RE: Stan Hugill Unexpurgated Songs Published
From: GUEST,Shanty
Date: 21 Jan 25 - 10:35 AM

Hi
We have the texts which it was always known were in the Kinsey it was the English Girl who had them indexed there are 150 pages to be asked for. Best ask Kinsey for them. They were never truly lost Stan always said he had sent the words of 33 of his worst to Gershon, I have had parts of that correspondence for quite some years now. Yes it is coarse as might be expected in an isolated community of men only. We sang worse when on night hikes in the scouts then also an all male preserve.

Subject: RE: Stan Hugill Unexpurgated Songs Published
From: Charley Noble
Date: 21 Jan 25 - 08:30 PM

Nice to know. Thanks for the update.

Subject: RE: Stan Hugill Unexpurgated Songs Published
From: and e
Date: 23 Jan 25 - 11:50 AM

I have spoken with Dr. Jessica Floyd. Apparently we had corresponded
ten or so years ago when she was starting on her research. She says
that all texts that she received from Judith Legman have been published
there are no texts unpublished from what she received. Her understanding
is that -- if there are other texts sent to Legman by Hugill -- they are in the bulk
of the Legman collection at the Kinsey Institute.

Subject: RE: Stan Hugill Unexpurgated Songs Published
From: Lighter
Date: 31 Jan 25 - 03:04 PM

There's an informative 1982 interview with Stan Hugill in The Spectator here:


https://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/20th-november-1982/16/stan-hugill-shantyman