Penguin: Rounding The Horn

Subject: Penguin: Rounding The Horn
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 02 Jul 00 - 02:28 AM

G'day,
From the Penguin Book Of English Folk Songs, Ed Pellow's rendition of the tune of Rounding The Horn can be found here.

ROUNDING THE HORN

The gallant frigate Amphitrite, she lay in Plymouth Sound,
Blue Peter at the fore-mast head, for she was outward bound.
We were waiting there for orders to send us far from home.
Our orders came for Rio, and thence around Cape Horn.

When we arrived at Rio, we prepared for heavy gales;
We set up all our rigging, boys, and bent on all new sails.
From ship to ship they cheered us as we did sail along,
And wished us pleasant weather in rounding of Cape Horn.

When beating off Magellan Straits it blew exceeding hard,
While shortening sail, two gallant tars fell from the tops'l yard.
By angry seas the ropes we threw from their poor hands was torn,
We were forced to leave them to the sharks that prowl around Cape Horn.

When we got round the Horn, my boys, we had some glorious days,
And very soon our killick dropped in Valparaiso Bay.
The pretty girls came down in flocks, I solemnly declare
They're far before the Plymouth girls with their long and curly hair.

They love a jolly sailor when he spends his money free;
They'll laugh and sing and merry, merry be, and have a jovial spree.
And when your money is all gone, they won't on you impose;
They are not like the Plymouth girls that'll pawn and sell your clothes.

Farewell to Valparaiso, and farewell for a while.
Likewise to all the Spanish girls along the coast of Chile.
And if ever I live to be paid off, I'll sit and sing this song.
'God bless those pretty Spanish girls we left around Cape Horn.'

Sung by W. Bolton, Southport, Lancs. (A.G.G. May 1907)

Click here for another version.

Previous song: Robin Hood And The Pedlar.
Next song: The Royal Oak.

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: RE: Penguin: Rounding The Horn
From: The Sandman
Date: 29 May 21 - 01:41 AM

This is the version i prefer , there is another version with two extra verses.
for me the point of the song is the difficulty of sailing round the horn, the two extra verses that appear in print from 1905 are in my opinion mediocre at best and confuse the message of the song

2. Next day we weighed our anchor, boys, and waved goodbye all round;
And some of us we knew would never more see Plymouth Sound;
But still our hearts were light and gay, and when all was taut and snug;
We foraged out the bumboat grog and each man filled his mug.

3. We drank success to Plymouth girls, to Kate and Poll and Sue;
And arguing o'er their various charms, struck up a fight or two;
Jim Crab he landed Bonny Nodge a clout that made him snort;
And to this day his nose has got a heavy list to port.

So earlier in the song we have a warning about Plymouth girls, then we later have the singer singing their praises all of which is a side show and a red herring compared to the powerful descriptions about beating off Magellan Straits, and the poetic description of the glorious days. The two extra verses look to me to be the work of some other author.

Subject: RE: Penguin: Rounding The Horn
From: Joe Offer
Date: 29 May 21 - 02:20 AM

The two verses from 1905 are a good find, Dick, but I agree with you that the song is better without them.

Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry for this song:

Rounding the Horn

DESCRIPTION: Sailor describes hard trip around Cape Horn (in the frigate "Amphitrite"), and the pleasures (mostly female) of shore-leave in Chile. The singer says that Spanish girls are superior to (English) women, who have no enthusiasm and steal your clothes
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1879 (Journal of the Andrew Hicks)
KEYWORDS: travel sea ship shore drink sailor whore clothes theft
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES (7 citations):
VaughanWilliams/Lloyd-PenguinBookOfEnglishFolkSongs, p. 90, "Rounding the Horn" (1 text, 1 tune)
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H539, pp. 97-98, "The Girls of Valparaiso" (1 text, 1 tune)
Huntington-TheGam-MoreSongsWhalemenSang, pp. 163-164, "The Chile Girls" (1 text, 1 tune)
Colcord-SongsOfAmericanSailormen, pp. 177-178, "The Girls Around Cape Horn" (1 text, 1 tune)
Palmer-OxfordBookOfSeaSongs 127, "Rounding the Horn" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kinsey-SongsOfTheSea, pp. 131-132, "The Gals Around Cape Horn" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, RNDHORN* RNDHORN2
Roud #4706
RECORDINGS:
Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, "Round Cape Horn" (on ENMacCollSeeger02)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Loss of the Amphitrite" [Laws K4] (subject)
cf "The Painful Plough" (tune)
cf. "Come All You Worthy Christian Men" (tune)
cf. "Van Dieman's Land (I)" [Laws L18] (tune)
NOTES [68 words]: The brig Amphitrite was built in 1820 and engaged in South American trade. A frigate of the same name was lost in 1833 while carrying female convicts to Australia (see "The Loss of the Amphitrite"). - PJS
Roud seems to occasionally file versions of this "The Loss of the Amphitrite" [Laws K4] and vice versa. They only common element I can see is the ship name. But this seems to be primarily Roud 4076. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.1
File: VWL090

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The Digital Tradition lyrics have the verses Sandman refers to.

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ROUNDING THE HORN (DT Lyrics)

The gallant frigate, Amphitrite, she lay in Plymouth Sound,
Blue Peter at the foremast head for she was outward bound;
We were waiting there for orders to send us far from home;
Our orders came for Rio, and thence around Cape Horn.

Next day, we weighed our anchor, boys, and waved goodbye all round,
And some of us we knew would never more see Plymouth Sound;
But still our hearts were light and gay, and when all was taut and snug
We foraged out the bumboat grog and each man filled his mug.

We drank success to Plymouth girls, to Kate and Poll and Sue,
And arguing o'er their various charms struck up a fight or two.
Jim Crab he landed Bonny Nodge (should be "Hodge") a clout that made him snort,
And to this day his nose has got a heavy list to port.

When we arrived at Rio we prepared for heavy gales;
We set up all our rigging, boys, and bent on all new sails.
From ship to ship they checred (cheered) us as we did sail along,
And wished us pleasant weather in rounding of Cape Horn.

While beating off Magellan Strait it blew exceeding hard;
Whilst shortening sail two gallant tars fell from the topsail yard.
By angry seas the ropes we threw fiom their poor hands were torn
And we were forced to leave them to the sharks that prowl around
Cape Horn.

When we got round the Horn, my boys, we had some glorious days
And very soon our killick dropped in Valparaiso Bay.
The pretty girls came down to us; I solemnly declare
They are far before the Plymouth girls with their long and curlyhair. (curly hair)

They love a jolly sailor when he spends his money free;
They'll laugh and sing and merry, merry be, and have a jovial spree.
And when our money is all gone they won't on you impose,
They are not like the Plymouth girls that'll pawn and sell yourclothes. (your clothes)

Farewell to Valparaiso, farewell for a while,
Likewise to aII the Spanish girls all on the coast of Chile;
And if ever l live to be paid off l'll sit and sing this song:
"God bless those pretty Spanish girls we left around Cape Horn."

From Oxford Book of Sea Songs, Palmer
Recorded by Killen, Lloyd
@sailor
filename[ RNDHORN
TUNE FILE: RNDHORN
CLICK TO PLAY
RG

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Except for the corrections shown in italics, the Digital Tradition lyrics are an accurate transcription of the song in The Oxford Book of Sea Songs, edited by Roy Palmer (Oxford University Press, 1986, song #127, pp 255-256). Here are Palmer's notes on the song:

One of the last royal naval squadrons of square-rigged ships was one operating in the Paci?c. According to Sam Noble, who joined the navy in 1875 at the age of sixteen, this song was ‘a pure navy ditty’. The version which he and his shipmates sang on HMS Swallow had a chorus tacked on from ‘Away Down Rio' and began:
‘Our ship had been inspected by the adm’ral all around,
While lyin' in Portsmouth Harbour, that large and beautiful town.
We were waitin' there for orders to sail away from home;
Our orders were for Rio, and then around Cape Horn’
The song spread, with other ports (Liverpool, Plymouth. Boston) being mentioned, and the names of various ships, RN and merchant, English and American, added (Garibaldi, Amphitrite, Conway, Hero, Caliornia). In addition,fresh material was included, such as the deaths of seamen off Cape Horn.
William Bolton (for whom, see 94), who sang this version to Anne Gilchrist in 1907, told her that he had made up the second and third verses himself.
Rio was pronounced "Rye-O," and Chile rhymed with "While."

A.L. Lloyd recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdMCw0_aJ9A

David Coffin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VJvnIyVRGM

Subject: RE: Penguin: Rounding The Horn
From: Gordon Jackson
Date: 29 May 21 - 06:53 AM

Let's not forget, it also has a cracking tune!

Actually, it reminds me of another but I can't put my finger on it.

Subject: RE: Penguin: Rounding The Horn
From: GUEST,Clive Pownceby
Date: 29 May 21 - 12:40 PM

Collected by Anne Gilchrist in my hometown of Southport. Mr Bolton was quite a larger-than-life character and his story was the subject of a piece in English Dance And Song in the '80s. A friend tracked down his son Reg who came along to my local Folk Club the Bothy in the '70s and sang a couple of songs. He had no idea his father was so famous in 'our' circles!

Subject: RE: Penguin: Rounding The Horn
From: The Sandman
Date: 29 May 21 - 03:39 PM

Subject: RE: Penguin: Rounding The Horn
From: GUEST,Clive Pownceby - PM
Date: 29 May 21 - 12:40 PM
What a charming story

Subject: RE: Penguin: Rounding The Horn
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 30 May 21 - 06:19 AM

Sorry to be frivolous, but I love the thread title! What sort of penguin was it?

Subject: RE: Penguin: Rounding The Horn
From: GUEST,#
Date: 30 May 21 - 12:37 PM

A horny one.

Subject: RE: Penguin: Rounding The Horn
From: Lighter
Date: 30 May 21 - 01:48 PM

"Spancil Hill"?

"The Boston Burglar" (modal tune)?

Subject: RE: Penguin: Rounding The Horn
From: r.padgett
Date: 30 May 21 - 02:11 PM

Good that the lyrics are here Singing Penguin has been "updated" and superseded by New Penguin Book of English Folk songs, the songs within the new book are a totally different set of songs

So look out for second hand maybe

Ray

lovely you tube singing by Bert Lloyd, Roy Harris also recorded this btw

Subject: RE: Penguin: Rounding The Horn
From: The Sandman
Date: 30 May 21 - 03:10 PM

I have also recorded it