Lyr Req: Running down to Cuba

Subject: Running down to Cuba
From: CET
Date: 06 Oct 01 - 05:31 PM

I would like to get some lyrics for a sea shanty called Running Down to Cuba. It's in the DigiTrad, but only a few verses. I think there are more.

Thanks

Edmund

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Running down to Cuba
From: Jeri
Date: 06 Oct 01 - 05:51 PM

This is how it looks in the DT. I find the "(I've got a gal about nine feet tall etc. etc._)" at the end a bit weird. (2nd line would be "sleeps in the kitchen with her feet in the hall.")

I know a few other verses (I think), but I don't know the whole song.

Runnin' down to Cuba with a load of sugar
Make her go, you lime juice squeezers

I got a gal, and her name is Jane
I can't tell you where she gives me a pain

Can't find it in Hugill. Maybe someone's got the whole shanty?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Running down to Cuba
From: Jeri
Date: 06 Oct 01 - 05:57 PM

By the way, CET - welcome home, Happy Thanksgiving, and I'm sorry for misspelling your initials on the Portsmouth Fest thread.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Running down to Cuba
From: Crane Driver
Date: 06 Oct 01 - 10:44 PM

There are no "right" words for a shanty. It's a work song, and the shantyman had to make it last as long as the job lasted. So he'd sing anything to keep it going. That's why the same verses crop up in shanty after shanty. Any version in print is just one way one particular shantyman sang it once. He may never have sang the same set of verses again. So sing the verses you like, make the song as long as you like. That's the true traditional way of doing it.

If anyone doesn't believe me, read Stan Hugill's introduction to "Shanties from the Seven Seas"

Haul away!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Running down to Cuba
From: Dead Horse
Date: 07 Oct 01 - 06:16 AM

Heartily agree with "Crane Driver", but will of course add that there are wrong ways to sing a shanty, and that IMHO most are sung too fast. You try haulin' on a rope or runnin' a capstan round to the speed what some folks sing at !!! Running Down to Cuba is in Hugill, but my copy is out on loan, so I am without his printed version. Sing any damn thing you like, son. But sing it loud.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Running down to Cuba
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 07 Oct 01 - 06:20 AM

CET, send Barry Finn a PM- he sang a lot more verses of this song at an informal sing at the Portsmouth Fest!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Running down to Cuba
From: CET
Date: 07 Oct 01 - 07:20 AM

Thanks all.

I am aware that there is no right way to sing a shanty. I was simply looking for other verses. Maybe I will make up some of my own.

Edmund

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Running down to Cuba
From: Charley Noble
Date: 07 Oct 01 - 09:35 AM

CET -

What you're asking for makes a lot of sense to me. Before I lead a shanty for the first time I try to collect what verses I can, puzzling out which ones are traditional and which ones more contemporary, and then arranging them in what order makes the most sense to me, and maybe making minor word changes or adding "fill-in" verses. The shakedown process usually takes a couple of months before the song feels right. Barry does a fine job with his rendition of "Running Down to Cuba."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Running down to Cuba
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 07 Oct 01 - 04:51 PM

CET, you may also have heard Bruce MacIntyre sing it at The Press Room session or during the festival.

Bat Goddess

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Running down to Cuba
From: Barry Finn
Date: 07 Oct 01 - 06:37 PM

That was Bruce doing this, Barry does sing a few shanties but he didn't know that this was one of them, wish it was. Barry