Lyr Req: Illy Ally-O - East Indiaman (Tom Lewis)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Illy Ally-0
From: Sorcha
Date: 27 Nov 01 - 03:01 PM

Note to Joe--I was hardly awake yet, and planned to come back and copy them when I could trust my html.........thanks for doing it for me.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Illy Ally-0
From: Mrrzy
Date: 27 Nov 01 - 01:59 PM

The Clancy Bros and Tommy Makem do the Big Ship Sailing on the IllyAllyO on their Carnegie Hall concert, where they do the children's medley that also has Ahem, Ahem, Me mother has gone to church, She told me not to play with you because you're in the dirt, And tisn't because you're dirty, and tisn't because you're clean, It's because you have the whooping cough and eat margarine!

Subject: ADD: The East Indiaman (Tom Lewis)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Nov 01 - 01:54 PM

Hi - I guess I goofed on that one. If we don't have the lyrics, and they're at all related to folk music, please post them when you find them (hint to Sorcha).
Now, I wonder if we can find the traditional version of this song. I guess we could ask Tom Lewis. -Joe Offer-

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THE EAST INDIAMAN
Words and Music: Tom Lewis
(Recorded by Tom Lewis on Mixed Cargo.)

Many's the time I've sung this song when the wind's been blowing half-a-gale,
Hoisting up a yard or shaking out a reef or hauling on the sheets of a sail,
I've shipped on board of a man-of-war, in the Merchant Service too,
I've fought for m' King and m' country while I've sailed on the ocean blue.

Illy, ally, illy, ally, oh - cheerily, boys, cheerily,
Bend your backs and give a pull, cheerily I say (I say!),
With a long pull and a strong pull we'll haul away together, boys,
Belay every inch of that, belay, boys, belay.

On a bright May day we sailed away on a big East India ship,
Though it's many, many years ago, m' boys, I'll not forget that trip,
We said "goodbye" to Portsmouth quay, to Susan, Kate and Jane,
And we hadn't been a'sailing but an hour or more when we joined in the old refrain:

Now I'm back from the sea again, gonna' put down m' roots on the shore,
Have a bit of a spell with m' long-haired gel, she's the one I do adore,
But there's no doubt, should a war break-out, and seamen be required again,
I'll join with m' crew, m' duty for to do and we'll join in the old refrain.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Illy Ally-0
From: GUEST,chanteyranger
Date: 27 Nov 01 - 12:30 PM

Right, Noreen. Sorcha tagged it. Thanks, though, for the links, Joe and Mudlark.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Illy Ally-0
From: GUEST,Noreen hard at work
Date: 27 Nov 01 - 06:33 AM

Joe, the one you have linked to is the big ship sails on the alley-alley-o which is a different song entirely, and a childrens' playground rhyme.

Chanteyranger wanted the one found by Sorcha, The East Indiaman which was written by Tom Lewis, presumably taking the related words from the older rhyme, as Jude says.

Noreen

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Illy Ally-0
From: JudeL
Date: 27 Nov 01 - 04:17 AM

I think Tom Lewis must have based it on a much earlier childrens rhyme, as I remember singing and (for want of a better word) dancing this in the playground of my infant school along with other skipping and clapping songs such as oranges & lemons, the farmer wants a wife, ring-a-ring-a-rosies and long legged sailor.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Illy Ally-0
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Nov 01 - 04:15 AM

With SuperSearch down, it was a bear to find it, but this thread (click) has several versions and is well worth a look.
-Joe Offer.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Illy Ally-0
From: Mudlark
Date: 27 Nov 01 - 03:53 AM

Hmmmm...not the song I was thinking of at all. I first heard the one I know in the movie Taste of Honey with Rita Tushingham....very simple:

Oh, the big ship sailin' on the illy ally o, the illy-ally o, the illy-ally o. OH...the big ship sailin' on the illy-ally o, Heigh ho, the illy ally o. 2nd verse: Oh the big ship sailing, rocking on the sea,etc. 3rd verse: Oh the big ship sailing back again, etc.

What is this illy-ally-o? What's UP with that????

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Illy Ally-0
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 27 Nov 01 - 03:51 AM

Thanks, Sorcha! I've got to learn this one for the kids sea music program me, Melani and BillR do at Hyde St. Pier. The song's a riot.

-chanteyranger

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Illy Ally-0
From: Sorcha
Date: 26 Nov 01 - 11:38 PM

The East Indiaman

Subject: Kids sea song heard at Cook week
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 26 Nov 01 - 11:33 PM

I'm not sure of the title of this song. This might be in the DT. It's a childrens sea song that I saw Keith Kendrick and Paul Sirman perform together during the Captain Cook Festival. The first lines of the chorus go: "Illy ally, illy ally-0. Cheerily boys, cheerily...." The song involves alot of miming. Thanks in advance for any help.

-chanteyranger

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