Lyr Req: Ranzo You'll Rue the Day

Subject: ranzo you'll rue the day
From: GUEST,aphasia knuckle
Date: 12 Mar 02 - 12:09 PM

i'm in search of a particular song about reuben ranzo, NOT the one about his being a new york tailor! i can't make out any verses but the chorus is oh ranzo you'll rue the day when the wild goose sails away

the refrain is: ranzo me boys oh ranzo ray can anyone help me?

Subject: Lyr Add: WILD GOOSE (Ranzo you'll rue the day)
From: Sorcha
Date: 12 Mar 02 - 12:27 PM

I think it is in the forum, but not many verses, so here, from a cut and paste:

WILD GOOSE

Did you ever see the wild goose sailing on the ocean
Ranzo my boys oh Ranzo Ray
They're just like them pretty girls when they get the notion
Ranzo my boys oh Ranzo Ray

Chorus
Ranzo you'll rue the day
As the wild goose sails away

As I was walking one evening by the river
Ranzo my boys oh Ranzo Ray
I met with a pretty girl my heart it was a quiver
Ranzo my boys oh Ranzo Ray

(Chorus x 2)

I said how are you doing this morning
Ranzo my boys oh Ranzo Ray
She said none the better for the seeing of you
Ranzo my boys oh Ranzo Ray

(Chorus x 2)

You broke my heart oh you broke it full sore o'
Ranzo my boys oh Ranzo Ray
If I sail like the wild goose
you'll break it no more o'
Ranzo my boys oh Ranzo Ray

Subject: RE: ranzo you'll rue the day
From: KingBrilliant
Date: 12 Mar 02 - 12:40 PM

I've heard that on a Kate Rusby CD. Is it a trad, or is it a Kate R variant, or other?

kris

Subject: RE: ranzo you'll rue the day
From: Sorcha
Date: 12 Mar 02 - 12:49 PM

This is from the Rusby album Sleepless. URL is<
http://spathos.www7.50megs.com/Sleepless.html
or Click here. I don't know--suspect it is Trad.

Subject: RE: ranzo you'll rue the day
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 12 Mar 02 - 01:18 PM

Yes, it's traditional, at least originally.  I think that Kate learned it from her father Steve, who also sings, and they may have altered it a bit between them; certainly the very slow arrangement is a new thing, though rather effective.

Subject: RE: ranzo you'll rue the day
From: Les from Hull
Date: 12 Mar 02 - 02:38 PM

I think that there's enough Kate in this song to make it a Kate Rusby song, rather than 'trad arr Rusby'. If my copy of Kate's excellent CD wasn't out on loan, I'd know for sure!

Subject: RE: ranzo you'll rue the day
From: Dead Horse
Date: 12 Mar 02 - 03:09 PM

Fairly sure it is NOT trad. Coope, Boyes & Simpson(?spelling?) do it,with a slightly different chorus, but it aint in Hugill. The shanty version of The Wild Goose( also known as *Hilo, me Ranzo Rae*, is completely different.

Subject: RE: ranzo you'll rue the day
From: Jon Bartlett
Date: 13 Mar 02 - 05:19 AM

Surely, "Ranzo me ranzo ray" is the "Bound for Yokahama with a load of grand piannas" shanty. The Wild Goose shanty is in its verses pretty much this one, structured thusly:

Did you ever see a wild goose sailing over the ocean?/RANZO, RANZO, WAY, HEY/They're just like them young girls when they get the notion/RANZO, RANZO, WAY. HEY.

The other morning as I was walking by the river?RRWH/I spied a pretty fair maid, her tops'ls all a-quiver/RRWH.

etc.

Subject: RE: ranzo you'll rue the day
From: GUEST,shonagh
Date: 13 Mar 02 - 05:48 AM

thats so weird! i was just away to post a message asking if anyone knew the background to the wild goose! all i know is that kate rusby sings it. its a great song, im trying to find out some more about it but if anyone has an ideas or information, id be very glad of it! Cheers fowlk Shonagh

Subject: RE: ranzo you'll rue the day
From: Watson
Date: 13 Mar 02 - 05:52 AM

Kate Rusby's story (that she repeats every night - just ask John McCusker) is that when she was even smaller than she is now, she was left in a shanty session at a festival, where she picked up a particularly robust version of Ranzo.
She sang it in the car on the way home and being a good father, Steve gave her a version more appropriate to her tender years.
From that the version she performs now evolved.
...and I've always believed it to be traditional, but perhaps it isn't any more.

Subject: RE: ranzo you'll rue the day
From: GUEST,Rosebrook
Date: 13 Mar 02 - 08:58 AM

On Kate's CD Sleepless she notes the songs as being trad. It's my favorite track on the CD. While we're on the subject, what does the word "Ranzo" mean? ~Rose

Subject: LYR ADD: Reuben Ranzo
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 13 Mar 02 - 11:46 AM

"Ranzo", at least in one chanty, is the name of a first mate, Reuben Ranzo. It goes like this:

Reuben Ranzo

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

Oh, Ranzo was no sailor
Ranzo, etc. So he shipped aboard a whaler *
Ranzo, me boys etc.

Oh, Ranzo was no beauty
And he couldn't do his duty

Because he was so dirty
They give him five and thirty **

Now the skipper's daughter Suzie
..(something something)..
(undertook to nurse him)

Well, she give him wine and water
And a bit more than she ought-ter

Well, he got his first mate's papers
..(something something)..

Now he's known wherever them whalefish blow
As the hardest bastard on the go!

DRO

* (There was a general idea that whalermen were not really sailors but landsmen who were out to make a buck, and didn't know what they were doing.)
** (Lashes)

Maybe somebody can fill in the two lines I disremember.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: Reuben Ranzo missing line
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 13 Mar 02 - 11:53 AM

Now I think of one of the missing lines. The second one I forgot above goes:

Well, he got his first mate's papers
Become a terror to the whalers

Who knows, maybe I'll think of the other one.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: 2nd missing line Reuben Ranzo
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 13 Mar 02 - 04:30 PM

Here I am again!

The verse with the remaining missing line is:

The skipper's daughter Suzie
She begged her dad for mercy

And my parenthetical comment about her nursing him should be deleted.

My apologies for dragging this out so.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: ranzo you'll rue the day
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 13 Mar 02 - 04:34 PM

And yet MORE apologies! It's in the DT, in a fuller version. I should have checked first. Mea culpa, mea culpa! I happen to prefer a few details of the version I quoted, but it's not enough to justify itself as another version in the DT.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: ranzo you'll rue the day
From: Dorrie
Date: 13 Mar 02 - 04:47 PM

i dont know what ranzo means but when i first heard wild goose as a shanty i was about six and at cleethorpes folk festival. And i asked my dad what rue meant and still to this day i laugh and replace the word regret with it heehee

d xx

Subject: RE: ranzo you'll rue the day
From: Dead Horse
Date: 13 Mar 02 - 05:31 PM

Hugill gives Ranzo as a possible corruption of a Portugese name Orenso, as many whalers had Portugese crewmen. Also possibly a jewish name in Ruben Ranzo
THE WILD GOOSE SHANTY

Oh, I'm shanty man to the working party
Timme way, timme hay, timme hee - ho - hay
So sing lads, pull lads, strong and hearty
And sing, Hilo, me Ranzo Ray

Oh, the prettiest gal of that Wild Goose nation
Timme way, timme hay, timme hee - ho - hay
Is my gal Sally on the old plantation
And sing, Hilo, me Ranzo Ray

Oh, the boys and the gals went a huckleberry huntin'
The gals began to cry, and the boys they doused their buntin'

Then a little gal run off, and I went runnin' arter
The little gal fell down and I saw her little garter

Says I, Ill be your beau if you'll have me for your feller
But the little gal said, "No 'cos me sweetheart's Jackie Miller"

But I took her on my knee and I kissed her right and proper
She kissed me back again and I didn't try to stop her

And then I put me arm all around her tight and waspy waist
Says she "Young man you're showing much too great a haste"

I put me hand all on her juicy thigh
Says she "Young man you're altogether much too high"

And why did I no further go boys?
'Cos her leg it was made out of wood, you know boys

Oh, I'm shanty man of the Wild Goose nation
Timme way, timme hay, timme hee - ho - hay
Got a gal that I left on the old plantation
And sing, Hilo, me Ranzo Ray

Ruben Ranzo
Well it's poor old Reuben Ranzo. Ranzo, boys, ranzo

Yes it's poor old Reuben Ranzo. Ranzo me boys, Ranzo

Ranzo was no sailor. He was a New York tailor

He was a New York tailor. Shanghai'd aboard a whaler
Ranzo was no beauty. He could not do his duty'
He done his hair with oil. But he could not furl a Royal They put him holystonin'. And cared not for his groanin'

He washed once in a fortnight. He said it was his birthright

The captain ordered thirty. Because he was so dirty

The captains daughter, Lucy. She loudly begged for mercy

They gave him lashes twenty. That's twenty more than plenty

She took him to her cabin. And tried to ease his moanin'

Ranzo nearly fainted. When his back with oil was painted

She gave him wine and whisky. Which made him feel damn frisky

She gave him rum and water. And a bit more than she oughter

She gave him education. And taught him navigation

She made him the best sailor. On board that Yankee whaler

He married the captain's daughter. And still sails on salt water

But now he is the skipper. Of a smart New Bedford clipper

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

Ranzo me boys, Ranzo.
Definately NOT pc The references to *dirty* & *tailor* was "proof" of his jewish ancestry.

Subject: RE: ranzo you'll rue the day
From: Dead Horse
Date: 13 Mar 02 - 05:37 PM

The question remains: Did Ranzo get to be captain because he was now educated, or because he married into the family?
Not what you know, more Who you know!!!

Subject: RE: ranzo you'll rue the day
From: Barry Finn
Date: 16 Mar 02 - 01:10 AM

Hugill does have a collection of Ranzo's. He offers 4 theories of Ranzo's origin (as does alot of others). In his Shanties from the 7 Seas he has 2 versions,1 of these also in his Songs of the Sea. 3 "Ranzo Ray's", 1 "We'll Ranzo Ranzo Ray", also called "Huckleberry Hunting" or "Wild Goose Shanty"-not the version that starts off 'Did you ever see a Wild Goose sailing or'e the ocean'pp.175-182. Doerflinger pp.23-25 gives 2 (one sings of him as the Captain of the Morgan, a whaler), he has it sung at the t'gallant halyards. Colcord has Huckleberry Hunting & RR both sung at the halyards pp.23. Whall has 1 very close to Hugill & Colcord, saying it was sung late 1870's pp. 63. Shay has it as a long haul (as does Adam's) shanty pp. 50. Adams has him in his Onboard the Rocket(1879) pp.313. The Ranzo's have also been collected by Sharp, Terry, Bullen & Bone leading me to believe that they're all from the sailor's/whaler's tradition. Barry

Subject: RE: ranzo you'll rue the day
From: GUEST,The Wild Goose is a ship?
Date: 26 Jul 15 - 11:16 AM

http://www.hellfireguild.com/wiki/Ranzo_Ray

Subject: RE: ranzo you'll rue the day
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Jul 15 - 02:09 PM

The "Wild Goose" verses with "quiver," etc., seem to have been invented by A. L. Lloyd. (Hugill doesn't have them, and the chantey generally was not very common.)

As I recall, Lloyd's choruses were "Ranzo, ranzo, way way!" The song appeared on the album "Blow, Boys, Blow."

The Rusby version looks like it merely adapts and extends Lloyd's material.

Subject: RE: ranzo you'll rue the day
From: EBarnacle
Date: 26 Jul 15 - 07:11 PM

As nearly as Mark Lovewell and I were able to figure out, Ranzo is probably a familiar contraction of Lorenzo.

Considering the prevalence of Wild Goose in songs and chanteys, it is likely to have originated during the antebellum Civil Period, meaning a runaway.

Subject: RE: ranzo you'll rue the day
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 26 Jul 15 - 08:25 PM

Another resurrected thread! But it does remind me of a certain happening at Stonehaven Folk Festival some years ago: Stonehaven being on the sea coast about 15 mies S of Aberdeen, and the pub in which the song was being sung being right by the harbour. So yer man is giving us a lovely gentle rendition of this song, when he's suddenly cut short by one of the locals.
"Ye dinnae sing it like THAT, laddie - it's a SEA SHANTY!" - to which laddie replies:
"I learned it off a Kate Rusby CD"........

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ranzo You'll Rue the Day
From: Lighter
Date: 31 May 20 - 09:17 AM

All recorded versions are fairly similar, suggesting that this balladlike chantey was pretty well standardized from the beginning.

J. A. Barry, “Deep Sea Chanties,” Evening News (Sydney) (Dec. 19, 1903), p. 4:

“…No article on deep sea chanties would be complete without some reference to the wonderful story of Reuben Ranzo— a favorite even at the present day, when ship songs are out of fashion and obsolete, and one to which an odd 'four-poster' will still be found hoisting her upper-topsail yards. There are at least a score of versions. Probably, the best of them runs as follows:—

Solo— Hurrah for Reuben Ranzo,
Chorus— Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!
Solo — Oh, Ranzo was no sailor.

"Omitting the chorus, which is always the same, the story proceeds: —

Ranzo was no sailor.
Ranzo was a tailor.

Ranzo joined the Beauty,
And did not know bis duty.

His skipper was a dandy.
And was too fond of brandy.

He called Ranzo a lubber.
And made him eat whale blubber.

They set him holy-stoning
And cared not for bis groaning.

They gave him lashes twenty,
Nineteen more than plenty.

Reuben Ranzo fainted.
His back with oil they painted.

They gave him cake and whisky,
Which made him rather frisky.

They made him the best sailor.
Sailing on that whaler.

They put him navigating,
And gave him extra rating.

Ranzo is now a skipper
Of a China clipper.

Ranzo was once a tailor.
Now he is a sailor."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ranzo You'll Rue the Day
From: Lighter
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 10:35 AM

Fred R. Bechdolt, “Sailors’ Chantys,” San Francisco Sunday Call (June 4, 1911) , Magazine section, p. 5:

“Lively there, lively,” yells the mate, and then hands out a string of impersonal profanity. The sailormen grab hold and settle down. The chanty-man pipes up:

        W-a-a-a-y down in Anjou county!

The bronzed faces tighten along the line, the big chests expand, and then at the end, altogether:

        Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!

…And right heartily the whole crew gives a mighty pull on the halyards together. Far overhead the yard mounts upward answering the tug. They pause, gasping; and the chanty-man sings slowly,

        There lived one Reuben Ranzo.

And then again comes the chorus,

        Ranzo, boys, Ranzo.

Up comes the yard another peg, and so it rises, through the adventures of the Portuguese lad, Lorenzo by his full name, who shipped on a whaler from New Bedford, and for his awkwardness got triced up to the grating and flogged until the captain had taken pity on Reuben and Reuben has learned navigation to become a skipper himself.”