Lyr Req: Wreck of the Anna Maria (Ryan's Fancy)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wreck of the Anna Maria (Ryan's Fancy)
From: meself
Date: 29 Apr 12 - 12:02 PM

Thanks for the info., Fergus - and thanks for the fine recording!

I'm not sure all of the above lyrics are correct. I used to sing this song years - decades - ago; I believe I sang the lyrics as I heard them on the record ....

"I turn up my coat and feel cold with the thought" - doesn't make sense to me; however, I can't recall what I sang.

"Sailors and deck hands are climbing" - I had them "colliding", but this must be right.

"We grab the land scratched with our fingers" - again, doesn't make sense; I sang "We grapple and scrape with our fingers"

"With the wind and the seas not abating" - I wonder if this is right; it's a little weak; don't recall what I sang here.

"And we swim ... " = "AS we swim ... "?

Maybe Fergus can straighten us out - if he remembers himself!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wreck of the Anna Maria (Ryan's Fancy)
From: GUEST,Fergus O'Byrne
Date: 29 Apr 12 - 10:55 AM

I just came across this thread. The song was recorded by us but written by a Memorial University science professor, Laurie Thompson, who is also a musician.

I'm not sure if the song is about a particular wreck or a composite of many wrecks that happened off the Newfoundland coast when the French, Spanish and Portuguese boats were all frequent visitors to the Banks and the coast of Newfoundland.

Fergus
www.ryansfancy.com

Subject: Lyr Add: THE WRECK OF THE ANNA MARIA
From: GUEST,Colin Roul
Date: 08 Oct 02 - 05:07 PM

Yes, the bloody song is called "THE WRECK OF THE ANNA MARIA" I have the LP and listen to it all the time. It goes like this:

Forty long days in an old sailing ship,
How my eyes long to rest on the shore!
I'll be glad to see land and to touch the fair hand
Of the maiden I left there before.

From the African sea we come loaded
With coconut, spices, and coal,
An' perfume, gold, and silk dresses
For our womenfolk's eyes to behold.

Now the wind and the seas are arising
And the sails feel the birth of a storm.
I turn up my coat and feel cold with the thought
That soon I'll be home in the warm.

There's trouble there up in the rigging,
And the decks are awash with the sea.
Sailors and deck hands are climbing
As the sails try to wrench (?) themselves free.

We grab the land scratched with our fingers
As the rigging scraped hard in the gale.
With the wind and the seas not abating,
Our efforts seem destined to fail.

The lifeboats are falling about us
And we swim for our lives in the swell.
Would we get home to our loved ones again?
No one really could tell.

A light in the distance before us
Spurs us on like a welcoming hand,
And we row hard with joy in our voices,
Rowing close to the safety of land.

Our ship was the brave Anne Maria.
She was found on the rocks broke in two.
The cargo was lost with the captain
And the boatswain and mate of the crew.

[Repeat first verse]

I'm not sure who wrote it but the next time I see Dermot or Fergus I'll ask them.
Sorry if I made any mistakes on the spelling there Jimmy!

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 11-Oct-02.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wreck Of The Anna Maria
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 10 May 02 - 06:23 PM

Well, Clinton, it looks like you were right: the web site says that they did record a song titled "The Wreck of the Anna Maria" on " A Portrait of Ryan's Fancy: Dark Island" in 1971. I was hoping that would mean I can stop checking alternate spellings ("Annamaria," "Anne Maria," "Anna Marie," etc.).

But then, I did notice on the web site, the spellings " Newfounland," "combositions," "breif," and " unfortunatley." It doesn't exactly instill confidence.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wreck Of The Anna Maria
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 10 May 02 - 05:51 PM

Ta yerself!

Rick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wreck Of The Anna Maria
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 10 May 02 - 03:04 PM

Fergus himself emailed me just now with a good site, chock full of Ryans Fancy information...

http://www.geocities.com/ryansfancy/

Ta to Rick for putting me on the right track!

;-)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wreck Of The Anna Maria
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 10 May 02 - 01:55 PM

Lemme reiterate...

"Forty long days in an old sailing ship
How my eyes long to rest on the shore
I'll be glad to see land and to touch the fair hand
Of the maiden I left there before"

any help?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wreck Of The Anna Maria
From: GUEST,Philippa
Date: 10 May 02 - 01:42 PM

if so, Martin Ryan added lyrics toThe Loss of the Evelyn Marie in an earlier thread.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wreck Of The Anna Maria
From: GUEST,Philippa
Date: 10 May 02 - 01:39 PM

could it possibly be the wreck of the Evelyn Marie?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wreck Of The Anna Maria
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 10 May 02 - 01:02 PM

How about...

The Wreck of the Arthur Lee?
The Wreck of the Athens Queen?
The Wreck of the Ramillies?
The Wreck of the Sloop John B.?

Just want to make sure we're not dealing with a mondegreen here...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wreck Of The Anna Maria
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 08 May 02 - 05:42 PM

Ta Rick!!!!!!

;-)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wreck Of The Anna Maria
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 08 May 02 - 05:37 PM

Hmmmmm, used to know those guys, but that was back in the stone age, when I was in a band called "The Sons Of Erin". I was the token Canadian, and still have never set foot on "Erin" let alone being one of it's 'sons'.

They all wrote, Denis Ryan has done poetry, and I'm sure Fergus O'Byrne and Dermot O'Reilly have written their share of songs.

Try writing to the band "Tickle Cove Harbour". One of them is currently in it.

[e-mail]

Good luck

Rick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wreck Of The Anna Maria
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 08 May 02 - 03:00 PM

Ta fer the help sorcha...

Maybe someone else here will have a little more 411...

;-)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wreck Of The Anna Maria
From: Sorcha
Date: 08 May 02 - 02:11 PM

Clinton, here is all I found. I was wrong about the other Wreck song--it was some other group. Maybe you could go about tracking down each album with Google? I don't have time to do that right now.

Songs from the Shows tracklist
Info about unreleased stuff, here,
Info and complete album list, here, but no track listings.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wreck Of The Anna Maria
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 08 May 02 - 01:36 PM

A snippit of the lyrics that I have are as follows...

Fourty long days in an old sailing ship
How my eyes long to rest on the shore
I'll be glad to see land and to touch the fair hand
Of the maiden I left there before

This shake anything loose?

;-)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wreck Of The Anna Maria
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 08 May 02 - 01:28 PM

Well, hell...

Does ANYONE know anything about this song???

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wreck Of The Anna Maria
From: Sorcha
Date: 07 May 02 - 11:07 PM

Clinton, I looked up Ryan's Fancy and didn't find that song on a discography. They had a Wreck of (something else--Effie maybe.....) No hits at all for Anna Maria.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wreck Of The Anna Maria
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 07 May 02 - 10:33 PM

Someone must know this!!!!

Rick?????

;-)

Subject: Wreck Of The Anna Maria
From:
Date: 07 May 02 - 08:24 PM

Ryans Fancy recorded a song by that title,and I wanna know if they wrote it...

If not, does anyone out there have the 4-1-1 on this song???

Who wrote it and when and such like???

Ta!

;-)