Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'

Subject: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: Genie
Date: 28 Jul 02 - 01:37 AM

At a chantey sing in Seattle a couple of years ago, folks were singing a chantey with a refrain that went: "...wouldn't do me any harm." The most memorable verse was Mary Benson (a belter, if there ever was one) singing "Well, a night with the crew wouldn't do me any harm!"

I've tried the filter and the DT/Forum search using all or part of that phrase and come up empty handed.

Anyone know this song? What's the title? Is it in the DT? If not, why not?

Genie

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• Roll the Old Chariot Along in the Digital Tradition
• Roll the Old Chariot Along (2)

Subject: Roll the old chariot along
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 28 Jul 02 - 01:39 AM

Roll the old chariot along

we'll roll the old chariot along (3X_\)
and we'll all hang on behind

a nice plum duff wouldn't do us any harm

lots of other verses

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: Wincing Devil
Date: 28 Jul 02 - 01:59 AM

A drop of Nelson's Blood...

A round on the house...

Another month's advance...

A plate of Irish Stew...

A roll in the clover...

A fine red wine...

ad infinitum

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: SeanM
Date: 28 Jul 02 - 02:17 AM

Here is the DT version under the title "Roll the Old Chariot Along". I've also heard it titled "Nelson's Blood" and a few other names.

M

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: Genie
Date: 28 Jul 02 - 02:53 AM

Thanks so much, folks! I never would have found it without knowing the title, since the one phrase I remembered turned up nothing.

Genie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 28 Jul 02 - 12:11 PM

Genie - a search for [any harm] turned it up right away. But it was "wouldn't do US any harm". Always try more than one variant of what you remember when searching.
Susan of DT

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: Charley Noble
Date: 28 Jul 02 - 12:50 PM

We alwayslike adding:

A night with ourselves wouldn't do us any harm!
Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 28 Jul 02 - 01:34 PM

I've always wondered about "a knight with spurs wouldn't do us any harm", but it doesn't make sense even if you drop the k, and especially not if you mean Tottenham Hotspur.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: Charley Noble
Date: 28 Jul 02 - 01:49 PM

Well, Herga, it wouldn't do a lot for the sheets. That's why a lot of bordellos had fancy boot jacks, sometimes in the shape of a lady with her legs enticingly spread (my grandmother had one of these delightful antiques hanging near the door in her entryway the use of which puzzled us for years), to encourage the cavalry to remove their boots and spurs.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: Genie
Date: 28 Jul 02 - 03:24 PM

Susan, I did try several variations on the title--just not enough, I guess. Maybe I was afraid "any harm" was so common a phrase that it would turn up way too many threads (i.e., any thread where anyone had used that phrase in any post, over 3 years).

Genie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 28 Jul 02 - 06:31 PM

When Hamish Imlach started getting thirsty he used to sing "Another Jaegermeister wouldn't do us any harm ..." (the item in question not being a master hunter but a particularly stomach-churning German herbal schnapps of the same name)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: Raggytash
Date: 28 Jul 02 - 06:37 PM

SHANTY!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: Wincing Devil
Date: 28 Jul 02 - 07:55 PM

Shanty, shantey, chantie, chanty, chantey, shantie, whatever. There is more than one way to do it. (do a google on TIMTOWTDI) Somefolks say it's from the frech for "to sing", some say it's from the shanty cabin. However you spell it, I enjoy singin' 'em! The disparate spellings make it hard to look for, I'll grant you!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: Genie
Date: 28 Jul 02 - 10:18 PM

WD, you're right that the word is spelled ('correctly') several ways. I'd imagine the derivation is from the French "chanter" ("to sing") or "chantez" (imperative: "sing") or "vous chantez" ("you sing"). Why would the shanty cabin give its name to a work chant or song?
Anyway, given that I lean toward the French derivation theory, I prefer the spelling that's closest to "chanter" or "chantez." Either way, it would be pronounced "shanty," though. (The French "ch" is pronounced "sh.")

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: SeanM
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 05:01 AM

There are a TON of 'origins' of the term 'shanty', 'shantey', 'chanty' whatever.

Ones I've heard - "Shanty" as a corruption of "Shandy", a drink sailors were fond of. "Shanty" from the tumbledown shacks sailors would often be forced to live in during the 'off' seasons (esp. common in whaling, from what I've read). "Shanty" from the influence of slaves, again from the buildings they at times lived in. "Chantey" from the French. "Chantey" or "Chanty" from a corruption of "chant", as in the work chant. Many, many others - probably many other potential definitions for each spelling, and many spellings that are 'good' to SOMEONE.

Most of those still have their supporters and detractors. Fact is, most any of the 'major' variants are accepted. There is no conclusive evidence that sets ANY of the variants apart as the 'true' way to say/spell the word nor the origin of it.

M

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: EBarnacle1
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 11:32 AM

This is what Captain Ricko Nestler dubbed a "zipper chantey." Any line could be dropped in as long as it could be made to fit the meter. Sometimes the fits are more tortuous than others.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: radriano
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 11:39 AM

I've heard the last line also sung like this:

"We'll all fall in behind"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: Snuffy
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 08:34 PM

I like to think that both the shanty cabins and shanty songs derive from Ashanti (i.e West Africa), from whernce most of the negro sloaves were shipped.

WassaiL! V

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: Snuffy
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 08:40 PM

I like to think that both the shanty cabins and shanty songs derive from Ashanti (i.e West Africa), whence most of the negro slaves were shipped.

WassaiL! V

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: Melani
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 11:45 PM

When singing radriano's version, I'm always tempted to add, "Splash!"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: Abuwood
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 02:56 AM

A good shanty for getting children to write the verses, "a peperoni pizza wouldn't do us any harm"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: GUEST,Steve
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 08:18 AM

Stan Hugill gives "chantey" as the usual spelling (I think - I don't have the book in front of me) but accepts all the others as variants.

The Bromyard Schantieman trophy has it spelled like that!

Steve

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any h
From: greg stephens
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 08:22 AM

Well, the title of Hugill's book is "Shanties from the seven seas" so there goes that theory, Steve!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: Charley Noble
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 10:38 AM

My favorite memories of this song are when we sing it at the Portland Public Market, during their seafood festival, we mention all the neighboring vendors in the verses.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: Crane Driver
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 04:52 PM

Eric Illott, a shantyman from Bristol, told me that this song was used when scraping growth from the ship's hull during long voyages - barnacles, seaweeds and the like, which would slow the ship down. They used a device called the "Devil's Scrubbing Brush", two planks joined by a hinge and with long nails driven through. This was lowered into the sea over the "sharp end", and hauled by ropes backwards under the hull, scraping off the fouling. The verses, which had to be kept going as long as the job lasted, mentioned all the things the shantyman would rather be doing instead of scratching his bottom in mid-ocean.

"Nelson's Blood" is brandy, (not rum). After Trafalgar, Nelson's body was put into a cask of brandy to preserve it for the voyage back to London. When the Victory docked, it was discovered that the crew had tapped into the cask and drunk the lot. That, according to Eric, was always the first verse. The last verse, he said, should always be "A night in jail wouldn't do us any harm", since sailors reckoned that conditions were better in jail than at sea. (It was also safer when tunneling out). In between, sing anything you like.

Well, that's the story as I heard it.

Andrew

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: Genie
Date: 31 Jul 02 - 12:22 AM

CD, "The verses, which had to be kept going as long as the job lasted, mentioned all the things the shantyman would rather be doing instead of scratching his bottom in mid-ocean." That's pretty much anything and everything, isn't it? ;-)

Genie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: alanww
Date: 31 Jul 02 - 11:00 AM

As the current holder of the Bromyard Schantieman Trophy, I can verify that it certainly is spelt that way.
Steve: As you mentioned it, have you any idea why it has that spelling?

Hard on the beach oar, she moves too slow ...
Alan

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: GUEST,keith A o Hertford on tour
Date: 31 Jul 02 - 02:33 PM

I am sure we can rule out the idea of sailors enjoying shandy so much they named things after it, unless it was the splashings around the heads.
A nice glass of shandy wouldn't do us any harm....
Keith.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 01 Aug 02 - 04:36 AM

If the song is being sung "around" and someone has just sung "a night with a wench" and probably had someone follow it with "a night with two" (or even more) try and get in with "a nice cold shower".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: Genie
Date: 02 Aug 02 - 04:45 AM

I'll have to remember that one, Dave!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: Crane Driver
Date: 02 Aug 02 - 01:35 PM

Genie - yeah, pretty much anything ;-}

Andrew

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: Dead Horse
Date: 03 Aug 02 - 02:21 AM

We always finish with "An end to this song wouldn't do us any harm"....followed by silence. Except for those caught out who sing a diminishing chorus, alone, with reddening face, sliding under table.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: Genie
Date: 03 Aug 02 - 03:39 AM

Love that ending, DH!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea chantey:'...wouldn't do me any harm'
From: Dead Horse
Date: 03 Aug 02 - 07:42 AM

Yeah, cheers us up no end, and audience, too. They could use a good laugh after listening to us for a bit.