Lyr Req: Let Her Go (C. Fox Smith)

Subject: lyr req: Let Her Go (C.Fox Smith)
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 11 May 03 - 09:07 AM

Hi there!,
Anyone know the lyrics to a song I heard on a cassette of C.Fox.Smith poems, sung by Pinch o' Salt. The name of the collection is 'Seaboot Duff and Handspike Gruel'.

The song (think it was written as a poem) is called 'Let her Go' and is about an old ship that does more than her duty serving as a trade vessel then again in the first world war.

It starts;
Her keel was laid in 74' ..... and has a couple of funny lines such as: She's changed her name a number a' times, what don't fit right into these here rhymes... and the refrain is just: Let her Go, let Her Go. I'd love all the words, so that I can learn the whole song correctly. Hope someone can help.
Cheers Chris

Subject: RE: lyr req: Let Her Go (C.Fox Smith)
From: GUEST,Sorcha
Date: 11 May 03 - 09:27 AM

Found a bunch of her stuff here, but not that one. Sorry.

Subject: RE: lyr req: Let Her Go (C.Fox Smith)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 11 May 03 - 11:10 AM

No problem, Chris, but I'll it's not one of her poems that I've typed up. If someone else has already done so, feel free to post it.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: lyr req: Let Her Go (C.Fox Smith)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 11 May 03 - 02:18 PM

"Let Her Go" is found in SEA SONGS & BALLADS, 1924, pp. 132-134.

Charley Noble

Subject: Lyr Add: LET HER GO! (C. Fox Smith)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 11 May 03 - 08:37 PM

Here she be:

LET HER GO!

(Poem by C. Fox Smith in SEA SONGS & BALLADS, ©1924, pp. 132-134
Recorded by Pinch o' Salt on SEA BOOT DUFF AND HAND SPIKE GRUEL CD, © 2000)

'Er keel was laid in Seventy-four,
(Let 'er go – let 'er go!)
They built 'er cheap, an' they scamped 'er sore,
'Er rivets was putty, 'er plates was poor,
An' then come in the Primsoll Line,
Or I wouldn't be singin' this song of mine.
(Let 'er go!)

She was cranky an' foul, she was stubborn an' slow…
An' she shipped it green when it come to blow;
'Er crews was starved, an' the pay was low,
An' 'er bloomin' owners was ready to faint
At a scrape o' pitch or a penn'orth o' paint…

But she's been 'ere, an' she's been there…
An' she's been almost everywhere;
An' whenever you'd see 'er,
With 'er rust-red hawse an' 'er battered old funnel,
All muck an' dirt from 'er keel to 'er gun'le…

She's earned 'er keep in a number o' climes…
She's changed 'er name a number of times
Which won't fit right into these 'ere rhymes;
But the name o' 'er now is the "Sound o' Mull" –
Built on the Tyne an' sails out of 'Ull…

'Er keel was laid in Seventy-four…
An' a breaker's price was 'er price before;
The ships was scarce an' the freights did soar;
But she's fetched 'er fourteen pound a ton
On the Baltic Exchange since the war begun…

So she's doin' 'er bit, which we all must do…
An' whether she's old or whether she's new;
Don't make much odds to a war-time crew;
An' 'ooever's sunk, or 'ooever's drowned,
The "Sound o' Mull" keeps pluggin' around…

An' when she goes, by night or by day…
Either up or down, as she likely may,
I only 'ope as somebody 'll say,
"'Er keel was laid in Seventy-four,
She done 'er best, an' she couldn't do more;
She warn't no swell, nor she warn't no beauty,
But she come by 'er end in the way of 'er duty"…

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: lyr req: Let Her Go (C.Fox Smith)
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 12 May 03 - 08:14 AM

Thanks Charlie - that's the one alright.
the funny thing is that my interpretation of what I heard on the tape (which I thought was wrong) was infact, nearly correct.

For example- 'sound o' mull'. I thought it was that, but as it seemes such a strange name, I had to be sure. Another one to the repertoire.
Thanks again
Guest

Subject: RE: lyr req: Let Her Go (C.Fox Smith)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 12 May 03 - 08:47 AM

Chris-

Danny Macleod of Pinch of Salt is a dedicated singer and reviver of C. Fox Smith's sea poems; he seldom departs from her text. Others, such as myself, do make word changes to facilitate singing.

You'll find more info on C. Fox Smith and what Danny and others have done to arrange her poems for singing on a Mudcat thread with her name; try setting "refresh" on the main menue for one year with "C. Fox Smith".

Welcome aboard!
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: lyr req: Let Her Go (C.Fox Smith)
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 12 May 03 - 12:06 PM

Why does "Sound o' Mull" seem strange ? A "Sound" is a channel, and "Mull" is an island off the west coast of Scotland. The "Sound of Mull" is the channel between Mull and the Scottish mainland. It is, incidently, one of the top UK locations for wreck diving.

Subject: RE: lyr req: Let Her Go (C.Fox Smith)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 12 May 03 - 06:29 PM

Thanks, Dave. I wouldn't have dared to ask.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Let Her Go (C. Fox Smith)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 13 May 03 - 10:38 PM

Shouldn't "Primsoll" be "Plimsoll"? Or is that a dialectical pronunciation of "Plimsoll"?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Let Her Go (C. Fox Smith)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 14 May 03 - 08:12 AM

Jim-

Good catch! "Plimsoll line" it is.

However, it's probably too late to correct and now thousands of Mudcatters will be singing this song incorrectly.;~)

Abashed,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Let Her Go (C. Fox Smith)
From: GUEST,Guest Chris
Date: 14 May 03 - 09:51 AM

Thanks Dave, My geographical knowledge lets me down once again!! It is a fascinating song about a ship that goes through it all, and i'm also interested in the bit about her selling for 'fourteen pound a tonne'.

Oh thanks for the advice on looking up the C.Fox Smith thread Charlie.
I've heard the Keelers a number of times, and have their C.D 'On the North Sea Ground'. In fact i've often needed calrification of some of the words from their songs, But my Tyneside vocabulary is growing rapidly!!(nearly said Georie- would that be correct?- geographically I mean).
Cheers
Chris

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Let Her Go (C. Fox Smith)
From: radriano
Date: 14 May 03 - 12:53 PM

"Pinch o' Salt" offers a booklet with all the lyrics.