Lyr Add: Sailor's Farewell (C. Fox Smith)

Subject: Lyr Add: Sailor's Farewell (C. Fox Smith)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 08 Feb 06 - 06:07 PM

This is another musical adaptation of a poem by Cicely Fox Smith, and would seem to be a sister poem to her "Port o' Dreams." It's a decidedly dark poem. Something bad went down and it's not clear what.

The full story behind this poem may be a short story that CFS wrote called "Oranges" published in TALES OF THE CLIPPER SHIPS, Cicely Fox Smith, pub. by Houghton Mifflin Co., NY, © 1926, pp. 91-106.

To line up the chords copy and paste into WORD/TIMES/12.

SAILOR'S FAREWELL
(C. Fox Smith)

(From SHIPS AND FOLKS, edited by Cicely Fox Smith, pub. by Elkin Mathews, London,© 1920, p. 68
Adapted by Charles Ipcar 1/27/06
Tune after traditional "The Star of Logy Bay"/"Patriot Game"
Key: C (5/G))

G-------------------C-----G------D-------D7--G
How lovely is the white town, smiling as it lies,
-----------------D---------G------------C-----------------------D7
With its green growing gardens, be-neath the bright blue skies,
G--------D-----G---------C------------------D7
Days so full of sunshine, nights so full of glee, –
------G------------C----G----------D------D7------G
Oh, a fair place, a rare place, for sailors in from sea.

A pleasant port to come to, for sailors long from land,
A bright place, a light place, with mirth on every hand,
That white smiling city by the blue Pacific shore –
And I wish so in my heart I may never see no more.

I mind the broad white plaza, where folks pass to and fro,
And a drowsy tune a-sounding, in the breezes that blow,
Church-bells all the morning, fiddles all the night –
Oh, a neat place, a sweet place, a sailorman's delight!

But it's heave and break her out now, for the best tune of them all,
Is the rattle of the windlass, the clicking of the pawl,
And the steady wind a-blowing, yes, blowing off the shore,
From that white smiling city I would never see no more.

For cruel is the white town, for all it looks so fair,
There's a cloud upon the mountain, there's anger and despair,
There's a cloud upon the mountain, there's sorrow on the shore,
Oh, a fair place, a rare place I would never see no more.

Here's the original poem if anyone is curious about what I started with:

Poem by C. Fox Smith, from SHIPS AND FOLKS, edited by Cicely Fox Smith, pub. by Elkin Mathews, London,© 1920, p. 68

Sailor's Farewell

Lovely is the white town, and smiling it lies
With little green gardens underneath the blue skies,
Days so full of sunshine, nights so full of glee, –
Oh, a fair place, a rare place, for sailors in from sea.

A pleasant place to come to for ships long from land,
A bright place, a light place, with mirth on every hand,
Is the white smiling city by the blue Pacific shore …
And I wish in my heart I may never see it more.

There's a wide white plaza where folks pass to and fro,
And a drowsy tune sounding on all the winds that blow,
Church-bells all the morning, fiddles all the night …
Oh, a neat place, a sweet place, for sailormen's delight!

But it's heave and break her out … and the best tune of all
Is the rattle of the windlass, the clicking of the pawl,
And the steady wind a-blowing, yes, blowing off the shore,
From the white smiling city that I would see no more.

For cruel is the white town for all it looks so fair,
There's a cloud upon the sunshine and there's sorrow everywhere,
And blue as Mary Mother's robe the sea is and the sky …
But a bitter hate I'll bear it until the day I die!

I should be able to link with a MP3 file in a week or so but I'm still learning this one.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Sailor's Farewell (C. Fox Smith)
From: ranger1
Date: 09 Feb 06 - 12:01 PM

It does make one wonder what happened, doesn't it?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Sailor's Farewell (C. Fox Smith)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 09 Feb 06 - 03:42 PM

Tami-

Yes, I've been thinking that it had to be more than the usual fleecing of a sailor or his indigestion. But there are so many possibilities. Was it his shipmate who got knifed in a tavern brawl? Or was it young love that ended in death or betrayal?

In CFS's "Port o' Dreams" a chum is knifed in a Dago dancing hall in Rio. In her short story "Oranges" an old man recalls how as a young sailor he fell in love with a young Spanish girl only to have her knifed their final evening together by a jealous suitor.

But CFS doesn't say what happened and it's probably a more powerful poem because you'll never know, only that it was bad...

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Sailor's Farewell (C. Fox Smith)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 04 Jun 09 - 07:39 PM

I've recently revised this song some more, preparatory for recording it. Most of what I've done is make the last line of each verse more uniform throughout the song (to line up the chords copy and paste into WORD/TIMES/12):

Poem by Cicely Fox Smith;
From SHIPS AND FOLKS, edited by Cicely Fox Smith, pub. by Elkin Mathews, London,© 1920, p. 68
Adapted by Charles Ipcar 1/27/06
Tune after traditional "The Star of Logy Bay"

Sailor's Farewell


G-------------------C-----G------D-------D7--G
How lovely is the white town, smiling as it lies,
-----------------D---------G------------C-----------------------D7
With its green growing gardens, be-neath the bright blue skies,
G--------D-----G---------C------------------D7
Days so full of sunshine, nights so full of glee, –
------G------------C----G----------D------D7------G
Oh, a fair place, a rare place, for sailors in from sea.

A pleasant port to come to for sailors long from land,
A bright place, a light place, with mirth on every hand,
That white smiling city by the blue Pacific shore –
Oh, a fair place, a rare place, I'll never see no more.

I mind the broad white plaza, senoritas come and go,
And a drowsy tune a-sounding, in the breezes that blow;
Church-bells all the morning, fiddles all the night –
Oh, a fair place, a rare place, a sailorman's delight!

But it's heave and break her out now, for the best tune of them all
Is the rattle of the windlass, the clicking of the pawl,
And the steady wind a-blowing, yes, blowing off the shore,
From that fair place, that rare place I'll never see no more.

For cruel is the white town, for all it looks so fair;
There's a cloud upon the mountain, there's anger and despair;
There's a cloud upon the mountain, there's sorrow on the shore,
In that a fair place, that rare place, I'll never see no more.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble