Lyr Req: Whaler's Lament / Whalerman's Lament

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whaler's Lament / Whalerman's Lament
From: rich-joy
Date: 23 May 21 - 01:04 AM

Just posted in the Mudcat Songbook - Australia/NewZealand.

Despite a love of folk songs featuring the historical practices of Whaling, many of us were also part of the 60s-70s campaigns to try and stop the slaughter of these extraordinary, intelligent and sentient beings on this planet - or, at least many remember those times.   Apparently this song was used by the International Whaling Commission to assist in the campaign to stop International Whaling, but so far I’ve not found the info on-line to corroborate this …..


THE WHALES ARE SINGING TO ME (A WHALER’S LAMENT)

Kevin Johnson

I went to sea; there were no other choices for me
A Whaling ship – what greater adventure could there possibly be
The first day out we found them; circled our ships around them
Fired our harpoons till the sea ran red
In no time at all, those whales were dead.

We towed them in; oh how we drank that night at The Sailor’s Inn
Singing whaling songs, as the Captain played on his violin
But drinking was something I’d never known
So I staggered back to the ship alone
As drunk as a young man could ever be, listening to the night around me.

Was it the sound of the violin, drifting in on the cool night wind
Or was it something that came from the moon (?)
Could it be? That whales were singing to me
Perhaps they sung of those terrible things I’d done.

I have to say, when I look back over that dreadful day
There was treachery, that hadn’t really occurred to me
There seemed to be a kind of trust, as though they had nothing to fear from us
We got so close like we were friends, but then
We slaughtered them.

It wasn’t the sound of a violin, drifting in on the cool night wind
No, it was something that came from the moon, yet to me
Those whales were singing to me
Now they sung of the terrible things I’d done.

I left the sea, there were no other choices for me
A Whaling ship – what greater misfortune could there possibly be
And now I’m as old as a man can be, even today it’s still haunting me
Though my deeds have long since gone, sadly I see
It still goes on.

Now the Captain plays on his violin and I walk by the sea in the cool night wind
And I hear something that calls from the moon, has to be
The whales are singing to me, those things we’ve done
Of those terrible things we’ve done.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoiHgTrWb0o&t=12s   
an illustrative film clip with a recording from Kevin Johnson’s 2018 album entitled “Milestones 1”, but I think the song is much earlier.
Also, there are a few words I am having difficulty discerning!
I’ve not found the song’s provenance currently online. If anyone can assist, I’d be grateful.


Cheers, R-J
(who still has her LP of Dr Roger Payne's iconic recording of "Songs of the Humpback Whale" 1970 :)

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/31/calls-from-the-deep-do-we-need-to-save-the-whales-all-over-again    :   "Calls from the deep: do we need to Save the Whales all over again?" 1st Jan2021

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whaler's Lament / Whalerman's Lament
From: Lighter
Date: 04 Jan 17 - 09:11 AM

Not sure that anyone's observed that Lloyd must have rewritten (and improved) the "Catalpa" version (which may have been a poem only) and added his own tune.

Was the tune already in existence?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whaler's Lament / Whalerman's Lament
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 04 Jan 17 - 06:07 AM

Found this.... different version I believe but what a great song.    The Whalers Lament

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whaler's Lament / Whalerman's Lament
From: GUEST,tall julie
Date: 03 Jan 17 - 09:13 PM

great-just what i was looking for! thanks

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whaler's Lament / Whalerman's Lament
From: GUEST,Whaling journal from Tasmania
Date: 25 Mar 13 - 08:09 AM

Whaling journal from Tasmania

A wonderful acquisition for someone ...

http://joan-druett.blogspot.co.nz/2013/03/whaling-journal-from-tasmania.html

... or a whaling museum

Advertised by Louella Kerr books

... hand-written on the Norwegian factory ship N. T. Nielsen-Alonso's whaling expedition to the Antarctic, 1929-30.

Beginning on 18th October 'Left warf at 10/30 this morning...'

The diary (170 x 220mm) consists of 63 closely written pages, and gives a day by day account of the voyage until the ship's return on March 21st . Green, one of the 30 'Tassies' who were taken on in Hobart, describes his conditions and activities in considerable detail. His jobs on the mother ship consist of loading and moving coal, which he hates, and the preferred deck jobs of receiving the whales from the 5 Polchasers. He is very concerned with the state of cleanliness of himself, his clothes, his quarters, and the condition of the ship itself. He has difficulties with the conditions on deck until he kits himself out with spikes and oilskins from the 'slapkiste', or ship's shop [slop chest]. He lists the catch each day, the number of barrels of oil, the hours he works and the over-time he calculates he has earned, and comments on the state of the ice and the birds and fish sighted. He lists the daily catch and the type of whale caught - minke, blue, fin, sperm, killer, and hump back, and he describes the excitement of getting the whales on board the mother ship after they have been harpooned by the whalers. One of these, Pol 5, suffers various accidents, which result in the loss of most of its mast. His chief criticisms are for the poor quality of the food, 'food is rotten' occurs frequently, and he recounts how some of the men went on strike when they were given dried fish and sago for dinner.

His descriptions of the Ross Sea and the ice are often poetic. He ends the diary with a transcription of a fifty line verse 'The Whalers' Lament' by J Manly

'It was some where down the Pole
That the Tassie boys did go ...

Attached to the inside front cover of the diary, is Green's letter of employment with the company, dated 23.7.1906..

Auction only US $2,500

===

So without spending US$2,500 or more does anyone have the words to the Tassie Whalers? And is 'The Whalers' Lament' by J Manly a separate ballad?

"He (Green) ends the diary with a transcription of a fifty line verse 'The Whalers' Lament' by J Manly."

'It was some where down the Pole
That the Tassie boys did go ...

===

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whaler's Lament / Whalerman's Lament
From: shipcmo
Date: 16 Nov 10 - 09:37 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whaler's Lament
From: Lighter
Date: 19 Oct 06 - 06:14 PM

Lloyd's notes don't mention that he almost unquestionably rewrote both poems and set them to his own tunes.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

I don't believe either lyric has ever been collected from genuine tradition. Whether they were ever actually sung before Huntingdon printed them in the 1960s is moot.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whaler's Lament
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 19 Oct 06 - 04:22 PM

The Whalers Lament ( A.L.Lloyd version) and Weary Whaling Grounds are on the Mainbrace CD.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whaler's Lament
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Oct 06 - 09:32 AM

Barry - Martin - all,
Abject apologies. I was confusing 'Lament' with 'Weary Whaling Grounds'. Grey cells going walkabout I'm afraid.
Checked this morning to find to my horror that I have lost the insert notes to the LP in one of my numerous moves down the years - 'Oh calamity'
Sory again
Jim Carroll

Subject: Lyr Add: WHALERMAN'S LAMENT
From: Barry Finn
Date: 19 Oct 06 - 01:55 AM

Hi Jim
I was thinking of Lloyd when I first responded to this post & I could here him singing it in my head. Went & pulled out the LP Leviathan & glanced at it I didn't see it, then I though I must've heard him doing it some where else. Seeing your post I went back & found it there & then went to check the accompanying fold out. So I'm reposting Huntington's version along with Lloyds different version for comparsion. Thanks for the reminder Jim.

Gale Huntington has 10 verses while A L Lloyd has 7. Lloyd has his first 4 verses the same as Huntington's only the order of the verses are different form Gale's & the last 3 of Lloyds are different verses from what Huntington gives. Here are both versions.


Whalerman's Lament (Gale Huntington's version)

"Twas on the briny ocean
On a whaleship I did go
Oft times I thought of distant friends
Oft times I thought of home

Remembering of my youthful days
It grieved my heart full sore
And fain I would return again
To my own native shore

Through dreary discontented
I then resolved to go
My fortune on the seas to try
To ease me of my woe

I shipped me on a whaleship
To sail without delay
To the Pacific Ocean
There for a while to stay

Through dreary storms & tempest
And through some heavy gales
Around Cape Horn we sped our way
To look for sperm whales

They will rob you they will use you
Worse than any slave
Before you go a-whaling boys
You best be in your graves

They'll flog you for the least offense
And that is frequent too
And the best that you will get from them
Is plenty more work to do

So do it now or damn your eyes
I will flog you till you're blue
My boys I wouldn't say it all
But it is all too true

But if I ever return again
A solemn vow I'll take
That I'll never go a-whaling
My liberty to stake


I will stay at home
And I will roam no more
For pleasures are but few my boys
Far from our native shore

____________________________________________________________________


THE WHALEMAN'S LAMENT (A L Lloyd's version)


'Twas on the briny ocean on a whaleship I did go.
I often thought of distant friends; I often thought of home.

Through dreary storms and tempests and through some heavy gales,
Around Cape Horn we sped our way to look out for sperm whales.

They'll rob you and they'll use you; it's worse than any slaves.
Before you go a-whalin', boys, you'd best be in your graves.

It's "Do it now or damn your eyes; I'll flog you till you're blue."
Oh, boys I couldn't tell it all, but ev'ry word is true.

The wind do blow and the great seas grow and we strain upon the oars,
And your heart would bleed at the sperm whale's speed, and it's "Pull, you sons of whores."

The weary chase is over and the stars begin to glow,
And it's "Light the flares, you lubberly lot; there's tryin' out to do."

I swore I'd not go back again once we was homeward bound,
For the pleasures are but few, my boys, on them bitter whaling grounds.


Lloyd adds that these songs (on the LP) were songs of the whaling grounds which British whalers were active & this song is from the hunting on the sperm whale in the Pacific around 1850.

This is a great collection of whaling songs/ballads. Though some might be passed over from being common this CD/LP was the reason they became common & is a must to anyone interested in the songs of whalers.
Lloyd is accompanied by Alf Edwards (concertina & ocarina)
Dave Swarbrick (fiddle)
Martin Carthy (mandoline)
Trevor Lucas (chorys)
Martyn Wyndham Reade (chorus)

The list of song on the LP (I don't know about the CD) are

The Balaena
The Coast Of Peru
Greenland Bound
The Weary Whaling Grounds
The Cruel Ship's Captain
Off to Sea Once More
The 23rd of March
The Bonny Ship the DiamonTalcahuano Girls
Farewell to Tarwathie
Rolling Down to Old Maui
The Greenland Whale Fishery
Paddy & the Whale
The Whalerman's Lament
The Eclipse

The fold out notes alone are worth the price of the CD.

Barry

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whaler's Lament
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Oct 06 - 10:30 PM

A. L. Lloyd sang THE WHALEMAN'S LAMENT on his 1967 Topic album "Leviathan!" which has been reissued as a CD. From a sound sample at Allmusic.com, it seems to be the same song that Barry Finn posted above.


A Dutch group called Windkracht Acht also sings THE WHALEMAN'S LAMENT on their album "Op De Wilde Vaart."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whaler's Lament
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Oct 06 - 04:20 AM

Thanks Martin - wasn't concentration. Too early in the morning and too near my last visit to Mary Fahy's.
Bert Lloyd sand 'gull'.
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whaler's Lament
From: MartinRyan
Date: 17 Oct 06 - 04:15 AM

"Wings of a Goney", Jim, in the same book.

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whaler's Lament
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Oct 06 - 04:07 AM

Or the one that starts;

If I had the wings of a gull, my boys, I would spread them and fly home;
I'd leave old Greenland's icy ground, for of right whales there are none.
For the weather's rough ands the seas run high and there's little comfort here.
I'd as soon be snug in a Deptford pub, a-drinking of good beer.
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whaler's Lament
From: Barry Finn
Date: 17 Oct 06 - 12:25 AM

My pleasure Martin. I hope all's well with you too.
Take good care
Barry

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whaler's Lament
From: MartinRyan
Date: 16 Oct 06 - 06:44 PM

Barry:
Thanks for persisting! Saved me transcribing it!

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whaler's Lament
From: Barry Finn
Date: 16 Oct 06 - 04:28 PM

She should've taken the drink!! Who know what else she could've gotten from him. Ha Ha.
I'd love to here those songs.
Take a break, hoping to be seeing you in Nov?

Barry

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whaler's Lament
From: GUEST,Nancy-Jean
Date: 16 Oct 06 - 02:41 PM

Nice to hear from you. Miss hearing you sing too. I've been tied up writing about Helen Hartness Flanders. She collected this song from a retired old salt, Capt. Christopher Culver. He offered her a drink at eleven o'clock in the morning. She declined but went on to collect several hauling songs from him..

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whaler's Lament
From: Barry Finn
Date: 16 Oct 06 - 01:55 PM

It took me 3times to post this. Strange??
Barry

Subject: Lyr Add: THE WHALERMAN'S LAMENT
From: Barry Finn
Date: 16 Oct 06 - 01:54 PM

Hi Nancy-Jean, long time no hear, hope all's well.
From Gale Huntington's "Songs the Whalemen Sang".

Whalerman's Lament

"Twas on the briny ocean
On a whaleship I did go
Oft times I thought of distant friends
Oft times I thought of home
Remembering of my youthful days
It grieved my heart full sore
And fain I would return again
To my own native shore

Through dreary discontented
I then resolved to go
My fortune on the seas to try
To ease me of my woe
I shipped me on a whaleship
To sail without delay
To the Pacific Ocean
There for a while to stay

Through dreary storms & tempest
And through some heavy gales
Around Cape Horn we sped our way
To look for sperm whales
They will rob you they will use you
Worse than any slave
Before you go a-whaling boys
You best be in your graves
They'll flog you for the least offense
And that is frequent too
And the best that you will get from them
Is plenty more work to do
So do it now or damn your eyes
I will flog you till you're blue
My boys I wouldn't say it all
But it is all too true

But if I ever return again
A solemn vow I'll take
That I'll never go a-whaling
My liberty to stake
I will stay at home
And I will roam no more
For pleasures are but few my boys
Far from our native shore

from the Catalpa 1856

LOL
Barry

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whaler's Lament
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 16 Oct 06 - 01:16 PM

Mudcat Lyrics & Knowledge Search finds no versions.

Lyrics would be appreciated.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whaler's Lament
From: GUEST,Nancy-Jean
Date: 16 Oct 06 - 01:06 PM

MartinRyan, thanks I think "The Whaleman's Lament" must be it. If you could, I'd like to know the rest of the lyrics....

Lliam's bro told me he thought it would be in that book, but neither of us have it..

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whaler's Lament
From: GEST
Date: 16 Oct 06 - 12:56 PM

Couldn't find the lyrics there, but that URL should be:

http://www.gsm-ev.de/kevinpmeng.htm

From there I followed links to a complete discography of Kevin Johnson on a tribute site, but it was INCOMPLETE !!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whaler's Lament
From: Peace
Date: 16 Oct 06 - 11:03 AM

Sorry. That http thingy doesn't go anywhere.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whaler's Lament
From: The Sandman
Date: 16 Oct 06 - 10:52 AM

THE wHALERMANS LAMENT BY RICHARD GRAINGER, Ssee klondike music

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whaler's Lament
From: Peace
Date: 16 Oct 06 - 10:48 AM

"A Whaler's Lament"
The song for the International Whaling Commission by Kevin Johnson
http://www.gsm-ev.de/indexeng.htm

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whaler's Lament
From: MartinRyan
Date: 16 Oct 06 - 09:24 AM

There's a song in Huntingdon's "Songs the Whalers Sang" called "The Whaleman's Lament", which starts:

"'Twas on the briny ocean
On a whaleship I did go>>"

That it?

Regards

p.s. If it is - well done to Dick and Camsco - the said book arrived to me this morning!

Subject: Lyr Req: Whaler's Lament
From: GUEST,Nancy-Jean
Date: 16 Oct 06 - 08:43 AM

Does anyone have lyrics for "The Whaler's Lament"?