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30 Dec 07 - 10:58 PM (#2225261) Subject: They Hung a Man for Making Steam From: Wincing Devil The lyrics to the Shanty A Hundred Years ago include the line: "They hung a man for making steam". Does anyone have any idea what that means? When was steam making a capital offense? A HUNDRED YEARS AGO Oh, a hundred years on the Eastern Shore Oh, yea, oh! A hundred years on the Eastern Shore A hundred years ago! Ol' Bully John from Baltimore I knew him well, on the Eastern shore Ol' Bully John was the boy for me A bully on shore and a bucko at sea Ol' Bully John I knew him well But now he'd dead and gone to hell. He's as dead as a nail on the lamp room floor He's as dead as a nail that son of a whore They used to think that pigs could fly Have you ever heard such a silly lie? They thought the world was square and flat Don't tell old Chris Columbo that! They say that mermaids was no yarn In Baltimore they've a lot to l'arn They hung a man for making steam Throwed his body into the stream Oh a hundred years is a very long time Oh a hundred years is a very long time |
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30 Dec 07 - 11:04 PM (#2225262) Subject: RE: Hung a Man for Making Steam From: Bonnie Shaljean Maybe it's meant as another tall tale, as improbable as the square earth and mermaids and flying pigs? Only a guess - |
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30 Dec 07 - 11:22 PM (#2225268) Subject: RE: Hung a Man for Making Steam From: Amos Possibly it is a conflation between two tales from ancient Greece -- one being the invention of the steam-propelled axis used in (I believe the tale was) some ancient temple to open the massive doors, and the other being the death of Socrates by hemlock for insisting on truth. I don't know any tales of man hung or otherwise punished for making steam per se, but new inventions are often looked on as the Devil's handiwork. A |
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30 Dec 07 - 11:32 PM (#2225274) Subject: RE: Hung a Man for Making Steam From: katlaughing Wonder if it had anything to do with the expression about someone being "steaming mad" which brings to mind the old cartoons in which steam would blow out of the ears of one irate character or another. Or, possibly with first use of steam engines to help in the mines? Click here for interesting stuff on early engines. This is a purely speculative suggestion. Or, what about something to do with steam trains? |
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31 Dec 07 - 12:17 AM (#2225295) Subject: RE: Hung a Man for Making Steam From: Bonecruncher BTW meat is hung, men are hanged! Colyn. |
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31 Dec 07 - 02:36 AM (#2225324) Subject: RE: Hung a Man for Making Steam From: Dave Hanson It a ' shanty ' the words don't have to make sense, just keep the rhythm to get the job done. eric |
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31 Dec 07 - 03:58 AM (#2225341) Subject: RE: Hung a Man for Making Steam From: BillE Maybe the invention of steam and steamships would put shantymen out of work? Bill |
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31 Dec 07 - 05:05 AM (#2225355) Subject: RE: Hung a Man for Making Steam From: Melissa If hanging was truly ever the reward of using steam, it would probably have been because the ability to harness and control an invisible force would have been understood as evidence of conjuring demons. |
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31 Dec 07 - 05:41 AM (#2225363) Subject: RE: Hung a Man for Making Steam From: MartinRyan donkies? Regards |
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31 Dec 07 - 04:45 PM (#2225755) Subject: RE: Hung a Man for Making Steam From: Charley Noble The phrase "They hung a man for making steam" also suggests to me that it's a protest against the use of small steam engines (aka donkey engines) for helping to do work aboard ship that was traditionally done by hand. Ships with such labor-saving machines would need less crewmen, and would have less of a need for the shantyman. The reference to "stream" is where the ship was moored prior to sailing, i.e., anchored in the stream. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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31 Dec 07 - 08:14 PM (#2225877) Subject: RE: Hung a Man for Making Steam From: McGrath of Harlow Farting? |
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31 Dec 07 - 08:46 PM (#2225892) Subject: RE: Hung a Man for Making Steam From: dick greenhaus Some men are hung. Some men are well hung. |
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31 Dec 07 - 10:04 PM (#2225931) Subject: RE: Hung a Man for Making Steam From: MartinRyan ... and some deserve to be hanged - well or otherwise! Regards |
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31 Dec 07 - 10:11 PM (#2225935) Subject: RE: Hung a Man for Making Steam From: Dead Horse That particular set of verses is a total mish-mash of verses from other shanties. To make a shanty out of verses from several others was quite common, as the shantyman would sing whatever came into his head at the time. Thus, a new shanty was born. The reference to hanging a man for making steam is very likely to have been a square rigged sailors dig at the new fangled steamships that were taking all their trade and spelling the death of "true seamen". Donkey engines were generally seen as a good thing, which enabled sailing vessels to compete with more modern ships for some years to come. As for the words not having to make sense, completely untrue. They had to mean something to the men at work. To tell a story, to raise a smile, to lighten the heart and therefore to lighten the load of the job in hand. The rhythm was not necessarily in the verse, but more usually in the chorus where the men actually sweated on a rope, a capstan bar or pump handle etc. The CHORUS didnt have to make sense, just be repetitive and easy to sing (shout in unison would be a better description). The art of the shantyman was to be able to make up or remember verses at will, and to gauge the task with reference to the conditions prevailing at that moment, such as the fitness of the crew, the number available for it, the strength of wind, sea and tide, plus other factors too numerous to mention. (Or in my case, too difficult to comprehend to one who has never had to make a living at sea aboard a wind jammer.) P.S. Mr McGrath of Harlow should be hung, drawn AND quartered. Not purely because he suggested farting as a viable answer, but just because he should be anyway. So there !!! |
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31 Dec 07 - 10:25 PM (#2225944) Subject: RE: Hung a Man for Making Steam From: Charley Noble Dead Horse- Hear! Hear! Hell, hang the lot o' 'em! Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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01 Jan 08 - 01:28 AM (#2225987) Subject: RE: Hung a Man for Making Steam From: katlaughing But I thought having dangly bits meant you were all already hung?**BG** |