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12 Aug 23 - 04:32 PM (#4179052) Subject: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: GUEST,Guest : Sean Breadin. Had this stuck in my head most of this afternoon. Can't remember a time when I didn't know it, no doubt due to many happily drunken singarounds down the decades. But what's the ultimate source? Does it have a Roud number? Is it in anyway traditional? Is there a known author? Thanks! |
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12 Aug 23 - 04:59 PM (#4179056) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: GUEST,.gargoyle Dear Sean Breadin, Welcome to Mudcat. Could you give two lines that are "stuck in your head"? Where When Who are also helpful ... Ask, and you shall receive ... sometimes ... within minutes. Sincerely, Gargoyle What led you to ask ... in one of the truly miraculous creations in the universe? |
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12 Aug 23 - 05:20 PM (#4179058) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: GUEST,Sean Breadin It's the chorus that lingers: Paddy lay back, (Paddy lay back) Take in your slack (take in your slack) Take a turn around the capstan heave and hawl (?) About ship station, boys, be handy (be handy!) For we're bound for Valparaiso ‘round the horn Where? North east / west UK singarounds When? 1975-2012. Who? A lot of much missed & dearly departed old friends. What led me to ask? Because you holler along in good drunken faith without giving too much thought to provenance then decades later it pops into your brain (one of the truly miraculous creations in the universe?) out of nowhere and it gets you thinking. |
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12 Aug 23 - 05:24 PM (#4179059) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Lighter Very traditional, though modern versions all descend from the one in Stan Hugill's "Shanties from the Seven Seas" (1960). Roud 653. First collected in the 1920s, but probably thirty or forty years older. |
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12 Aug 23 - 05:25 PM (#4179061) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Reinhard Just google for "paddy lay back site:mudcat.org" and you'll find - the Digital Tradition entry for Paddy Lay Back (Roud 653) - the discussion Lyr Req: Valparaiso which is mostly about other Valparaiso songs but mentions Paddy Lay Back too. |
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12 Aug 23 - 05:40 PM (#4179065) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: GUEST,Guest : Sean Breadin. Thanks all! |
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12 Aug 23 - 05:57 PM (#4179066) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Robert B. Waltz I actually show an earliest date of 1898. Not sure where I got that -- probably from Doerflinger, since that's the book that caused me to enter the song, and I indexed it before I started explaining where dates came from. Bone dated it to 1900. I'm pretty sure I first heard it sung by the Irish Rovers, on some record belonging to my parents. The current Ballad Index entry looks like this: Paddy, Get Back DESCRIPTION: Shanty, with long chorus, "Paddy, get back, Take in the slack, Heave away your capstan," etc. The song details how the poor boy has to go to sea to earn money, then suffers at the hands of weather, mate, and a long voyage AUTHOR: unknown EARLIEST DATE: 1898 KEYWORDS: shanty poverty sailor abuse FOUND IN: US(MA) Canada(Mar) Britain(England(Lond)) Ireland REFERENCES (10 citations): Doerflinger-SongsOfTheSailorAndLumberman, pp. 54-55, "Paddy, Get Back" (1 text, 1 tune) Colcord-SongsOfAmericanSailormen, pp. 121-122, "Paddy Get Back" (1 text, 1 tune) Hugill-ShantiesFromTheSevenSeas, pp. 321-327, "Paddy Lay Back" (3 texts, 3 tunes with variants) [AbEd, pp. 241-244] Hugill-SongsOfTheSea, p. 32, "Pady Lay Back" (1 text, 1 tune) Shay-AmericanSeaSongsAndChanteys, pp. 68-70, "Paddy Get Back" (1 text, 1 tune) Kinsey-SongsOfTheSea, pp. 73-74, "Valparaiso Round the Horn" (1 text, 1 tune) Kane-SongsAndSayingsOfAnUlsterChildhood, p. 124, "'Bout ship's stations, boys, be handy" (1 fragment) Smith/Hatt/Fowke-SeaSongsBalladFromNineteenthCenturyNovaScotia, pp. 42-43, "Lay Out, Tack Sheets and Haul" (1 text) Palmer-OxfordBookOfSeaSongs 141, "On Board the Leicester Castle" (1 text, 1 tune) DT, PADLAYBK Roud #653 RECORDINGS: George Ling, "On Board the Leicester Castle" (on Voice02) Richard Maitland, "Paddy, Get Back" (AFS, 1939; on LC26) CROSS-REFERENCES: cf. "The Liverpool Song" (form, lyrics) ALTERNATE TITLES: Mainsail Haul The Liverpool Song Valparaiso Round the Horn File: Doe054 |
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12 Aug 23 - 06:11 PM (#4179068) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: GUEST,Sean Breadin Cheers, Robert. |
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12 Aug 23 - 06:38 PM (#4179069) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Reinhard I've just hacked a page together for Paddy Lay Back on Mainly Norfolk. |
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12 Aug 23 - 06:48 PM (#4179071) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Lighter It was performed by Paul Clayton "and the Focs'le Singers" on Folkways FA 2429, "Foc'sle Songs and Shanties" (1959), possibly learned from Hugill's 1954 recording for the BBC. |
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12 Aug 23 - 08:07 PM (#4179073) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: meself I learned it from an un-annotated 'mixed tape' with the last line in the chorus being, "Raise tacks and sheets and mains'l, haul!" - or something that sounded like that. Also, no "long voyage": I quickly made my mind up I would jump her, I'd leave the beggar and get a job ashore; I swam across the bay, I went and I left her, Walked into an English(?) bar and found a whore. That's how I heard it, anyway. |
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18 Aug 23 - 11:53 PM (#4179444) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Gibb Sahib I feel comfortable supposing that the article "On Shanties," in an August 1868 issue of _Once a Week_, refers to this song. It reads, // There is an air of romance about California, the Brazils, and Mexico, that has a peculiar charm for Jack, and has made them the subject of many a favourite shanty, as _Rio Grande, Valparaiso, Round the Horn,_ and _Santa Anna._ // I interpret that to be a list of *three* titles, the second of which is "Valparaiso, Round the Horn." (This is the same author who presumably meant ~"Oh Shenandoah" when they wrote "Oceanida." That is, title formatting is iffy.) I have not done so, but would not be surprised if, with some tweaking of words and armchair searching, one could produce a candidate for a music hall-ish song borrowed by sailors. The searching would be improved with good knowledge of when jokey Irish-themed minstrel-ish comic songs, like "Paddy on the Railway," were first in vogue on the stage. |
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19 Aug 23 - 07:01 AM (#4179461) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Lighter Nice find, Gibb. |
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19 Aug 23 - 01:32 PM (#4179502) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Robert B. Waltz Gibb Sahib wrote, I feel comfortable supposing that the article "On Shanties," in an August 1868 issue of _Once a Week_, refers to this song. May I cite your research on this in the Ballad Index? I don't think it's quite firm enough to cite as a guaranteed date, but it's certainly worth noting! |
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19 Aug 23 - 03:36 PM (#4179515) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Lighter The plain diction, developed plot, and straight-ahead style of the song strike me as very modern for the 1860s. Not very minstrel-like. |
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19 Aug 23 - 05:31 PM (#4179533) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Gibb Sahib Lighter, When I say minstrel-ish, to be clear (and maybe my term is poor, or misused), I am broadly evoking stage caricature and comic popular song with a penchant for playing on ethnic/national stereotypes—rather than only songs that reference African American ethnicity. Stuff like THIS, published 1854 , in which I could see "Paddy Lay Back" fitting. Or THIS , where "Paddy on the Railway" is indicated as being set to "King of the Cannibal Islands." I'm recalling one of the discussions circa 1915 when Richard Runciman Terry presented on shanties to colleagues and one remarked that he remembered "Paddy on the Railway" being a "Christy's Minstrels" item. My basic, not expert, understanding from some of the scholarship on blackface minstrelsy is that even in the early period, minstrels did plenty of send-ups of Italian (opera) music, i.e. not only "Ethiopian delineation." A few decades later, I observe collections to include a wider range with "sauerkraut"/German caricatures, "Paddy"/Irish caricatures, and even some Chinese pidgin... the minstrel model developing into vaudeville. I'd welcome a better characterization. I'm simply making a distinction between sailor song that strikes me as material derived more from popular theater performance as opposed to those items (including much of the "core" chanty repertoire) that sound more "folky" (disseminated among peers in off-stage contexts). Robert, Sure! It's a familiar source in these discussions, but flies under the radar a bit due to the uncommon title. A few subsequent publications, which I can only imagine are derivative of the _Once a Week_ piece, parse "Valparaiso" and "Round the Horn" as two separate items. *** If the 1868 source does indeed refer to our song, it may be notable that we don't (yet) have more documentation until decades later. In the narrow context of "chanties" and their performance context, it's a hard song to sing. Dick Maitland's performance for Doerflinger shows how hard it might have been to keep in one's repertoire (due to its long narrative and more sophisticated rhyme-scheme) unless the singer really made it a point to practice it and keep it fresh. |
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19 Aug 23 - 06:06 PM (#4179536) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Gibb Sahib A note in the JM Carpenter collection materials says, 'Mr Stevenson heard 70s-80s'. Evidently, this was written in the margins of a text transcription of Benjamin Bright's performance in 1929. https://www.dhi.ac.uk/carpenter/ginit.jsp?src=box1pac1.xml&id=p00427.0 I don't find a digitized file of that manuscript in the VWML. Perhaps they haven't gotten to it yet? I suppose "Mr. Stevenson" was another of Carpenter's sailor interviewees, James Stevenson. My sketchy and old notes have that Carpenter also collected the song from James Dwyer, William Rennie (at sea 1880-1895?), and John Vass. |
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19 Aug 23 - 06:20 PM (#4179539) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Robert B. Waltz Gibb Sahib write: Sure! It's a familiar source in these discussions, but flies under the radar a bit due to the uncommon title. A few subsequent publications, which I can only imagine are derivative of the _Once a Week_ piece, parse "Valparaiso" and "Round the Horn" as two separate items. Understandable, given the syntax. But your argument that it's one song makes sense. As I say, it's worth a mention. Thank you! |
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19 Aug 23 - 07:14 PM (#4179541) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Robert B. Waltz A further thank you to Gibb Sahib. Checking that article on Google Books led me to cite it for seven different songs and mention it in connection with several more. In four cases, it was the earliest mention of the song. That's a lot of mileage for a two page item. :-) |
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22 Aug 23 - 06:14 PM (#4179689) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: GUEST,Sean Breadin Lovely! Thanks all for some fascinating insights. |
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22 Aug 23 - 08:21 PM (#4179696) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Lighter Hugill recorded the song for the BBC on May 15, 1954. Regrettably the recording is not online. |
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23 Aug 23 - 03:43 AM (#4179713) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: GUEST,RJM I remember[ 1970s] a couple of people doubting the authenticity of this song. I am not saying they were correct, but is their proof of its authenticity.other than Hugill? |
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23 Aug 23 - 03:59 AM (#4179716) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Robert B. Waltz RJM wrote: I remember[ 1970s] a couple of people doubting the authenticity of this song. I am not saying they were correct, but is their proof of its authenticity.other than Hugill? Doerflinger. Bone. Colcord. Hugill. Even if you ignore the 1868 reference, this is extremely strong attestation. |
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23 Aug 23 - 04:43 AM (#4179720) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Gibb Sahib Royston Clifford sang the song in 1907 (recorded by Percy Grainger, London). Clifford is described as an "old salt" in material about Grainger's activities, but I don't know his biography. https://sounds.bl.uk/sounds/bout-ship-1001180075860x000006 |
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23 Aug 23 - 03:47 PM (#4179728) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Lighter Clifford (July 10, 1908): It was about last November, And all my money I had spent. And as quite usual for a sailor. A-down to the shipping office I went. Cho.: Oh, Johnny, come back. Heave in the slack. Heave away our capstan, heave a pawl, heave a paw-aw-aw-awl! ‘Bout ship’s stations, boys, be handy. Raise tacks, sheets, and mains’l haul! Now in my bag I had a bottle, For to [?knot the days with sleep]. I went to wet my bleedin’ throttle, When once the skipper I did see. Cho. Line 2, stanza 2, is hard to decipher. |
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23 Aug 23 - 03:54 PM (#4179729) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: meself pawl noun 'p?l : a pivoted tongue or sliding bolt on one part of a machine that is adapted to fall into notches or interdental spaces on another part so as to permit motion in only one direction - Mirriam-Webster Can anyone explain "heave a pawl" - in under a thousand words? |
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23 Aug 23 - 06:50 PM (#4179743) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Gibb Sahib meself, A capstan has several small pawls at its base, around its circumference, to prevent it from revolving backwards. As the sailors heave (push) the capstan around in the forward direction, the pawls are continuously lifted out of their notches and then fall back into the next notch that comes around. The constant "ping ping" sound of iron against iron in this video is the sound of the pawls falling into the notches. A brake windlass has one great pawl. It's the big rectangular piece of iron that is falling into the notches at the start of this video. . "Heave a pawl" literally means to heave (push) the device so a pawl's-worth increment of rotation occurs. Of course, in practice you'll be rotating the device much more than one pawl's worth, so the phrase is more figurative in the songs and more just like "Heave!"(with the possible implication that the anchor's stuck, work has slowed to a crawl, and you've got to put an enormous effort just to gain an additional pawl's worth of progress). "Heave AND pawl" is something different: An order, at the completion of the capstan maneuver, to push the capstan forward just enough to be sure all the pawls have fallen into their notches (and thus secured) rather than in halfway-up position. Otherwise, the capstan might lurch backwards if you suddenly ceased all pressure in the forward direction. |
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23 Aug 23 - 06:59 PM (#4179744) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Gibb Sahib Oops, sorry, Lighter, for the wrong date on Clifford recording! Thanks for correction. Robert, Maybe this source was the rationale for the c.1898-1900 date you mentioned earlier? Carlton Dawe, _The Voyage of the "Pulo Way"_, 1899. Page 83. https://books.google.com/books?id=BSpHAQAAMAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&printsec= |
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23 Aug 23 - 07:45 PM (#4179753) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Gibb Sahib An additional stab at the transcription! Twas in the cold month of November, When all my money I had spent. It is quite usual for a sailor. So back to the shipping office I went. Oh, Johnny, come back. Heave in the slack. Heave away your capstan, heave a pawl, heave a paw-aw-aw-awl! ‘Bout ship, staysails, [then?] be handy. Raise tacks, sheets, and mains’l haul! Now in my bag I had a bottle, The boarding master gave [it?] me. Twas when to wet my bleedin’ throttle, When was the skipper I did see. |
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23 Aug 23 - 07:46 PM (#4179754) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Robert B. Waltz Gibb Sahib wrote: Robert, Maybe this source was the rationale for the c.1898-1900 date you mentioned earlier? Carlton Dawe, _The Voyage of the "Pulo Way"_, 1899. Page 83. I wish I knew. I would have had the date at second-hand, with Doerflinger being my best guess for the source because that's the book that caused me to put the song in the Ballad Index -- but there is no way to reconstruct after twenty-odd years; Doerflinger was among the very first books I indexed. (The "foundation documents" of the Ballad Index, so to speak, were Child, Laws, Randolph, Eddy, and Doerflinger, plus Lomax's Folk Songs of North America, because those were the high-quality collections I had at the time. Maybe one or two others that I don't recall off the top of my head. But those were the early books.) The other side is, that's a quality citation, so I'm going to put it into the Ballad Index either way. :-) Thank you again. |
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23 Aug 23 - 07:53 PM (#4179755) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: meself Thank you, Gibb; I get the idea now! |
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23 Aug 23 - 08:33 PM (#4179761) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Lighter William B. Sturtevant, in "The American Neptune" (1941), referring to 1886: 1. 'Twas in London in the cold month of December, That I found that all my money it was spent. How I got there I just don't remember, But I down to the shipping office went. On that day there was a great demand for sailors, For India, China, Java, and for France, So I shipped before the mast on the Oxford, And we went away to booze all our advance. Chorus. Then it's get back, give in the slack, Bear away your capstan, heave a paul. [sic] 'Bout ship staysails boys be handy, Then it's raise tacks, sheets and mainsail haul. 2. We all came on board on a Sunday morning, And everyone was heavy on the booze. So I sat down on my chest aquietly [sic] thinking, Whether I'd turn in my bunk and have a snooze, When I heard a voice loudly calling, I listened and I heard that voice again. It was the chief mate at the forecastle door a-howling! Come lay aft boys and answer to your names. Chorus: etc. |
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23 Aug 23 - 09:10 PM (#4179764) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch So when and where did the actual “Paddy lay back...” bit first make its appearance? “Although really outward bound from Rio, as far as the crew is concerned the “Guarneri” is homeward bound for most of them hail from North Sea ports. One may be sure that they put real sentiment into the ancient Chanty: "PADDY LAY BACK" It was on a cold and wintry morning in December That I walked along the streets of Dublin Town, Where my money had all gone I couldn't remember An' I hadn't got a friend in all the town So I signed up on a brig called the “Oxford.” Bound for Chile an' Peru, They were a jolly bunch I well remember–– The skipper, mates, the cook an' all the crew. Chorus: “Oh, Paddy, lay back, Pull in your slack, All hands round the capstan, Heave up all! 'Tis a cold and wintry morning in December An' we're bound for the West Coast–– Round the Horn.” The Chantyman's job is an important one and he is generally a big-chested, leather-lunged and weather-tanned descendent of the long dead tribe of King's Jesters for the Chantyman must be able to improvise at a moment's notice proper stanzas in accordance with passing events aboard the ship. He is of a humorous turn of mind, and by a witty stanza or two manages to keep the crew in a happy frame of mind even at the most discouraging moments.” [D'Oliveira, L.V. LeCocq, White Wings, Brazilian American, vol.12, no.295, 20 June 1925] Also: On the Banks of the Sacramento Blow the Man Down Robin Ranso Yarra River Bound for Baltimore |
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24 Aug 23 - 12:03 AM (#4179768) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Gibb Sahib Some or other Mr. Vass (John? The first names appear to be rather confounded in the records) sang "Paddy" for J.M. Carpenter, 1931, I think. Recording Perhaps significantly, we now have at least three versions that mention "The Oxford." Just prior to the text Lighter quoted, the writer refers to the song as "The Oxford" (sung in leisure time). |
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24 Aug 23 - 07:43 AM (#4179795) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Lighter Four versions. Thomas Ginovan, Bristol, for Carpenter ca1928: MAINS'L HAUL Once within the middle of December, Hard up for booze and money spent; Where it went to I do not remember, So down to the shipping office went. There was a great demand for sailors, For New York, China, and Japan, I shipped on board the Oxford, And I went upon the spree with my advance. Oh, Paddy, Get Back, Take in the slack! Heave away the capstan, heave a pawl! Heave a pawl! Bout ship [sic] station, boys, be handy! Rise [sic] tacks sheets and mains'l haul. Now next day I stowed my things aboard her, My head piece was sore from too much booze. So I sat upon me chest a quietly thinking, To turn in my bunk and have a snooze. But it seemed that I heard a voice a shouting, I listened till I heard the voice again. 'Twas the chief mate upon the poop a shouting, "All aft, boys, and answer to your name!" Now when I arrived upon the quarterdeck, Such a sight, boys, I never saw before. There were men there who came from every nation, Which made my poor heart feel sick and sore. I wished meself back at the Jolly Sailors, Drinking whiskey punch along with Irish Kate, I thought what fools were we poor sailors, We always find it out when it's too late. In my chest I knew there was a bottle, Because I saw the boarding master put it there; So I thought it best to go and wet my throttle, I [sic] see if I could drive away dull care. So down on my knees as quick as thunder, Groping like a pig all in a trough, Oh shipmates you cannot guess my wonder, When I found it was a bottle for my cough. |
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24 Aug 23 - 11:20 PM (#4179896) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Gibb Sahib Nice. Too bad "Oxford" is such a wild card in database searching, otherwise one might find "the ballad of the Oxford" or some such thing. Indeed, "Oxford" breaks the ideal rhyme scheme, so to retain it, rather than to substitute something else to make rhyme, could suggest it is essential to include. In which case the germ of the idea of the song might revolve less around the pathetic character of a "Paddy" and the unfortunate-yet-typical situations he gets in, in general, and more around the tale of a particular ship. I wonder if Hugill's "[Limey barque the] Hotspur" isn't also a mishearing of "Oxford." |
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25 Aug 23 - 12:26 AM (#4179898) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Gibb Sahib Snippets, from Sea Breezes magazine, 1954 // [pg226] [March 1954, queries section, "Slop Chest"] WORDS WANTED I am trying to find the words of a sea chanty, the chorus of which goes:- “When Paddy comes back, heave in the slack, Heave around the capstan, heave a-pall, heave a-pall, ‘Bout ship, stations lads, be handy, rise tacks sheets and mainsail haul.” Can any reader help? W. R. Auld [pg263] …the local talent among us. There were mouth organ and mandolin recitals. Somehow chanties were taboo. Partly because they were considered “shop” and usually when a crowd got singing “Amsterdam” no holds were barred… [pg 306] CHANTY COLLECTOR I am a collector of sea chanties… pg 314 NOT A WORKING CHANTY I am glad to be able to answer the query of Mr. W. R. Auld… …for the words of the song—it was not a working chanty—of which he gave the chorus. The first verse and chorus ran: It was a cold and frosty morning in December When my money was all spent. Where it had gone I didn’t remember As to the shipping office I went. That day there was a great demand for sailors For Melbourne and for ‘Frisco and for France And I shipped aboard of the “Harold” And went to town to cash my month’s advance Chorus: She’s all aback, heave in the slack… // |
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25 Aug 23 - 02:51 AM (#4179902) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Gibb Sahib Albert Sonnichsen, _Deep Sea Vagabonds_ (New York, 1903) Sonnichsen, a San Francisco native, goes to sea in 1896. In his voyages, he refers to / quotes some items he labels as "old chanty": RIO GRANDE, BANKS OF SACRAMENTO, and ROLLING HOME. He appears to distinguish "song" and "chanty," because he writes (p125) "There was much work to be done yet in making the ship fast both fore and aft, but gaily we did it, roaring out songs and chanties as we skipped about the windlass." In April 1897, he is in a British ship headed up the English Channel. Here, he quotes PADDY LAY BACK and calls it a "song." The crew is suffering a bit having to tack so much and their arms freezing with icy water. Pg. 171: // We tried hard to take it philosophically, and even sang while we pulled and hauled at the braces the old song, the chorus to which is: “Oh carry me back, Heave in the slack, Take her to the capstan, Heave a pawl, heave a pawl. Bout ship, station lads, be handy Up tacks, sheets and mainsail haul.” // |
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25 Aug 23 - 09:24 AM (#4179916) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Lighter Gibb, is it true that Ginovan's and Hugill's are the only known full versions? |
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25 Aug 23 - 01:51 PM (#4179937) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Robert B. Waltz Ligher wrote: Gibb, is it true that Ginovan's and Hugill's are the only known full versions? Not sure what you mean by a "full" version, but Doerflinger's (from Maitland) is quite long -- 13 stanzas plus a variant final stanza. Colcord's is shorter -- 5 stanzas -- but I'd still call it a substantial version. I'm too lazy to check every version I have indexed, but there are clearly a number of substantial versions; they aren't all fragments. |
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25 Aug 23 - 06:19 PM (#4179961) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Gibb Sahib Lighter-- I don't know. I'm just along for the ride! It turns out that for me, the usefulness of all these fragments and snippets is to get better ideas on how to search for documentation of this song (and discover other things in the process). I also appreciate the greater clarity on where the song fell in relation to work applications and/or being considered as a "chanty." I forget now where I saw it (!), but one writer said (their interpretation) that the song was about a *Briton* joining a ship of mixed nationalities, and we've now seen that versions with "Paddy" do not necessarily predominate. That compels me to revise my earlier musing in this thread about possibly finding this song among a repertoire of Irish caricature ("Paddy") songs. Which is a good thing. *** Here's another snippet: _Yachting_ vol. 55 (1934), pg. 33: // Suddenly I paused and listened intently ; the words of a strange song reached my ears like an echo of a by-gone day: "Arrah!—get back! Take in the slack! Bear away the capstan, heave a pawl; 'Bout ship! Stations! Boys, be handy. Raise tacks, sheets; and mains’l haul!” // |
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30 Aug 23 - 05:32 PM (#4180337) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Anglo Gibb mentioned, above, the version given by Benjamin Bright, from 1929 in the Carpenter collection. Could this be the same Ben Bright that Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger collected a few decades later? Unfortunately my library is currently in disarray, and I can't put my hand on Ewan's monograph. |
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30 Aug 23 - 05:32 PM (#4189560) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Anglo Gibb mentioned, above, the version given by Benjamin Bright, from 1929 in the Carpenter collection. Could this be the same Ben Bright that Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger collected a few decades later? Unfortunately my library is currently in disarray, and I can't put my hand on Ewan's monograph. |
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30 Aug 23 - 05:52 PM (#4189561) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Lighter "The People and the Collectivist" (Sydney) (June 9, 1900): "While the tug conveyed us down the river to where the vessel lay at anchor the chortling idiots who accompanied me kept me awake by singing: Get back, Take in your slack, Heave away the capstan, Heave apaul [sic] Bout ship! [S]tations, boys, be handy, Lay home tacks, Sheets and mainsail haul." |
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30 Aug 23 - 05:52 PM (#4180338) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Lighter "The People and the Collectivist" (Sydney) (June 9, 1900): "While the tug conveyed us down the river to where the vessel lay at anchor the chortling idiots who accompanied me kept me awake by singing: Get back, Take in your slack, Heave away the capstan, Heave apaul [sic] Bout ship! [S]tations, boys, be handy, Lay home tacks, Sheets and mainsail haul." |
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30 Aug 23 - 07:04 PM (#4180345) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Lighter Los Angeles Express (Jan. 26, 1919): "I was in London in the cold month of December, And all of my wages I had spent. Oh how it went today I can't remember, But I down unto a shipping office went. In those days there was a great demand for sailors, From London around Cape Horn and back to France, So I shipped me aboard a bark called the Oxford, Oh, here's to take a drink to my advance. CHORUS. Paddy go whack, take in the slack, and heave away the capstan, Heave a pull, heave a pull. For we're bound, ship staysails, boys be handy, We're bound to Valparaiso round Cape Horn." |
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30 Aug 23 - 07:04 PM (#4189562) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Lighter Los Angeles Express (Jan. 26, 1919): "I was in London in the cold month of December, And all of my wages I had spent. Oh how it went today I can't remember, But I down unto a shipping office went. In those days there was a great demand for sailors, From London around Cape Horn and back to France, So I shipped me aboard a bark called the Oxford, Oh, here's to take a drink to my advance. CHORUS. Paddy go whack, take in the slack, and heave away the capstan, Heave a pull, heave a pull. For we're bound, ship staysails, boys be handy, We're bound to Valparaiso round Cape Horn." |
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31 Aug 23 - 01:17 AM (#4189569) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Gibb Sahib The text from Bone, _Capstan Bars_ (1931), for reference. He classes it among "fo'cas'le ditties." As Robert mentioned above, Bone notes that it was "popular in 1900" and "I have not heard it since then." THE LIVERPOOL SONG ‘Twas in th’ cold month of December, When all my money I had spent, I shipped in the Clipper ship ‘Defender,’ An’ away to the west-ard I went. CHORUS An’ it is ‘Get ye back.’ Ho! ‘Take in y’er slack.’ Ho! Heave away th’ capstan. Heave a pawl. Heave a pawl! ‘Bout ship: stations, boys, be handy. Raise tacks, sheets, an’ mains’l haul! I joined on a bitter winter’s morning. A-frappin’ my arms to keep warm. An’ th’ south cone a-hoisted for a warnin’ To stand by th’ makin’ of a storm. It was then that I heard a voice a-callin’. I listened and I heard it again. ‘Twas th’ mate at th’ fo’cas’le door a-bawlin’. ‘Oh, lay aft an’ answer t’ y’er name.’ An’ when I arrived upon th’ quarter-deck, Great Heavens, what a sight was there to see: There were remnants of nearly every nation. An’ I tell you th’ sight did sicken me. There was Dutchmen an’ Roosians an’ Spanish, An’ Johnny Creepaws straight across from France, An’ most didn’t know a word of English, But answered to the name o’ ‘Month’s Advance.’ Now in my chest I had a bottle. I saw my boarding master put it there. So I slipped off th’ deck t’ wet my throttle, To drown off my sorrow an’ my care. NB: The melody of the first two lines of the chorus is significantly different than Hugill's familiar melody version. |
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31 Aug 23 - 01:17 AM (#4180361) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Gibb Sahib The text from Bone, _Capstan Bars_ (1931), for reference. He classes it among "fo'cas'le ditties." As Robert mentioned above, Bone notes that it was "popular in 1900" and "I have not heard it since then." THE LIVERPOOL SONG ‘Twas in th’ cold month of December, When all my money I had spent, I shipped in the Clipper ship ‘Defender,’ An’ away to the west-ard I went. CHORUS An’ it is ‘Get ye back.’ Ho! ‘Take in y’er slack.’ Ho! Heave away th’ capstan. Heave a pawl. Heave a pawl! ‘Bout ship: stations, boys, be handy. Raise tacks, sheets, an’ mains’l haul! I joined on a bitter winter’s morning. A-frappin’ my arms to keep warm. An’ th’ south cone a-hoisted for a warnin’ To stand by th’ makin’ of a storm. It was then that I heard a voice a-callin’. I listened and I heard it again. ‘Twas th’ mate at th’ fo’cas’le door a-bawlin’. ‘Oh, lay aft an’ answer t’ y’er name.’ An’ when I arrived upon th’ quarter-deck, Great Heavens, what a sight was there to see: There were remnants of nearly every nation. An’ I tell you th’ sight did sicken me. There was Dutchmen an’ Roosians an’ Spanish, An’ Johnny Creepaws straight across from France, An’ most didn’t know a word of English, But answered to the name o’ ‘Month’s Advance.’ Now in my chest I had a bottle. I saw my boarding master put it there. So I slipped off th’ deck t’ wet my throttle, To drown off my sorrow an’ my care. NB: The melody of the first two lines of the chorus is significantly different than Hugill's familiar melody version. |
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31 Aug 23 - 01:33 AM (#4180362) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: meself "Johnny Creepaws"? |
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31 Aug 23 - 01:33 AM (#4189567) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: meself "Johnny Creepaws"? |
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31 Aug 23 - 02:12 AM (#4189570) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Gibb Sahib Johnny Crapaud-s Crapaud - French for "frog" |
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31 Aug 23 - 02:12 AM (#4180363) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Gibb Sahib Johnny Crapaud-s Crapaud - French for "frog" |
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31 Aug 23 - 09:50 AM (#4180382) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Lighter Thanks for posting, Gibb. Technically, "crapaud" means "toad" in English, but it was a common seafaring term for the French, often as "Johnny Crapaud." |
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31 Aug 23 - 09:50 AM (#4189563) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Lighter Thanks for posting, Gibb. Technically, "crapaud" means "toad" in English, but it was a common seafaring term for the French, often as "Johnny Crapaud." |
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31 Aug 23 - 10:17 AM (#4189576) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: MaJoC the Filk > "toad" in English .... "Borrowed from French", quoth Wictionary. My hardcopy Collins's* agrees, and adds "(Caribbean)", which suggests a migration route for the word as a pejorative. * That's not definitively helpful, as it's the first edition of the computer-sorted version, complete with the interesting errors (eg confusing Sardinia with Sardos as the origin of "sardonic"). |
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31 Aug 23 - 10:17 AM (#4180384) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: MaJoC the Filk > "toad" in English .... "Borrowed from French", quoth Wictionary. My hardcopy Collins's* agrees, and adds "(Caribbean)", which suggests a migration route for the word as a pejorative. * That's not definitively helpful, as it's the first edition of the computer-sorted version, complete with the interesting errors (eg confusing Sardinia with Sardos as the origin of "sardonic"). |
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31 Aug 23 - 10:46 AM (#4180386) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Lighter I'm persuading myself that the 1868 reference to "Valparaiso, Round the Horn" isn't to this song but to the one commonly called "Rounding the Horn" or "The Girls Around Cape Horn" - about the ship "California," the frigate "Amphitrite," the ship "Conway," etc. (Roud 4706). The style and diction of "Paddy Lay Back" is just too post-romantic for me. There are no "poetic" cliches, no sentimentality, no "brave boys," etc.: circumstantial, plain-spoken, first-person realism only. It's the fresh first-person realism, undiluted, that impresses me: the narrator is an individual, not a conventional figure or a "we." He insists that he did and saw these many, very specific things personally and makes no attempt to generalize, moralize, or aestheticize them. The style just doesn't strike me as typical of the 1860s or earlier. Unless new evidence shows up, I'd date "Paddy" to ca1885 or later. Tentatively. |
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31 Aug 23 - 10:46 AM (#4189564) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Lighter I'm persuading myself that the 1868 reference to "Valparaiso, Round the Horn" isn't to this song but to the one commonly called "Rounding the Horn" or "The Girls Around Cape Horn" - about the ship "California," the frigate "Amphitrite," the ship "Conway," etc. (Roud 4706). The style and diction of "Paddy Lay Back" is just too post-romantic for me. There are no "poetic" cliches, no sentimentality, no "brave boys," etc.: circumstantial, plain-spoken, first-person realism only. It's the fresh first-person realism, undiluted, that impresses me: the narrator is an individual, not a conventional figure or a "we." He insists that he did and saw these many, very specific things personally and makes no attempt to generalize, moralize, or aestheticize them. The style just doesn't strike me as typical of the 1860s or earlier. Unless new evidence shows up, I'd date "Paddy" to ca1885 or later. Tentatively. |
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31 Aug 23 - 11:15 AM (#4189568) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: meself Thanks for the explanation re: "Johnny Creepaws". I like it when I know what I'm singing about (in a literary sense, at least, having had only a very brief stint at sea - a long time ago now, but not quite in the Age of Sail). |
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31 Aug 23 - 11:15 AM (#4180388) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: meself Thanks for the explanation re: "Johnny Creepaws". I like it when I know what I'm singing about (in a literary sense, at least, having had only a very brief stint at sea - a long time ago now, but not quite in the Age of Sail). |
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31 Aug 23 - 04:21 PM (#4180402) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Gibb Sahib I agree with your reasoning, Lighter. Yet, some possible arguments against: 1. If the song originates in the stage/commercial sphere, I wouldn't rule out the first-person-singular voice. 2. Some of the "post-romantic" tone could be later accretion as the song developed through later periods. The chorus of "WE'RE bound for Valparaiso" could be an older bit, with new balladry spliced in as the solos. 3. I'm somewhat put off by the prospect that the 1868 writer would include a straight up ballad, no chorus, among the shanties. Even while "Paddy Get Back" is not the model chanty, and (by rough count) as many or more sources say it wasn't a work song, it does "work" as a capstan work song. I might be giving the writer too much credit, but I lean towards suspecting they would have distinguished such a song as "Rounding the Horn" rather than lumping it with the other repertoire. |
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31 Aug 23 - 04:21 PM (#4189571) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Gibb Sahib I agree with your reasoning, Lighter. Yet, some possible arguments against: 1. If the song originates in the stage/commercial sphere, I wouldn't rule out the first-person-singular voice. 2. Some of the "post-romantic" tone could be later accretion as the song developed through later periods. The chorus of "WE'RE bound for Valparaiso" could be an older bit, with new balladry spliced in as the solos. 3. I'm somewhat put off by the prospect that the 1868 writer would include a straight up ballad, no chorus, among the shanties. Even while "Paddy Get Back" is not the model chanty, and (by rough count) as many or more sources say it wasn't a work song, it does "work" as a capstan work song. I might be giving the writer too much credit, but I lean towards suspecting they would have distinguished such a song as "Rounding the Horn" rather than lumping it with the other repertoire. |
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01 Sep 23 - 10:38 AM (#4189565) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Lighter Gibb, unless an enlightening text of one or the other turns up before 1869, I'd say we can't know. But there's no doubt that "Mains'l Haul" was well known at sea in the late 19th century, which was part of the OP's question. (As was "Rounding the Horn." Heh-heh.) |
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01 Sep 23 - 10:38 AM (#4180440) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Lighter Gibb, unless an enlightening text of one or the other turns up before 1869, I'd say we can't know. But there's no doubt that "Mains'l Haul" was well known at sea in the late 19th century, which was part of the OP's question. (As was "Rounding the Horn." Heh-heh.) |
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03 Sep 23 - 03:58 AM (#4180541) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Gibb Sahib I'm going to put up the Dick Maitland (1857-1942) versions. Significantly for this discussion, in the endnotes of Doerflinger's book (I'm reading the 1990 revised edition), it says that Maitland stated "that he sang the shanty on board an American vessel in 1877 and also heard it sung about that time by Mobile Bay cotton-stowers." Maitland first went to sea at age 12 (circa 1869), and is reported to have absorbed much about chantey singing in the first two years at sea. Does anyone have good info on his later sea-going career? I ask to get a sense of the likelihood that he may have picked up some of his shanties later than the 1870s. Here's the text of Maitland from _Songs of the Sailor and Lumbermen_. I think Doerflinger met Maitland for this in 1941? PADDY, GET BACK [w/ score] I was broke and out of a job in the city of London. I went down the Shadwell Docks to get a ship. Paddy get back, take in the slack! Heave away your capstan, heave a pawl, heave a pawl! ‘Bout ship and stations, there, be handy, Rise tacks ‘n’ sheets, ‘n’ mains’l haul! There was a Yankee ship a-laying in the basin. Shipping master told me she was going to New York! If I ever get my hands on that shipping master, I will murder him if it’s the last thing that I do! When the pilot left the ship, the captain told us We were bound around Cape Horn to Callao! And he said that she was hot and still a-heating, And the best thing we could do was watch our step. Now the mate and second mate belonged to Boston, And the captain b’longed in Bangor down in Maine. The three of them were rough-n’-tumble fighters. When not fighting amongst themselves, they fought with us. Oh, they called us out one night to reef the tops’ls. There was belayin’ pins a-flyin’ around the deck. We came on deck and went to set the tops’ls. Not a man among the bunch could sing a song. Oh, the mate he grabbed ahold of me by the collar. “If you don’t sing a song, I’ll break your blasted neck!” I got up and gave them a verse of “Reuben Ranzo.” Oh, the answer that I got would make you sick! It was three long months before we got to Callao, And the ship she was called a floating hell. We filled up there at Callao with saltpetre, And then back again around Cape Horn! or We filled up with saltpetre to the hatches And then bound around Cape Horn to Liverpool. |
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03 Sep 23 - 03:58 AM (#4189572) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Gibb Sahib I'm going to put up the Dick Maitland (1857-1942) versions. Significantly for this discussion, in the endnotes of Doerflinger's book (I'm reading the 1990 revised edition), it says that Maitland stated "that he sang the shanty on board an American vessel in 1877 and also heard it sung about that time by Mobile Bay cotton-stowers." Maitland first went to sea at age 12 (circa 1869), and is reported to have absorbed much about chantey singing in the first two years at sea. Does anyone have good info on his later sea-going career? I ask to get a sense of the likelihood that he may have picked up some of his shanties later than the 1870s. Here's the text of Maitland from _Songs of the Sailor and Lumbermen_. I think Doerflinger met Maitland for this in 1941? PADDY, GET BACK [w/ score] I was broke and out of a job in the city of London. I went down the Shadwell Docks to get a ship. Paddy get back, take in the slack! Heave away your capstan, heave a pawl, heave a pawl! ‘Bout ship and stations, there, be handy, Rise tacks ‘n’ sheets, ‘n’ mains’l haul! There was a Yankee ship a-laying in the basin. Shipping master told me she was going to New York! If I ever get my hands on that shipping master, I will murder him if it’s the last thing that I do! When the pilot left the ship, the captain told us We were bound around Cape Horn to Callao! And he said that she was hot and still a-heating, And the best thing we could do was watch our step. Now the mate and second mate belonged to Boston, And the captain b’longed in Bangor down in Maine. The three of them were rough-n’-tumble fighters. When not fighting amongst themselves, they fought with us. Oh, they called us out one night to reef the tops’ls. There was belayin’ pins a-flyin’ around the deck. We came on deck and went to set the tops’ls. Not a man among the bunch could sing a song. Oh, the mate he grabbed ahold of me by the collar. “If you don’t sing a song, I’ll break your blasted neck!” I got up and gave them a verse of “Reuben Ranzo.” Oh, the answer that I got would make you sick! It was three long months before we got to Callao, And the ship she was called a floating hell. We filled up there at Callao with saltpetre, And then back again around Cape Horn! or We filled up with saltpetre to the hatches And then bound around Cape Horn to Liverpool. |
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03 Sep 23 - 04:09 AM (#4189573) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Gibb Sahib Here's how Maitland sang the song for Alan Lomax in 1939. When comparing it to the text for Doerflinger (above), it appears less improvised. I mean, each text by itself looks like Maitland is just roughly narrating, not making rhyme and not remembering "the lyrics," but the fact that he sang it more or less the same both times makes it seem as though he'd settled on a stable text during those years. In the following, I omit the interjections explaining the song, that it was sung at the capstan, and the scolding of Lomax for asking where the "pulls" are. PADDY, GET BACK I was broke and out of a job in the city of London, I went down the Shadwell docks to get a ship. Paddy, get back, take in the slack, Heave away your capstan, heave a pawl, heave a pawl! ‘Bout ship and stations there be handy, Rise, tacks and sheets and mainsail, haul! There was a Yankee ship a-laying in the basin, Oh, they told me she was going to New York. If I ever lay my hands on that shipping master, Oh, I’ll murder him if it’s the last thing that I do. When the pilot left the ship way down the channel, Oh, the captain told us we were going around Cape Horn. The mate and second mate belonged to Boston, And the captain hailed from Bangor down in Maine. The three of them were rough and tumble fighters, When not fighting amongst themselves, they turned on us. Oh, they called us out one night to reef the topsails, Now with belaying pins a-flying around the deck. Oh, and we came on deck and went to set the topsails, Not a man among the bunch could sing a song. We had tinkers, we had tailors and firemen, also cooks, And they couldn’t sing a shanty unless they had the book. Oh, wasn’t that a bunch of hoodlums For to take a ship around Cape Horn! |
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03 Sep 23 - 04:09 AM (#4180543) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Gibb Sahib Here's how Maitland sang the song for Alan Lomax in 1939. When comparing it to the text for Doerflinger (above), it appears less improvised. I mean, each text by itself looks like Maitland is just roughly narrating, not making rhyme and not remembering "the lyrics," but the fact that he sang it more or less the same both times makes it seem as though he'd settled on a stable text during those years. In the following, I omit the interjections explaining the song, that it was sung at the capstan, and the scolding of Lomax for asking where the "pulls" are. PADDY, GET BACK I was broke and out of a job in the city of London, I went down the Shadwell docks to get a ship. Paddy, get back, take in the slack, Heave away your capstan, heave a pawl, heave a pawl! ‘Bout ship and stations there be handy, Rise, tacks and sheets and mainsail, haul! There was a Yankee ship a-laying in the basin, Oh, they told me she was going to New York. If I ever lay my hands on that shipping master, Oh, I’ll murder him if it’s the last thing that I do. When the pilot left the ship way down the channel, Oh, the captain told us we were going around Cape Horn. The mate and second mate belonged to Boston, And the captain hailed from Bangor down in Maine. The three of them were rough and tumble fighters, When not fighting amongst themselves, they turned on us. Oh, they called us out one night to reef the topsails, Now with belaying pins a-flying around the deck. Oh, and we came on deck and went to set the topsails, Not a man among the bunch could sing a song. We had tinkers, we had tailors and firemen, also cooks, And they couldn’t sing a shanty unless they had the book. Oh, wasn’t that a bunch of hoodlums For to take a ship around Cape Horn! |
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03 Sep 23 - 04:41 AM (#4180544) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Gibb Sahib In the 1942 volume of _The American Neptune_ (vol. 2), there is an offering for the holiday season at the very end, presented by Joanna Colcord. She refers to the version of "The Oxford" given in the previous year's volume (1941) by Sturtevant (discussed above). // Its rollicking tune, which probably boasts a music-hall origin, has never appeared in print, so far as I know. There are many versions, but the consistent pattern is that of a sailor shipping away from London or Liverpool on what he supposed to be an ‘easy voyage,' and finding, alas, that the boarding-master had deceived him! The words on the following page are from various sources; the air as it was sung to me by Captain Richard Maitland of Sailors' Snug Harbor. His complete version of the song is on records preserved in the Archive of American Folk-song of the Library of Congress. [the recording made by Lomax in 1939?] // So, it looks like Colcord took Maitland's story line and improved the rhymes and prosody, also inserting lines 3 and 4 from another source. I don't remember ever hearing before that Maitland sang for Colcord! Did Maitland actually sing groups of 4 lines between each chorus? That's how Colcord has it notated, though its not how Maitland sung it for Doerflinger and Lomax. PADDY, GET BACK [w/ score] I was broke and out of a job in the city of London, I went down to Shadwell Docks to get a ship. ‘Twas in the middle of the cold month of November, And I thought ‘twas time to make another trip. Paddy get back, take in the slack! Heave around the capstan, heave a pawl, heave a pawl ‘Bout ship and stations and be handy! Rise tacks and sheets and mains’l haul! There was a Yankee ship a-laying in the Basin, She was bound for New York, the boarding-master said. If I ever lay hands upon that boarding-master, I will be a month before he leaves his bed. The pilot left the ship ‘way down the Channel, And the captain said we was bound around Cape Horn. He told us if we did not do our duty He would make us wish we never had been born! The mate and second mate belonged to Boston, The Old Man hailed from Bangor down in Maine. The three of them was rough-and-tumble fighters; The treatment that we got, it was a shame. We was called on deck one night to reef the topsails, Belaying-pins was a-flying about the deck. The mate he got ahold of me by the collar: ‘If you don’t sing a song, I’ll break your neck!’ Etc., etc. |
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03 Sep 23 - 04:41 AM (#4189574) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Gibb Sahib In the 1942 volume of _The American Neptune_ (vol. 2), there is an offering for the holiday season at the very end, presented by Joanna Colcord. She refers to the version of "The Oxford" given in the previous year's volume (1941) by Sturtevant (discussed above). // Its rollicking tune, which probably boasts a music-hall origin, has never appeared in print, so far as I know. There are many versions, but the consistent pattern is that of a sailor shipping away from London or Liverpool on what he supposed to be an ‘easy voyage,' and finding, alas, that the boarding-master had deceived him! The words on the following page are from various sources; the air as it was sung to me by Captain Richard Maitland of Sailors' Snug Harbor. His complete version of the song is on records preserved in the Archive of American Folk-song of the Library of Congress. [the recording made by Lomax in 1939?] // So, it looks like Colcord took Maitland's story line and improved the rhymes and prosody, also inserting lines 3 and 4 from another source. I don't remember ever hearing before that Maitland sang for Colcord! Did Maitland actually sing groups of 4 lines between each chorus? That's how Colcord has it notated, though its not how Maitland sung it for Doerflinger and Lomax. PADDY, GET BACK [w/ score] I was broke and out of a job in the city of London, I went down to Shadwell Docks to get a ship. ‘Twas in the middle of the cold month of November, And I thought ‘twas time to make another trip. Paddy get back, take in the slack! Heave around the capstan, heave a pawl, heave a pawl ‘Bout ship and stations and be handy! Rise tacks and sheets and mains’l haul! There was a Yankee ship a-laying in the Basin, She was bound for New York, the boarding-master said. If I ever lay hands upon that boarding-master, I will be a month before he leaves his bed. The pilot left the ship ‘way down the Channel, And the captain said we was bound around Cape Horn. He told us if we did not do our duty He would make us wish we never had been born! The mate and second mate belonged to Boston, The Old Man hailed from Bangor down in Maine. The three of them was rough-and-tumble fighters; The treatment that we got, it was a shame. We was called on deck one night to reef the topsails, Belaying-pins was a-flying about the deck. The mate he got ahold of me by the collar: ‘If you don’t sing a song, I’ll break your neck!’ Etc., etc. |
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03 Sep 23 - 05:05 AM (#4189575) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Gibb Sahib Maitland performed at the Third National Folk Festival in Dallas, 1936. |
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03 Sep 23 - 05:05 AM (#4180546) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Gibb Sahib Maitland performed at the Third National Folk Festival in Dallas, 1936. |
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04 Oct 23 - 06:08 PM (#4183036) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Lighter John Sampson, "The Seven Seas Shanty Book" (1928). Sampson was a British chanteyman in the 1880s: MAINSAIL HAUL One morning in the month of cold December, And most of my money being spent, What day it was I scarcely can remember, But down to the Shipping Office went. Now that day there'd been a great demand for sailors, For India, for China and for France, And I shipped on board of the 'Oxford,' And went upon the spree with my advance. Chorus: Stand back, take in the slack, Bear away your capstan, heave a pawl, heave a pawl, 'Bout ship, stations boys, be handy. Rise tacks, sheets and mainsa'l haul. Now most of our sailors had been drinking, And some had been heavy on the boose, So I set upon my chest a-quietly thinking, Whether to turn in and have a snooze, When I heard a voice above me loudly calling. I listened and I heard the voice again, 'Twas the chief mate at the fo'c'sle door a-bawling, 'All hands lay aft and answer to your name. Chorus. Now when I arrived upon the quarter-deck Such a sight I'd never seen before, There were scallywags from every tribe and nation, It made my poor heart both sick and sore. Then I wished that I was back at the 'Jolly Sailors,' Along with Irish Kate a-drinking beer, Oh Kitty, my poor heart is breaking, I went for'ard for to shed a pitiful tear. Chorus. Now in my chest I knew I had a bottle. For I saw the boarding master put it there, So I thought that I would go and wet my throttle, Just to drive away my sorrow and my care. Then I fell down on my knees like thunder, A-groping like a pig around a trough, When to my astonishment and wonder, It was a bottle of medicine for a cough. Sampson observes, "This is a fairly modern sea song well known to all old sailing ship men, although the words will vary considerably....It is not of the music-hall type of sea song, but bears the marks of its nautical origin on every line." |
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04 Oct 23 - 06:08 PM (#4189566) Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back From: Lighter John Sampson, "The Seven Seas Shanty Book" (1928). Sampson was a British chanteyman in the 1880s: MAINSAIL HAUL One morning in the month of cold December, And most of my money being spent, What day it was I scarcely can remember, But down to the Shipping Office went. Now that day there'd been a great demand for sailors, For India, for China and for France, And I shipped on board of the 'Oxford,' And went upon the spree with my advance. Chorus: Stand back, take in the slack, Bear away your capstan, heave a pawl, heave a pawl, 'Bout ship, stations boys, be handy. Rise tacks, sheets and mainsa'l haul. Now most of our sailors had been drinking, And some had been heavy on the boose, So I set upon my chest a-quietly thinking, Whether to turn in and have a snooze, When I heard a voice above me loudly calling. I listened and I heard the voice again, 'Twas the chief mate at the fo'c'sle door a-bawling, 'All hands lay aft and answer to your name. Chorus. Now when I arrived upon the quarter-deck Such a sight I'd never seen before, There were scallywags from every tribe and nation, It made my poor heart both sick and sore. Then I wished that I was back at the 'Jolly Sailors,' Along with Irish Kate a-drinking beer, Oh Kitty, my poor heart is breaking, I went for'ard for to shed a pitiful tear. Chorus. Now in my chest I knew I had a bottle. For I saw the boarding master put it there, So I thought that I would go and wet my throttle, Just to drive away my sorrow and my care. Then I fell down on my knees like thunder, A-groping like a pig around a trough, When to my astonishment and wonder, It was a bottle of medicine for a cough. Sampson observes, "This is a fairly modern sea song well known to all old sailing ship men, although the words will vary considerably....It is not of the music-hall type of sea song, but bears the marks of its nautical origin on every line." |