Lyr Add: The Nantucket Girl's Song

24 Mar 01 - 01:48 PM (#424941)
Subject: The Nantucket Girl's Song
From: Naemanson

I am reading "In The Heart Of The Sea", a book about the sinking of the whaleship Essex. The author printed the words to The Nantucket Girl's Song as recorded by Eliza Brock in her journal sometime between 1853 and 1856. Here they are:

The Nantucket Girl's Song
Then I'll haste to wed a sailor,
And send him off to sea,
For a life of independence,
Is the pleasant life for me,
But every now and then,
I shall like to see his face,
For it always seems to me,
To beam with manly grace,
With his brow so nobly open,
And his dark and kindly eye,
Oh my heart beats fondly towards him,
Whenever he is nigh,
But when he says, "Goodbye, my love,
I'm off across the sea."
First I cry for his departure,
Then laugh because I'm free.

Anyone know of a tune to fit it?

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25 Mar 01 - 06:49 AM (#425243)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Nantucket Girl's Song
From: Naemanson

Refresh

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25 Mar 01 - 09:42 AM (#425267)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Nantucket Girl's Song
From: Jeri

Home, Boys, Home?

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25 Mar 01 - 11:01 AM (#425279)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Nantucket Girl's Song
From: Willie-O

Was that the one that was sunk by the whale in mid-Pacific, later inspiring Melville to "Moby Dick"?

arrrrh, damn salty yarn
W-O

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25 Mar 01 - 11:19 AM (#425283)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Nantucket Girl's Song
From: Naemanson

Yeah, Willie, that's the one. The new book was written from a recently discovered memoire of Thomas Nickerson, the youngest member of the crew.

By the way, that maple syrup was great! I'm going to have the last of it on some pancakes today.

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25 Mar 01 - 11:23 AM (#425285)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Nantucket Girl's Song
From: Malcolm Douglas

The terrible truth behind the legend of Moby Dick

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25 Mar 01 - 01:21 PM (#425306)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Nantucket Girl's Song
From: Naemanson

That's it.

In reading the book I am struck by the wanton destruction caused by these whale men. Of course it is wrong to apply our standards to their way of life but it is difficult not to. The book describes the whaling process and provisioning the ship. It is a bloody, smelly, horrid, destructive process as they rape the world in the name of profit and gain.

There are passages where the whalers realize the whales are becoming scarce but don't seem to connect that scarcity with their activities. they just acknowledge that they have to find another area where they can find and kill whales. They study the habits and habitat of the whales but only to learn where to find and kill them.

It is chilling to realize this is the same attitude that has driven business people down through the ages to our present time. Things haven't changed except that now there are people who push them to clean up their practices and become more conscious of what they are doing.

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