Sam Shepard music?

07 Mar 98 - 03:55 PM (#23261)
Subject: Sam Shepard music?
From:

I am working on the Sam Shepard play called true west. One of the characters sings a song that goes like this. Red Sails in the sunset Way out in the blue Please carry my loved one Safley home to me

I am pretty sure it's an old sailors song but I can't find it anywhere. If anyone can find out for me and send me a message of where to look at [e-mail] it would be much appreciated.

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07 Mar 98 - 05:42 PM (#23268)
Subject: RE: Sam Shepard music?
From: Earl

I don't know about its roots but it was a pop song in the 50's. Here is how Nat King Cole sang it. (BTW in the late 60's Sam Shepard played drums for the Holy Modal Rounders.)

Red Sails In The Sunset

{Red sails in the sunset, way out on the sea}
Oh, carry my loved one home safely to me
{She sailed at the dawning, all day I've been blue}
Red sails in the sunset, I'm trusting in you

Swift wings you must borrow
Make straight for the shore
We marry tomorrow
And she goes sailing no more

{Red sails in the sunset, way out on the sea}
Oh, carry my loved one home safely to me

Swift wings you must borrow
Make straight for the shore
We marry tomorrow
And she goes sailing no more

{Red sails in the sunset}
Way out on the sea (ooh-wee-ooh, wee-ooh)
Oh, carry my loved one
{Home safely to me}

{bracketed words are sung by Nat in unison with background singers}
(words in parentheses are sung by background singers only)

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22 Jan 13 - 04:59 PM (#3470107)
Subject: RE: Sam Shepard music?
From: GUEST,M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_Xg_md46Sw

I thought this was too funny not to share.

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23 Jan 13 - 01:39 PM (#3470459)
Subject: RE: Sam Shepard music?
From: GUEST,c.g.

I think it maybe older than the 50's - I remember reading a parody which was something like 'Red sails in the sunset/red stains on the knife/oh Dr. Buck Ruckston/you murdered your wife/the nursemaid she saw/and she threatened to tell/oh Dr. Buck Ruckston/you killed her as well.

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23 Jan 13 - 08:55 PM (#3470605)
Subject: RE: Sam Shepard music?
From: Ross Campbell

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Sails_in_the_Sunset_%28song%29 indicates the song is from 1935

Ron Baxter may have had the Buck Ruxton parody in mind when he came up with his Fleetwood/Fishing version which goes -

"Red Stains on yer gansey
Red stains on yer knife;
We've been here a-guttin'
Since the clock's been round twice."

From the days when trawler-hands gutted the catch on the open decks. If a skipper found a good spot, trawling would continue as long as there were fish to be caught. The song goes on to describe an incident where the skipper apparently allowed the crew a watch (four hours) below. However, after only an hour he ordered the "sparks" (radio officer) to put all the clocks three hours forward and rouse the crew.

If I can find the rest of the words, I'll post them in the Fleetwood and Fishing Permathread.

Ross

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24 Jan 13 - 05:56 AM (#3470699)
Subject: RE: Sam Shepard music?
From: Will Fly

"Red Sails In The Sunset" was published in 1935, and thus saith the Great Wiki:

The song was inspired by the "red sails" of Kitty of Coleraine, a yacht Kennedy often saw off the northern coast of Ireland and by his adopted town Portstewart, a seaside resort in County Londonderry.

Some of the earliest versions were recorded by Al Bowlly with Ray Noble and his Orchestra on September 18, 1935 and Guy Lombardo, on October 11, 1935. This recording was issued by Decca Records as catalog number 585.

As a teenager in the '60s, I used to lark around with the gang in Dalton Square in Lancaster, and look at the then, still boarded-up house where Dr. Buck Ruxton cut up his wife and maid. The hoodoo seems to have gone from it now and it's back in use again.

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