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25 Aug 04 - 12:32 PM (#1256443) Subject: Lyr Add: HANGING JOHNNY From: radriano Wayne State University Press has recently published "Windjammers: Songs of the Great Lakes Sailors" by Ivan H. Walton and Joe Grimm, 2002. The collection contains an interesting version of the halyard shanty "Hanging Johnny" along with comments about the song that I had not heard before. HANGING JOHNNY Compilation as recalled by Carl Joys of Milwaukee (first four stanzas), Captain Timothy Kelly of Manitowoc, Wisconsin (fifth stanza), and Captain W.A. Ashley of Milwaukee (last six stanzas and his version of the melody). When [Robert] Collen was shown these stanzas, his remark was, "Yep, yep, but dere's lots more." They call me "Hanging Johnny" Chorus: Hooray, boys, hooray! Oh, they call me "Hanging Johnny" Chorus: Hooray, boys, hooray! Oh, hang and haul together Oh, hang for better weather We'll sway and hang together Like seabirds of a feather They call me "Hanging Johnny" They say I hang for money They say I hung my mother An' then I hung my brother I'd hang all boarding' bosses Who nicked us for their losses I'd hang all scrimpin' owners The same as any Jon-er I'd hang a careless rigger Who couldn't plan or figger I'd hang all buck-o-mates All on the Devil's gates I'd hang a lazy soger The same as any other I'd hang 'em all together I'd hang 'em all together NOTES FROM THE BOOK: The halyard chantey "Hanging Johnny," like many others sung on Great Lakes vessels, was an import from salt water, where it was widely used. Ocean sailor Frederick Pease Harlow described it this way: "Next morning had all the earmarks of a pleasant day, and the men, while setting the main topsail, were so elated over the prospects of finer weather that … no one could help putting his entire strength into the pull of this chantey, for not only were the men's voices unusually good, but the chantey was sung with a jerk and a swing … It was a great favorite with us and sung nearly every time the topsails were hoisted." The song was evidently brought to the Lakes shortly after the Civil War. Captain Timothy Kelly of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, reported hearing sailors sing it while making sail in Buffalo harbor in the late 1860s when he was a boy and first "went to sea." Carl Joys and Captain W.A. Ashley, both of Milwaukee, recalled stanzas they had learned aboard big Milwaukee grain schooners in the early 1870s when each began more than a half century on Great Lakes vessels. Joys explained that "hanging Johnny" did not refer to a sheriff's hangman, but instead to nimble young sailors who, when a topsail was to be hoisted, would climb to the masthead and "swing out" on the proper halyard. They would then ride to the deck as the men at the foot of the mast brought them down by their successive pulls. Joys recalled one chanteyman who would always tell the boys when to swing out by shouting up to them, "Hang, you bastards, hang!" Then, while the boys were hanging on the halyard fifty feet or more above the deck, he'd start his song and the crew would make two pulls on each chorus. When the boys hit the deck, they would tail on behind the other men and pull with them until the work was finished. Joys added that the word "hang" was "the best goddamn pullin' word in the language, especially on a down haul." Ashley said the tune was "a bit mournful, but a good one for hoisting light canvas," noting that the words enabled the sailors to find fault, good-naturedly, with all their real and fancied enemies, "if the work lasted long enough." He said that the line about Johnny hanging for money was supposed to be humorous because Johnny, as an apprentice seaman, didn't make more than ten dollars a month. A "boarding boss" was manager of a waterfront rooming and boarding house. A "Jon-er" was a namesake for the biblical Jonah who was credited with most of the bad luck aboard ship. A "rigger" was a man who equipped a vessel with its standing and running rigging (shrouds, braces, sheets, halyards, blocks, etc.). Should they fail under the stress of bad weather, sailors had to make their own repairs, so they had no love for a careless rigger who caused them this extra work. A "buck-o-mate" was an old-time ship's officer who enforced his orders by brute strength. A "soger" (soldier) was a malingering sailor who in various ways got out of doing his share of the work. |
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25 Aug 04 - 01:32 PM (#1256500) Subject: RE: Hanging Johnny from Great Lakes sailors From: GUEST,Lighter Radriano, I for one appreciate the post. |
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25 Aug 04 - 01:43 PM (#1256510) Subject: RE: Hanging Johnny from Great Lakes sailors From: GUEST,MMario wow! Do they give notes like this on all the songs? |
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25 Aug 04 - 04:06 PM (#1256629) Subject: RE: Hanging Johnny from Great Lakes sailors From: radriano Thank you, Lighter. MMario, some songs have more detailed comments than others but it's a very nice collection, separated into a section of shanties and a section of sea songs. The book also includes a CD of field recordings although none of the songs on the disc are shanties. I ordered my copy of the book directly from Wayne State University Press. The collection includes a version of the well known shanty "Rolling Home" with a chorus of: Rolling home, rolling home Rolling home across the sea Rolling home to old Chicago Rolling home, old town to thee |
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25 Aug 04 - 04:08 PM (#1256630) Subject: RE: Hanging Johnny from Great Lakes sailors From: radriano Darn, that link in my last post doesn't work. The web address for Wayne State University Press is: http://wsupress.wayne.edu/
link fixed - joeclone |
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25 Aug 04 - 04:22 PM (#1256646) Subject: RE: Hanging Johnny from Great Lakes sailors From: Cluin ..."hanging Johnny" did not refer to a sheriff's hangman, but instead to nimble young sailors ... Well, to part of them (anatomically speaking) anyway. |
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25 Aug 04 - 04:36 PM (#1256664) Subject: RE: Hanging Johnny from Great Lakes sailors From: Nerd Yes, there is a lot of interesting information on each song, often taken from firsthand accounts of sailors. It's a very nice collection! I think Radriano picked out one of the most interesting entries for his post. |
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25 Aug 04 - 04:39 PM (#1256667) Subject: RE: Hanging Johnny from Great Lakes sailors From: Dave Ruch I second the plug for the book - it's very well done. I've been able to marry the text to one of the two canal songs presented in the book (from a Port Colbourne, ON sailor) to a fragment of a tune collected in rural western NY to revive a great old Erie Canal ditty I haent heard anywhere else. |
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25 Aug 04 - 09:51 PM (#1256986) Subject: RE: Hanging Johnny from Great Lakes sailors From: GUEST,Art Thieme This book looks like it will be used in many ways to enhance lessons for students on many levels and also to enhance many topics and areas of the various curriculum components. Friend, folksinger and Great Lakes balladeer, LEE MURDOCK and his wife JOANN are the ones who put this together. Eighteen songs of the lakes are used as the central documents of this volume---and a fine CD of all 18 songs is included with Lee singing lead for the most part with help from many fine musicians and singers like Mark Dvorak, Don Stiernberg, John Williams, Russ Hurst, Rob Williams, Jacqui Manning & Rich Prezioso, Howard Levy, Marianne Mohrhusen, Dave Humphries, Phil Cooper & Margaret Nelson and more. The is a lovely package and study guide. I'm glad I saw this thread. Art Thieme Click for Windjammer thread |
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25 Aug 04 - 11:37 PM (#1257052) Subject: RE: Hanging Johnny from Great Lakes sailors From: Joe Offer There's now a fairly extensive article on this song in the Traditional Ballad Index: Hanging JohnnyDESCRIPTION: Shanty. Characteristic line: "Away, away... Hang, boys, hang!" The singer reports, "They call me Hanging Johnny... Oh they say I hang for money. They say I hung my daddy... We'll... hang together... And we'll hang for better weather."AUTHOR: unknown EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Great Lakes sailor Carl Joys says he learned it before 1870) KEYWORDS: shanty ship sailor FOUND IN: US(MA,MW,SE) Canada(Mar) Britain(England) REFERENCES (17 citations): Doerflinger-SongsOfTheSailorAndLumberman, p. 31, "Hanging Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune) Walton/Grimm-Windjammers-SongsOfTheGreatLakesSailors, pp. 65-67, "Hanging Johnny" (1 composite text, 1 tune) Colcord-SongsOfAmericanSailormen, pp. 72-73,"Hanging Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune) Harlow-ChantyingAboardAmericanShips, pp. 47-48,"Hanging Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune) Hugill-ShantiesFromTheSevenSeas, pp. 284-285,"Hanging Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, pp. 208-209] Sharp-EnglishFolkChanteys, LI, p. 56, "Hanging Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune) Kinsey-SongsOfTheSea, pp. 92-93, "Hanging Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune) Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 779, "Hanging Johnnie" (1 short text, 1 tune) Shay-AmericanSeaSongsAndChanteys, p. 54, "Hanging Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune) Smith/Hatt/Fowke-SeaSongsBalladFromNineteenthCenturyNovaScotia, p. 26, "Hangman Johnnie" (1 text) Terry-TheShantyBook-Part1, #19, "Hanging Johnny" (1 text. 1 tune) Parrish-SlaveSongsOfTheGeorgiaSeaIslands 47, pp. 203-204, "Call Me Hangin' Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune) Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 87, "Hanging Johnny" (1 text) DT, HANGJOHN ADDITIONAL: Captain John Robinson, "Songs of the Chantey Man," a series published July-August 1917 in the periodical _The Bellman_ (Minneapolis, MN, 1906-1919). Hanging Johnny" is in Part 2, 7/21/1917. Frederick Pease Harlow, _The Making of a Sailor, or Sea Life Aboard a Yankee Square-Rigger_, 1928; republished by Dover, 1988, pp. 253-254, "Hanging Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune) Harold Nestler, "Songs from the Hudson Valley" (article in _New York Folklore Quarterly_, Volume V, #2, Summer 1949), p. 94, "They Call Me Hanging Johnny" (1 text) Roud #2625 RECORDINGS: Bob Roberts, "Hanging Johnny" (on LastDays) Leighton Robinson w. Alex Barr, Arthur Brodeur & Leighton McKenzie, "Hanging Johnny" (AFS 4231 A1, 1939; in AMMEM/Cowell) W[illiam] H. Smith, "Hangman Johnny" (on NovaScotia1) NOTES [65 words]: According to most sources, the "hanging" in this song does not refer to execution. Great Lakes sailor Carl Joys said it referred to the young sailors who went aloft to swing out the halyards when a sail was hoisted. Another account says it referred to a sailor who held a rope lashed to other sailors. If this "hanger" let them go in a bad sea, they would be washed overboard and lost. - RBW Last updated in version 5.1 File: Doe031 Go to the Ballad Search form Go to the Ballad Index Instructions The Ballad Index Copyright 2023 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle. |
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26 Aug 04 - 12:31 AM (#1257067) Subject: RE: Hanging Johnny from Great Lakes sailors From: Q (Frank Staplin) Stan Hugill, in "Shanties From the Seven Seas," pp. 208-210, speaks of a letter he received from a Mr. Wexler: "In a book entitled "Army Life in a Black Regiment" by Thomas W. Higginson, the author, who commanded a black regiment of Federal troops raised among the ex-slaves of the Sea Islands of the Georgia coast, devotes a full chapter to the songs sung by the men of the regiment. As one of the two songs he remembered which were not in the religious or spiritual class, he quotes two verses of hanging Johnny, and speaks of a third verse whose words apparently had some relation to men's enlistment in the army during the Civil War. The quotation is on pp. 220-221 of the edition of the book printed in Boston in 1870 by Fields, Osgood & Co. Higginson also published this "remarkable ditty" in the Atlantic Monthly, June, 1867, under the title, "Negro Spirituals." HANGMAN JOHNNY "O, dey call me Hangman Johnny! O, ho! O, ho! But I never hang nobody, O, hang, boys, hang! O dey call me Hangman Johnny! O, ho! O, ho! But we'll all hang togedder, O, hang, boys, hang!" "My presence apparently checked the performance of another verse, beginning "De buckra 'list for money," apparently in reference to the controversy about the pay-question....and to the more mercenary aims they attributed to the white soldiers." Negro Spirituals |
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26 Aug 04 - 12:46 AM (#1257073) Subject: RE: Hanging Johnny from Great Lakes sailors From: Q (Frank Staplin) Higginson quoted another song in the same Atlantic Monthly article, which possibly was derived from a chantey. It was applied to mule drivers by the contrabands, but the rhythm suggests chantey. Slaves in the Sea Islands area at times worked on ships both as crew and as dock workers, and thus would be familiar with some of the sailors' songs. Lyr. Add: THE DRIVER O, de ole nigger-driver! O, gwine away! Fust ting my mammy tell me, O. gwine away! Tell me 'bout de nigger-driver, O, gwine away! Nigger-driver second devil, O, gwine away! Best ting for do he driver,'O, gwine away! Knock he down and spoil he labor, O, gwine away! Same link as above. |
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26 Aug 04 - 09:27 AM (#1257263) Subject: RE: Hanging Johnny from Great Lakes sailors From: Charley Noble Great notes and discussion. Charley Noble |
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26 Aug 04 - 05:59 PM (#1257658) Subject: RE: Hanging Johnny from Great Lakes sailors From: radriano Hey Charley, how are ya? |
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27 Aug 04 - 08:13 AM (#1258091) Subject: RE: Hanging Johnny from Great Lakes sailors From: GUEST,Satchel This is a great thread, but I'm not buying that the "hanging" was refering to "nimble young sailors...would climb to the masthead and "swing out" on the proper halyard. They would then ride to the deck as the men at the foot of the mast brought them down by their successive pulls" Which halyard? the gaff? the peak? did they ride down one section of a triple-reeved halyard block, miraculously jumping off before losing their fingers in the sheave as the sailors on deck hauled? What about the fact that sailors usually didn't take too kindly to younger sailors skylarking when there was work to be done? This just doesn't add up. This sounds too much like a sea story to believe from a single source. I'm not going to say that it's impossible, but from the standpoint of schooner rigging--it's pretty darn near impossible. I need more proof before I start interpreting this song this way. |
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27 Aug 04 - 11:11 AM (#1258228) Subject: RE: Hanging Johnny from Great Lakes sailors From: Nerd It does sound a bit fishy, especially when "hang" can really just mean "put all your weight on the rope and pull." But I don't think the young sailors would be seen as skylarking in this case; they'd be acting as counterweights and thus helping the men pull. And I don't think it's as complicated as you are making it sound. The boys would be higher up on the same part of the halyard the sailors were hauling on. They would not have to encounter the blocks and sheaves. I am not that familiar with big schooners, though, so I don't know if it would be possible for them to GET where I imagine they would have to be, given the description above. |
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27 Aug 04 - 11:39 AM (#1258249) Subject: RE: Hanging Johnny from Great Lakes sailors From: radriano Guest Satchel, if you read my initial post you'll see that I state that some of the comments made were ones I'd never heard of before. The reason for this thread is to get imput on new information from a single source. Your comments are exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. I wouldn't be at all surprised if "boys swinging out on the halyard" was a story concocted for the benefit of the collector. I just don't know enough about the technical side of a ship's rigging to claim to be an expert. One of my initial thoughts when I first read the comment was, just as Nerd pointed out, that the hanging boy(s) would act as a counterweight and thus help the work along. At the end of Joe Offer's post there is another comment that I had never heard: "The "hanging" in this song does not refer to execution, but to a sailor who held a rope lashed to other sailors. If this "hanger" let them go in a bad sea, they would be washed overboard and lost. - RBW" |
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27 Aug 04 - 11:58 AM (#1258272) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hanging Johnny from Great Lakes sailo From: Nerd Another reason to take these explanations with a grain of salt is that, in some versions of the words, "hanging" obviously DOES refer to forcibly hanging people. |
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27 Aug 04 - 12:10 PM (#1258280) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hanging Johnny from Great Lakes sailors From: radriano That's true, Nerd, but there's almost always a verse with the line "But I never hanged nobody" that gives a hint that something else is going on. |
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27 Aug 04 - 12:14 PM (#1258283) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hanging Johnny from Great Lakes sailors From: GUEST,MMario that could be folk process though - as with the many blatently sexual variations and verses for "Drunken Sailor" |
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27 Aug 04 - 12:42 PM (#1258300) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hanging Johnny from Great Lakes sailo From: Nerd Good points, guys. Clearly, there IS usually something else going on, but as i said it could just be "put all your weight on the rope." |
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27 Aug 04 - 01:29 PM (#1258324) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hanging Johnny from Great Lakes sailo From: Dead Horse Nearly all the verses actually DO refer to hanging as a means of execution, but that doesn't mean that is what the song is about. Hanging and hauling together IS. Like radriano, I wish I knew more about sailing a large vessel, but in my case I get sea-sick if I dawdle while crossing a bridge;-0 |
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27 Aug 04 - 03:26 PM (#1258417) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hanging Johnny from Great Lakes sailors From: GUEST The version I know finishes with, "I hangs topsails for me money." I had always assumed it referred to bending on new sails. I'm sure all the references to hanging Mom and Grandma are plays on the word "hang" for the amusement of the crew. I wouldn't know much about riding the halyard down, but it would probably be possible on a squarerigger, though probably not very advisable. |
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27 Aug 04 - 03:27 PM (#1258419) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hanging Johnny from Great Lakes sailors From: GUEST,Melani Sorry, I should have signed that last--I forgot I'm not at home. Melani |
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27 Aug 04 - 04:04 PM (#1258435) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hanging Johnny from Great Lakes sailo From: Nerd Yeah, melani, that was my thought too...on a square-rigger you COULD do it, though I've never seen anyone claim it was done. According to Satchel, on a schooner you can't do it, but I can't figure out exactly why. |
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18 Jul 11 - 10:26 PM (#3190421) Subject: Lyr Add: HANGING JOHNNY From: Q (Frank Staplin) Lyr. Add: HANGING JOHNNY They call me "Hanging Johnny," Away I oh! They say I hang for money. So hang, boys, hang! Why did you hang your daddy, And then your mother, laddie! They say I hung my mother, And then I hung my brother. I hung my sister Nancy, Because I took a fancy. A rope, a beam, a ladder, I hung them all together. They call me "Hanging Johnny," But I never hung nobody. I'd hang a brutal mother, The same as any other. I'd hang a noted liar, I'd hang a bloated Friar. I'd hang a highway robber, I'd hang a burglar jobber. I'd hang all wrong and folly, And hang to make things jolly. A rope, a beam, a ladder, I'd hang them all together. Come hang and sway together, And hang for finer weather. They call me "Hanging Johnny, But I never hung nobody. "The words "Hang, boys, hang," are used in a topsail-halliard hoist, when sweating up the yard "two blocks" where, in swaying off, the whole weight of the body is used. The sing-out, from some old shellback, usually being words such as "Hang, heavy! Hang, buttocks! Hang you sons of -------, Hang." After setting the topsails, we gave her the main-topgallant sail, which was all she could carry in a heavy head-sea. The decks were awash all day. ".... the chantey was sung with a jerk and a swing as only chanteys in 6/8 time can be sung. While the words were of Negro extraction, yet it was a great favorite with us and sung nearly every time the topsails were hoisted." With musical score. Frederick Pease Harlow, 1928, The Making of a Sailor, Dover reprint of Publication Number 17 of the Marine Research Society, Salem, MA. |
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19 Apr 13 - 01:05 PM (#3505840) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hanging Johnny (from Great Lakes sailors) From: it'smagic Wonderful thread. I was listening to this by Corrie Folk Trio, who didn't use all the lyrics and wondering how it qualified as a sea shanty. I thought it must be about a criminal! |
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24 Sep 16 - 06:28 AM (#3811079) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hanging Johnny (from Great Lakes sailors) From: GUEST,Allan Dennehy Michel Tonnere sing a fantastic version of this song. Check youtube. |
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25 Sep 16 - 02:48 AM (#3811201) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hanging Johnny (from Great Lakes sailors) From: GUEST,Gerry There's a good version of this by Milt Okum and the Seafarer's Chorus, Elektra EKS 7182. More readily accessible on the compilation CD, Constant Sorrow, Gems From the Elektra Vaults. The lyrics are a subset of the ones posted by Frank Staplin, three posts up, 18 July 2011. The CD also has a fine recording of Whiskey-O, Johnny-O, by the same group. When I first saw this, I thought Milt Okum had to be a typo for Milt Okun, producer for Peter Paul and Mary, The Chad Mitchell Trio, John Denver and many others, but I'm now convinced Okun and Okum were/are two different people. |
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25 Sep 16 - 10:59 AM (#3811248) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hanging Johnny (from Great Lakes sailors) From: Lighter "Milt Okun" is the guy, according to the 1970 Library of Congress Catalog - and the LP itself! It's a great album if (but only if) you can enjoy "art-music" settings and performances. Another good one like, but even artsier, it is "Sea Shanties" (1959), by the Roger Wagner Chorale. |
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25 Sep 16 - 01:58 PM (#3811267) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hanging Johnny (from Great Lakes sailors) From: GUEST,Bloke in groucho Mask Meanwhile, the version I associate with most, as spilled out from the dulcet tones of Johnny Booker of Barnsley back in the day occasionally included; They say I hanged a copper I gave him the long dropper Depending on the beer quality and quantity, it could also include; They say I hanged 'me granny I hanged her by the elbow etc etc You can tell its a British version by "hanged" as opposed to "hung" when it morphed into execution rather than sailor lashing on deck. |
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25 Sep 16 - 08:14 PM (#3811322) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hanging Johnny (from Great Lakes sailors) From: GUEST,Gerry Lighter, I'm sure you're right about Okun/Okum, but I'm not sure how to explain this: http://teamrock.com/artist-directory/m/milt-okum-%2526-the-seafarer%2527s-chorus?id=5Hedm2NvGQ6wSrit4dEfEM seems to show an album cover for Milt Okum and the Seafarer's Chorus, Salty Seafaring Shanties. |
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26 Sep 16 - 09:24 AM (#3811382) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hanging Johnny (from Great Lakes sailors) From: Lighter Am embarrassed to say that having double-checked the actual LP for the first time in years, the name given there is "Okum." However, the L of C Catalog (1968-1972, vol. 3) does indeed list the conductor as "Milt Okun." Okun's autobiography, _"Along the Cherry Lane," as told to Richard Sparks, lists Okum as "arranger and conductor" of the Seafarers Chorus (p. 286). Contemporary reviews, partly visible at Google Books, vary in the spelling. But no reference to a "Milt Okum" apart from the album seems findable. My guess is that either "Okum" on the LP was simply an error, or else that Okun felt like punning mischievously on the nautical "oakum," defined as "loosely twisted hemp or jute fiber impregnated with tar or a tar derivative and used in caulking seams and packing joints." It also seems that the album's initial release was in *1960* on the Elektra label. It was re-released (in 1970?) on Legacy. |
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06 Jun 18 - 09:08 PM (#3929556) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hanging Johnny (from Great Lakes sailors) From: Lighter John Hay, (Lincoln’s secretary),"Lincoln and the Civil War," p. 63 [from notes taken on a visit to Ft. Clinch, Fla., 1863] : “The sea. The songs of the [Negro] boatmen. The bully boats a-coming Oh ho, Oh ho Don’t you hear the oars a humming Hang, boys, hang. We’ll all hang together, We will hang one another, &c. &c. |
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07 Jun 18 - 04:30 PM (#3929688) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hanging Johnny (from Great Lakes sailors) From: radriano Good grief! I was going through this post with interest before I realized that it was me that started it back in 2004. Haven't been on Mudcat in quite a while. For those of you who know me I should announce that chanteyranger and I have a fourth album of sea shanties. For the time being it is being offered digitally from my new website: www.walkashore.com Hope all of you mudcatters are doing well! |
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07 Jun 18 - 08:10 PM (#3929721) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hanging Johnny (from Great Lakes sailors) From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch All that salty “hanging” business up at the top of the thread would get one is a positively biblical case of rope burn or ded. Meanwhile: Lighter-on-Hay: “...from notes taken on a visit to Ft. Clinch, Fla., 1863.” Note: T.W. Higginson was station at Ft. Clinch, 1863, same-same source as Q's below: Q - 26 Aug 04: “...In a book entitled "Army Life in a Black Regiment" by Thomas W. Higginson, the author, who commanded a black regiment of Federal troops raised among the ex-slaves of the Sea Islands of the Georgia coast, devotes a full chapter to the songs sung by the men of the regiment.” “A proclamation by Confederate President Jefferson Davis had indicated that members of the regiment would not be treated as prisoners of war if taken in battle: The enlisted men were to be delivered to state authorities to be auctioned off or otherwise treated as runaway slaves, while the white officers were to be hanged.” [1st SC wiki](Ref: CSA, General Orders, No. 111, 24 December 1862 & Benjamin Butler.) Note: Plenty of atrocity to go around on boths sides but nobody mentioned here got hung for it… afaik. |
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07 Jun 18 - 10:02 PM (#3929730) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hanging Johnny (from Great Lakes sailors) From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch **Okun/Okum We Sing Of The Sea, Elektra, LP, Mono, EKL-182 - “Okun” on the jacket and vinyl, 1st press & reisssue. We Sing Of The Sea, Elektra, LP, Stereo, EKS-7182 - Same-same, one pressing that I'm aware of. Note: All three pressings use one graphic artwork. The front slick just shifts up or down to fold the “Panoramic Stereo” badge over the top lip. Salty Seafaring Shanties, Elektra, Legacy Series, LP, Stereo, LEG-117 - “Okum” jacket & vinyl. Minor shifts in titles & tracks but mostly a reissue of the above with different artwork. |
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08 Jun 18 - 08:38 AM (#3929805) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hanging Johnny (from Great Lakes sailors) From: Lighter "We Sing of the Sea" was issued in 1960: http://www.atsf.co.uk/elektra/discography.php?from=860&to=1350 Despite a couple of unexplained title changes, "Salty Seafaring Shanties" is the same. (E.g., 1960's "Bottle-O" gets renamed "Early in the Morning" on the reissue.) |
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24 Jul 23 - 09:31 PM (#4177600) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hanging Johnny (from Great Lakes sailors) From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch "Up bound the sails amidst the dangers of a storm, in the bitterest cold, in midnight gales––up they cheerily fly, to the tune of “Hang boys, hang!” or, “Haul the bowling, the bowling haul;” the pull and the tug being unanimously given with the utterance of the last word." [At Sea in a Clipper*, The Leisure Hour, vol.IV, 1855] * James Baines (clipper)(1854) Full post here: /mudcat.org/detail.cfm?messages__Message_ID=4177598 |