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11 Feb 07 - 04:04 PM (#1964233) Subject: christmas shanty/sea song From: mick p r.m s.c I am a member of The Royal Marine Shanty Crew. Anyone know of a christmas sea song or shanty. We want to record one for our new CD. |
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11 Feb 07 - 04:52 PM (#1964261) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: GUEST,Martin Ryan "Rolling Down to Bethlehem" is around here somewhere... Regards |
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11 Feb 07 - 05:36 PM (#1964311) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: Leadbelly Mick,I'm sure the "International-shanty-and-seasong-association" can help you. But you have to be resp. to become a member. Manfred |
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11 Feb 07 - 05:44 PM (#1964323) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: stallion Try PM to Charley Noble |
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11 Feb 07 - 05:53 PM (#1964332) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: mg I saw three ships comes sailing in. And have you heard the Clancy Brothers do the hour that the ship comes in? Not Christmas but probably has some sort of religious allegories in there that are beyond me to figure out..that song always scared me. mg |
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11 Feb 07 - 06:01 PM (#1964341) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: Charley Noble Mick- Is it Christmas season already? You might try "Christmas at Sea," a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson that Tom Lewis has recorded. I have also recorded the poem but dropped two verses and worked up a different tune. Here's a link to what I sing: Click here and search for lyrics! The lyrics I sing are there, as well as the original poem. Do check out what Tom Lewis sings from his website. I'll be curious what you come up with. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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12 Feb 07 - 03:25 AM (#1964612) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: Moses Mike Sparks has written "go down, you blood-red noses, go down". Good parody and fun to sing. |
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12 Feb 07 - 04:17 AM (#1964627) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: GRex There is one entitled "Christmas Shanty" by Ann Mathews, it is more of a forebitter than a shanty. The first verse and chorus, if my memory is correct, goes: Look lively lads, haul on those ropes At least we're homeward bound With a following wind, we have high hopes To be home before Christmas comes around. Chorus: Pray God to fill our sail with a favourable gale Give us fine fast running seas And we'll make it home for Christmas boys To our wives and our families. GRex |
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12 Feb 07 - 06:39 AM (#1964675) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: BB I like the look of that one, GRex. Where might the full song be found? Barbara |
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12 Feb 07 - 08:07 AM (#1964718) Subject: Lyr Add: BILL'S CHRISTMASES (C. Fox Smith) From: Charley Noble There are a couple of C. Fox Smith nautical poems that have Christmas themes. One is called "Home for Christmas" about a captain who is bound and determined to make it back from Sydney, Australia: Click here! Pinch o' Salt did a fine job of singing this one, with Alan Fitzsimmons setting the poem to music. Another one is called "Christmas Night" with sailors dealing with a Christmas gale, and part of it would work quite well with the tune to "Christmas Day in the Morning" although no one has worked up this poem for singing: Click here! There's a third C. Fox Smith poem which has the setting of two sailors working aloft off Cape Horn during a storm, and as they're completing the job one remarks "Merry Christmas!" Maybe you had to be there to appreciate the irony. It's called "Bill's Christmases" and it's a favorite of mine: BILL'S CHRISTMASES "Christmas," said Bill, "on Christmas cards, it's winders all aglow, An' lots o' stuff to eat an' drink an' a good three feet o' snow, An' a bunch o' bouncin' girls to kiss under the mistletoe. Holly an' robin redbreasts too, as rosy as can be, An' waits an' chimes an' all such gear as you never get at sea, But it's different things as Christmas means to a ramblin' bloke like me. The first I ever 'ad at sea I was 'ardly more 'n a nipper, An' I'd took an' signed, bein' young an' green, in a dandy Down-east clipper With a bullnecked beast of a bucko mate an' a rare tough nut of a skipper. An' we dined 'andsome, so we did, off biscuits an' salt 'orse, An' finished up with scraper duff an' sand-an'-canvas sorce, An' them as growled got seaboot soup by way of an extry course. I've 'ad my Christmas 'ere an' there, I've 'ad it up an' down, I've 'ad it sober on the seas an' drunk in sailor-town, I've 'ad it where the folks are black an' where the folks are brown, And under many a tropic sky an' many a foreign star, In Perim, Portland, Pernambuck, Malacca, Malabar, Where the rum bird-'eaded totem poles and the gilded Buddhas are. I've 'ad it froze in Baltic cold an' burned in Red Sea 'eat, I've 'ad it in a Channel fog as busy as a street, An' once I 'ad it off the 'Orn, an' that was sure a treat. I was in the clipper Sebright then — a big ship, 'eavy sparred, With every sort o' flyin' kite an' a seventy foot mainyard, An' 'andlin' 'er in a gale of wind, I tell you, it was 'ard! We come on deck for the middle watch, an' save us, 'ow it blew! A night like the devil's ridin'boots, that never a star shone through, An' the seas they kep' on poopin' 'er till we 'ad to 'eave 'er to. We snugged 'er down, we 'ove 'er to, an' there all night lay she, With one mainyard arm pointin' to 'eaven an' one to the deeps o' the sea, Dippin' 'er spars at every roll in the thunderin' foam alee. Till the wind an' sea went down a bit an' the dawn come cold an' grey, An' we laid aloft an' loosed the sails an' squared the ship away, An' a chap beside me on the yard says, 'Bill, it's Christmas Day!'" Notes: From SEA SONGS AND BALLADS 1917-1922, edited by Cicely Fox Smith, published by Houghton Mifflin Co., New York, US, © 1924, pp. 22-24. Earlier published in SEA SONGS AND BALLADS, © 1922. First published in PUNCH, December 21, 1921, p. 495. There were few holidays if any on sailing ships, and even if there were a plan for something extra special for Christmas what was planned was subject to the weather and the captain's whim. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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12 Feb 07 - 10:19 AM (#1964815) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: George Seto - af221@chebucto.ns.ca While not exactly Christmas Shanties, we have two here at the Mudcat/DT: Winter Shanty
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12 Feb 07 - 10:29 AM (#1964827) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: George Seto - af221@chebucto.ns.ca Oh yes, almost forgot about this |
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12 Feb 07 - 10:40 AM (#1964840) Subject: Lyr Add: SNOW SHANTY (Eileen McGann) From: George Seto - af221@chebucto.ns.ca Full version of song: A Snow Shanty Woke up on a frozen morn |
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13 Feb 07 - 04:55 AM (#1965735) Subject: Lyr Add: CHRISTMAS SHANTY From: GRex BB & George Seto I thought that I had the Christmas Shanty on one of Ann Mathews CDs but sadly I have not. Ann used to lead the shanty group that I still sing with, so the lyrics were still in my files. CHRISTMAS SHANTY Look lively lads, haul on those ropes At last we're homeward bound With a following wind we have high hopes To be home before Christmas comes around. CHORUS: Pray God fill the sail with a favourable gale Give us fine fast running seas And we'll make it home for Christmas boys To our wives and our families. We've sailed across the seven seas Such sights we all have seen But now we long for our families To tell them where we've been. Around the world we all did roam Many girls in many ports But now at last we're headed for home And our wives are in our thoughts. And in our last few ports of call When we've had our runs ashore We've sought out gifts for one and all And who could ask for more. So weigh the anchor, set those sails Don't slack along the way With this good wind, unless luck fails We'll be home for Christmas day. Keep on singing GRex |
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13 Feb 07 - 06:42 AM (#1965814) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: GUEST,Henryp The CD Fire and Sleet and Candlelight by Coope Boyes and Simpson contains a very attractive version of I Saw Three Ships, set to a new, but tradition-based tune in the '70s. You might also enjoy singing Cold Coast Of Iceland/Three Ships, two moving songs by Mike Waterson about the dangers of trawling in winter seas. These can be found on the CD Twenty-four seven also by Coope Boyes and Simpson. |
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13 Feb 07 - 12:25 PM (#1966196) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: GUEST,Henryp And while I'm thinking about Mike Waterson songs, I think you might also like Three Day Millionaire, which tells of the Hull trawlermen's brief time ashore between fishing trips - 'I couldn't give a bugger, I'm a man'. You can find it on the CD No-one Stands Alone by Blue Murder, which includes Mike himself. For the lyrics, see http://garrygillard.net/watersons/songs/three.html |
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13 Feb 07 - 12:30 PM (#1966199) Subject: Lyr Add: CHRISTMAS AT SEA (Robert Louis Stevenson) From: GUEST,Henryp This is a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson. If it had a tune, it would be a song! "CHRISTMAS AT SEA" The sheets were frozen hard, and they cut the naked hand; The decks were like a slide, where a seamen scarce could stand; The wind was a nor'wester, blowing squally off the sea; And cliffs and spouting breakers were the only things a-lee. They heard the surf a-roaring before the break of day; But 'twas only with the peep of light we saw how ill we lay. We tumbled every hand on deck instanter, with a shout, And we gave her the maintops'l, and stood by to go about. All day we tacked and tacked between the South Head and the North; All day we hauled the frozen sheets, and got no further forth; All day as cold as charity, in bitter pain and dread, For very life and nature we tacked from head to head. We gave the South a wider berth, for there the tide-race roared; But every tack we made we brought the North Head close aboard: So's we saw the cliffs and houses, and the breakers running high, And the coastguard in his garden, with his glass against his eye. The frost was on the village roofs as white as ocean foam; The good red fires were burning bright in every 'long-shore home; The windows sparkled clear, and the chimneys volleyed out; And I vow we sniffed the victuals as the vessel went about. The bells upon the church were rung with a mighty jovial cheer; For it's just that I should tell you how (of all days in the year) This day of our adversity was blessed Christmas morn, And the house above the coastguard's was the house where I was born. O well I saw the pleasant room, the pleasant faces there, My mother's silver spectacles, my father's silver hair; And well I saw the firelight, like a flight of homely elves, Go dancing round the china-plates that stand upon the shelves. And well I knew the talk they had, the talk that was of me, Of the shadow on the household and the son that went to sea; And O the wicked fool I seemed, in every kind of way, To be here and hauling frozen ropes on blessed Christmas Day. They lit the high sea-light, and the dark began to fall. "All hands to loose topgallant sails," I heard the captain call. "By the Lord, she'll never stand it," our first mate Jackson, cried. ..."It's the one way or the other, Mr. Jackson," he replied. She staggered to her bearings, but the sails were new and good, And the ship smelt up to windward just as though she understood. As the winter's day was ending, in the entry of the night, We cleared the weary headland, and passed below the light. And they heaved a mighty breath, every soul on board but me, As they saw her nose again pointing handsome out to sea; But all that I could think of, in the darkness and the cold, Was just that I was leaving home and my folks were growing old. By Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94). |
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13 Feb 07 - 12:34 PM (#1966208) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: Celtaddict There is also one I heard from Charles Frink that I need to hunt down the full version of, but it has lines Take down your flask and tip it to the sun good cheer my lads good cheer my lads take down your flask and tip it to the sun good cheer and (something or other) but somewhere in there is a Christmas or at least winter-holiday reference. I'll try to track it down, which I have meant to do before. |
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13 Feb 07 - 12:41 PM (#1966214) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: JudyB Actually, Henryp, a couple of people have set Christmas as Sea to music. Tom Lewis does it on his CD 360 degrees, and, as he mentioned above, Charley Noble has a version - both powerful songs! |
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13 Feb 07 - 12:44 PM (#1966217) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: George Seto - af221@chebucto.ns.ca Another song which might be of interest is Frobisher Bay from James Gordon It isn't Christmas oriented, but is a great modern song of the sea. |
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13 Feb 07 - 12:46 PM (#1966219) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: George Seto - af221@chebucto.ns.ca Grex, that's a wonderful song. Thanks. |
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16 Feb 07 - 09:31 AM (#1969732) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: mick p r.m s.c Thanks to all for the above replies. We will certainly be using at least one of the suggested songs in the near future on a recording. |
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16 Feb 07 - 03:00 PM (#1970022) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: Charley Noble Mick- You and your crew are more than welcome. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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16 Feb 07 - 03:31 PM (#1970056) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: Severn One called "The Sailor's Carol", a Gordon Bok setting of a poem by Charles Causley, is on Gordon's album "Schooners" (Timberhead THD C005) The version that Nowell Sing We Clear sing of "I Saw Three Ships" has the ships carrying "crawns", that is to say the skulls of the Three Wise Men up the Rhine to be kept as relics in Koln Cathedral. One crawn per ship-must've been a union contract, I guess. That one is on "Hail Smiling Morn!" (Golden Hind Music GHM 102) Of course, there's always "Haul The Decks" or the shortened version of the aforementioned Carol "I Saw Three Ships (In Half)".... |
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16 Feb 07 - 03:50 PM (#1970074) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: mick p r.m s.c GRex Thanks for your reply, never heard this song The Christmas Shanty. Words look interesting the sort of thing we are looking for. Any chance of a tune for it. Cheers Mick. |
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16 Feb 07 - 08:39 PM (#1970266) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: GRex mick p.r.m.c. I do not have the melody to The Chistmas Shanty, either recorded or sheet music but will PM you Ann Mathews email address. I'm sure she will be only too pleased to help. GRex |
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16 Feb 07 - 08:51 PM (#1970274) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: GRex mick p.r.m.s.c. Unable to PM you Mick as your Mudcat name isn't recognised. If you would like to have the email addres, PM me and I can reply. GRex |
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17 Feb 07 - 03:29 PM (#1970906) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: mick p r.m s.c HI GRex, sorry just got your post on thread. My Email biggles59@tiscali.co.uk |
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03 May 08 - 09:21 PM (#2332336) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: GUEST,Binoy John I think its "Christmas at Sea, far away from home" |
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04 May 08 - 05:15 PM (#2332845) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: JeffB "I saw three ships" goes well to the tune of "Christmas Day in the morning", if you don't like the usual tune. |
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14 Nov 09 - 09:16 AM (#2765890) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: GUEST,guest, Simon Hi GREX, Can I use the Christmas Shanty by Ann Mathews to put on a Christmas card for friends? |
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14 Nov 09 - 10:03 AM (#2765911) Subject: Lyr Add: CHRISTMAS NIGHT (C. Fox Smith) From: Charley Noble Above was mentioned the C. Fox Smith poem called "Christmas Night" with sailors dealing with a Christmas gale, and part of it does work quite well with the tune to "Christmas Day in the Morning." I've edited the poem down some and you can hear my current rendition on my website: Click here for lyrics and MP3 Sample! Here are the revised lyrics and chords (copy and paste into WORD/TIMES/12 to line up chords: By Cicely Fox Smith, from RHYMES OF THE RED ENSIGN, edited by Cicely Fox Smith, published by Hodder and Stoughton, London, © 1919, pp. 71-72. Adapted for singing by Charlie Ipcar, 12/26/08 Tune inspired by "Christmas Day in the Morning" Key: F (5/C) Christmas Night C-------------G-C-F---C----------F We shipped a sea on Christmas night, ----C-----------------------G-----------Gm On Christmas night, on Christmas night! -------C----G-C-----F---C--------------F From stem to stern the decks flowed white – ----C---------------------------G-----C On Christmas night till the morn-ing! -------F-----------------------C "One more like that," our mate did say, F-----C-----------------------G--------Gm "And she'll not live till the break of day," ----C----G---C-----------------F So deep she rolled, so ill she lay – C----------------------------G-----C All the night long till the morn-ing! The night so black, the gale it screamed, On Christmas night, on Christmas night! Like gushing wounds her swing-ports streamed; On Christmas night till the morning! All ice the yard to which we clung, The frozen shrouds shrill carols sung, Like harps the twanging backstays rung – All the night long till the morning! We called "All hands!"; we hove her to, On Christmas night, on Christmas night! It was the best that we could do, On Christmas night till the morning! But hang on all, to wait and pray That nothing more would be carried away, So she might last till the break of day – All the night long till the morning! C------------------------------F Then one big roaring sailor-man --C------------------G-------Gm A sort of rambling yarn be-gan, --C-------------------------------F A-bout a place nigh Wexford town, -----------C-------------G--------Gm With the river Slaney flowing down ---------F--------------------------------C By the farm where he was born an' rared; -----------G-------Gm--------F---------C "An' my old mo-ther, well, she's not he'rd ---F-----------------C A word o' me this many a year . . . -----G-------Gm--------F--------C But I've got stuff and I've got gear ----------F-----------------C Stowed in my sea-chest all for her – G---------------------F---------C I can just see them old eyes stare: --F-----------------C A branch o' coral like a tree F------C-------------------G-----Gm Them Blacks dive after in Fee-jee, ---C-------------------------------F A Spanish shawl and a carved fan, ---C-------------------G-----Gm A little tea-set from far Ja-pan, --------F----------------------C That's blue and white, and wee and small, ---G----------Gm--------F If this black gale don't break 'em all!" . . . The long night passed and that great gale, On Christmas night, on Christmas night! Went down at dawn, so we made sail, On Christmas Day in the morning! We sent the yards to the masthead, The watch sung out to wake the dead! "Them tea-things is all right," Dan said – On Christmas Day in the morning! Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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15 Nov 09 - 09:20 AM (#2766388) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: Dave the Gnome and away you Santa... :D(eG) |
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04 Dec 23 - 03:07 PM (#4192923) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: Joe Offer An inspiring thread for this time of year. |
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04 Dec 23 - 07:44 PM (#4192939) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: Anglo We never saw a tune for Ann Mathews' Christmas Shanty. I wonder if it ever made it to YouTube. |
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06 Dec 23 - 10:57 PM (#4193093) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: GUEST,Julia L This ditty from Brian Chadbourne- 't was a cold and windy morning in December When all of me money it was spent Where the hell it went I really can't remember So down to the credit union I went Santa come back Take up the slack My Christmas list gets longer every year Oh, why does it have to start before Thanksgiving? It's enough to make me lose my Christmas cheer! |
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11 Dec 23 - 01:40 PM (#4193392) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: GUEST,JeffB Here's a Christmas song to the tune of "Hearts of Oak" (ommitting the "steady, boys, steady" in the chorus) which was written by a sailor named Richard Cotten, who served in various RN ships in the 19th century. It was probably composed between 1883 and his leaving the navy in 1886. Come rouse ye, my lads, though no land we are near we've Old Christmas aboard us to give us good cheer. We've our salt beef and grog, lads, and plum duff galore, and a right gallant captain; what can men want more? CH For our ship is our home, though it floats on the main. Your glasses fill ready, and drink to Old England again and again. The landsman may boast when he hails Christmas Day, he can call friends around him to dance and be gay, but though lone on the ocean our hearts they are true to the lasses that love us, for we love them too. Now lads, join with me and a bumper fill high to those who most miss us when Christmas draws nigh, to the darling old mother and father so grey who will think of their loved ones at sea, lads, today. Then messmates be merry - we'll dance and we'll sing and scrape the old fiddle till we crack every string. Though his ship bears him fast to his home that's afar Christmas tide cheers the heart of a brave British tar. |
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11 Dec 23 - 02:47 PM (#4193398) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: GUEST,Rick Pollay (aka Saul T. Dawg) Yule Tide Shanty Penny Sidor (Gabriola, CANCON) © 2008 (lightly tweaked) Re: Winter Solstice. New Year’s Eve Let’s raise a glass as the old year do pass And raise a cheer for the incoming year As we sail on the Yule tide, me brave boys As we sail on the Yule tide A toast to the skipper who stands without fear Tho the wind cuts his face and there's ice in his beard He stands firm at the wheel as he brings her around With an eye on the weather, he's homeward bound A toast to the crew, those jolly brave men They won't stay home long ‘ fore they’re sailing again As soon as the sun lights up the dark days They'll pack up their gear and say anchors away CHORUS A toast to the women we love with a will With each year that passes, they grow fairer still A toast to the sun, the moon and the stars As they swing round the heavens, guiding jolly jack tars And written by Mac Swackhammer And here's to our friends away or at home If they weren't around we'd be drinking alone We wish them good health and a glass of good beer In hope we will greet them throughout the New Year CHORUS |
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11 Dec 23 - 03:40 PM (#4193402) Subject: RE: christmas shanty/sea song From: GUEST,Rick Pollay (aka Saul T. Dawg) Donkey Riding (Xmas version) Trad tune adapted by Chris Eagle of the London Shanty Collective (2020)(Capstan shanty for Christmas) Was you ever on a dusty road, carrying a precious load On your back the Virgin's stowed … Riding on a donkey Hey Ho. Away we go Donkey Riding. Donkey Riding Hey Ho. Away we go Riding on a donkey. Was you ever in Bedlam town, You want a room, you get a frown A stable stall’s where ye lie down … Riding on a donkey Was you there on Christmas day, when the shepherds shout hooray and Peace on Earth the angels say … Riding on a donkey Did you come from countries far, following a wondrous star Mel and Cas and Balthazar … Riding on a donkey Was you there at Epiphany, bringing in those wise men three Giving gifts all on their knee … Riding on a donkey Did you ever to Egypt plod carrying the son of God Dodging Herod's murder squad … Riding on a donkey It's a tough old life for a beast you know, tramping high and tramping low It's time for us to up and go … Riding on a donkey |