{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_20774/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_20774","id":"gutenberg_20774","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20774","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Music","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Music","Pirates, Buccaneers, Corsairs, etc.","Sea songs"],"text":"Produced by Steven Gibbs, Linda Cantoni, and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. This\nfile is gratefully uploaded to the PG collection in honor\nof Distributed Proofreaders having posted over 10,000\nebooks.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Shanty Book\n\nPart I\n\nSailor Shanties\n\n(Curwen Edition 6308)\n\n\nCollected and Edited, with Pianoforte Accompaniment, by RICHARD\nRUNCIMAN TERRY, with a Foreword by SIR WALTER RUNCIMAN, Bart.\n\n\nLONDON\n\nJ. Curwen & Sons Ltd., 24 Berners Street, W. 1\n\nCopyright, 1921, by J. Curwen & Sons Ltd.\n\n\n\n\nFOREWORD\n\nBy SIR WALTER RUNCIMAN\n\n\nIt is sometimes difficult for old sailors like myself to realize that\nthese fine shanty tunes--so fascinating to the musician, and which no\nsailor can hear without emotion--died out with the sailing vessel, and\nnow belong to a chapter of maritime history that is definitely closed.\nThey will never more be heard on the face of the waters, but it is\nwell that they should be preserved with reverent care, as befits a\nlegacy from the generation of seamen that came to an end with the\nstately vessels they manned with such skill and resource.\n\nIn speech, the old-time 'shellback' was notoriously reticent--almost\ninarticulate; but in song he found self-expression, and all the\nromance and poetry of the sea are breathed into his shanties, where\nsimple childlike sentimentality alternates with the Rabelaisian humour\nof the grown man. Whatever landsmen may think about shanty words--with\ntheir cheerful inconsequence, or light-hearted coarseness--there can\nbe no two opinions about the tunes, which, as folk-music, are a\nnational asset.\n\nI know, of course, that several shanty collections are in the market,\nbut as a sailor I am bound to say that only one--Capt. W.B. Whall's\n'Sea Songs, Ships, and Shanties'--can be regarded as authoritative.\nOnly a portion of Capt. Whall's delightful book is devoted to\nshanties, of which he prints the melodies only (without\naccompaniment); and of these he does not profess to give more than\nthose he himself learnt at sea. I am glad, therefore, to welcome\nMessrs. Curwen's project of a wide and representative collection. Dr.\nTerry's qualifications as editor are exceptional, since he was reared\nin an environment of nineteenth-century seamen, and is the only\nlandsman I have met who is able to render shanties as the old seamen\ndid. I am not musician enough to criticize his pianoforte\naccompaniments, but I can vouch for the authenticity of the _melodies_\nas he presents them, untampered with in any way.\n\nWALTER RUNCIMAN.\n\n_Shoreston Hall_,\n  _Chathill_, 1921.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                                PAGE\n\nFOREWORD by Sir Walter Runciman                  iii\n\nINTRODUCTION                                       v\n\nNOTES ON THE SHANTIES                           xiii\n\n\nWINDLASS & CAPSTAN SHANTIES:\n\n 1  Billy Boy                                      2\n\n 2  Bound for the Rio Grande                       4\n\n 3  Good-bye, fare ye well                         6\n\n 4  Johnny come down to Hilo                       8\n\n 5  Clear the track, let the Bullgine run         10\n\n 6  Lowlands away                                 12\n\n 7  Sally Brown                                   16\n\n 8  Santy Anna                                    18\n\n 9  Shenandoah                                    20\n\n10  Stormalong John                               22\n\n11  The Hog's-eye Man                             24\n\n12  The Wild Goose Shanty                         26\n\n13  We're all bound to go                         28\n\n14  What shall we do with the drunken sailor?     30\n\n\nHALLIARD SHANTIES:\n\n15  Blow, my bully boys                           32\n\n16  Blow the man down                             34\n\n17  Cheer'ly, men                                 36\n\n18  Good morning, ladies all                      38\n\n19  Hanging Johnny                                40\n\n20  Hilo Somebody                                 42\n\n21  Oh run, let the Bullgine run                  44\n\n22  Reuben Ranzo                                  46\n\n23  The Dead Horse                                48\n\n24  Tom's gone to Hilo                            50\n\n25  Whisky Johnny                                 52\n\n26  Boney was a warrior                           54\n\n\nFORE-SHEET OR SWEATING-UP SHANTIES:\n\n27  Johnny Boker                                  55\n\n28  Haul away, Joe                                56\n\n29  We'll haul the bowlin'                        58\n\n\nBUNT SHANTY:\n\n30 Paddy Doyle's boots                            59\n\n\nALPHABETICAL INDEX OF SHANTIES\n\n                                                PAGE\n\nBilly Boy                                          2\n\nBlow, my bully boys                               32\n\nBlow the man down                                 34\n\nBoney was a warrior                               54\n\nBound for the Rio Grande                           4\n\n\nCheer'ly, men                                     36\n\nClear the track, let the Bullgine run             10\n\n\nDead Horse, The                                   48\n\n\nGood-bye, fare ye well                             6\n\nGood morning, ladies all                          38\n\n\nHanging Johnny                                    40\n\nHaul away, Joe                                    56\n\nHilo Somebody                                     42\n\nHog's-eye Man, The   24\n\n\nJohnny Boker                                      55\n\nJohnny come down to Hilo                           8\n\n\nLowlands away                                     12\n\n\nOh run, let the Bullgine run                      44\n\n\nPaddy Doyle's boots                               59\n\n\nReuben Ranzo                                      46\n\n\nSally Brown                                       16\n\nSanty Anna                                        18\n\nShenandoah                                        20\n\nStormalong John                                   22\n\n\nTom's gone to Hilo                                50\n\n\nWe'll haul the bowlin'                            58\n\nWe're all bound to go                             28\n\nWhat shall we do with the drunken sailor?         30\n\nWhisky Johnny                                     52\n\nWild Goose Shanty, The                            26\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nAPOLOGIA\n\nIt may reasonably be asked by what authority a mere landsman publishes\na book on a nautical subject. I may, therefore, plead in extenuation\nthat I have all my life been closely connected with seafaring matters,\nespecially during childhood and youth, and have literally 'grown up\nwith' shanties. My maternal ancestors followed the sea as far back as\nthe family history can be traced, and sailor uncles and grand-uncles\nhave sung shanties to me from my childhood upwards. During boyhood I\nwas constantly about amongst ships, and had learnt at first hand all\nthe popular shanties before any collection of them appeared in print.\nI have in later years collected them from all manner of sailors,\nchiefly at Northumbrian sources. I have collated these later versions\nwith those which I learnt at first hand as a boy from sailor\nrelatives, and also aboard ship. And lastly, I lived for some years in\nthe West Indies, one of the few remaining spots where shanties may\nstill be heard, where my chief recreation was cruising round the\nislands in my little ketch. In addition to hearing them in West Indian\nseaports, aboard Yankee sailing ships and sugar droghers, I also heard\nthem sung constantly on shore in Antigua under rather curious\nconditions. West Indian negro shanties are movable wooden huts, and\nwhen a family wishes to change its _venue_ it does so in the following\nmanner: The shanty is levered up on to a low platform on wheels, to\nwhich two very long ropes are attached. The ropes are manned by as\nmany hands as their length will admit. A 'shantyman' mounts the roof\nof the hut and sits astride it. He sings a song which has a chorus,\nand is an exact musical parallel of a seaman's 'pull-and-haul' shanty.\nThe crowd below sings the chorus, giving a pull on the rope at the\nrequired points in the music, just as sailors did when hauling at sea.\nEach pull on the rope draws the hut a short distance forward, and the\nprocess is continued till its final resting-place is reached, when the\nshantyman descends from the roof. The hut is then levered off the\nplatform on to _terra firma_ and fixed in its required position.\n\n\nWHAT A SHANTY IS\n\nShanties were labour songs sung by sailors of the merchant service\nonly while at work, and never by way of recreation. Moreover--at\nleast, in the nineteenth century--they were never used aboard\nmen-o'-war, where all orders were carried out in silence to the pipe\nof the bo'sun's whistle.\n\nBefore the days of factories and machinery, all forms of work were\nliterally _manual_ labour, and all the world over the labourer,\nobeying a primitive instinct, sang at his toil: the harvester with his\nsickle, the weaver at the loom, the spinner at the wheel. Long after\nmachinery had driven the labour-song from the land it survived at sea\nin the form of shanties, since all work aboard a sailing vessel was\nperformed by hand.\n\nThe advent of screw steamers sounded the death-knell of the shanty.\nAboard the steamer there were practically no sails to be manipulated;\nthe donkey-engine and steam winch supplanted the hand-worked windlass\nand capstan. By the end of the seventies steam had driven the sailing\nship from the seas. A number of sailing vessels lingered on through\nthe eighties, but they retained little of the corporate pride and\nsplendour that was once theirs. The old spirit was gone never to\nreturn.\n\nWhen the sailing ship ruled the waters and the shanty was a living\nthing no one appears to have paid heed to it. To the landsman of those\ndays--before folk-song hunting had begun--the haunting beauty of the\ntunes would appear to have made no appeal. This may be partly\naccounted for by the fact that he would never be likely to hear the\nsailor sing them ashore, and partly because of the Rabelaisian\ncharacter of the words to which they were sung aboard ship. We had\nvery prim notions of propriety in those days, and were apt to overlook\nthe beauty of the melodies, and to speak of shanties in bulk as 'low\nvulgar songs.' Be that as it may, it was not until the late\neighties--when the shanty was beginning to die out with the sailing\nship--that any attempt was made to form a collection.\n\n\nORIGIN OF THE WORD\n\nHere let me enter my protest against the literary preciosity which\nderives the word from (_un_) _chante_ and spells it 'chanty'--in other\nwords, against the gratuitous assumption that unlettered British\nsailors derived one of the commonest words in their vocabulary from a\nforeign source. The result of this 'literary' spelling is that\nninety-nine landsmen out of every hundred, instead of pronouncing the\nword 'shanty,' rhyming with 'scanty' (_as every sailor did_),\npronounce it 'tchahnty,' rhyming with 'auntie,' thereby courting the\namusement or contempt of every seaman. The vogue of '_ch_anty' was\napparently created by the late W.E. Henley, a fine poet, a great man\nof letters, a profound admirer of shanty tunes, but entirely\nunacquainted with nautical affairs. Kipling and other landsmen have\ngiven additional currency to the spelling. The 'literary' sailors,\nClark Russell and Frank Bullen, have also spelt it '_ch_anty,' but\ntheir reason is obvious. The modest seaman always bowed before the\nlandsman's presumed superiority in 'book-larnin'.' What more natural\nthan that Russell and Bullen, obsessed by so ancient a tradition,\nshould accept uncritically the landsman's spelling. But educated\nsailors devoid of 'literary' pretensions have always written the word\nas it was pronounced. To my mind the strongest argument against the\nliterary landsman's derivation of the word is that the British sailor\ncultivated the supremest contempt for everything French, and would be\nthe last person to label such a definitely British practice as\nshanty-singing with a French title. If there had been such a thing in\nFrench ships as a labour-song bearing such a far-fetched title as\n(_un_) _chante_, there might have been a remote possibility of the\nBritish sailor adopting the French term in a spirit of sport or\nderision, but there is no evidence that any such practice, or any such\nterm, achieved any vogue in French ships. As a matter of fact, the\nOxford Dictionary (which prints it '_sh_anty') states that the word\nnever found its way into print until 1869.\n\nThe truth is that, however plausible the French derivation theory may\nsound, it is after all pure speculation--and a landsman's speculation\nat that--unsupported by a shred of concrete evidence.\n\nIf I wished to advance another theory more plausible still, and\nequally unconvincing, I might urge that the word was derived from the\nnegro hut-removals already mentioned. Here, at least, we have a very\nancient custom, which would be familiar to British seamen visiting\nWest Indian seaports. The object moved was a _shanty_; the music\naccompanying the operation was called, by the negroes, a _shanty_\ntune; its musical form (solo and chorus) was identical with the sailor\n_shanty_; the pulls on the rope followed the same method which\nobtained at sea; the soloist was called a _shanty_man; like the\nshantyman at sea he did no work, but merely extemporized verses to\nwhich the workers at the ropes supplied the chorus; and finally, the\nnegroes still pronounce the word itself exactly as the seaman did.\n\nI am quite aware of the flaws in the above argument, but at least it\nshows a manual labour act performed both afloat and ashore under\nprecisely similar conditions as to (_a_) its nature, (_b_) its musical\nsetting; called by the same name, _with the same pronunciation_ in\neach case; and lastly, connected, in one case, with an actual hut or\n_shanty_. Against this concrete argument we have a landsman's abstract\nspeculation, which (_a_) begs the whole question, and (_b_) which was\nnever heard of until a few years before the disappearance of the\nsailing ship. I do not assert that the negroid derivation is\nconclusive, but that from (_un_) _chante_ will not bear serious\ninspection.\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY\n\nThe material under this head is very scanty. Nothing of any\nconsequence was written before the eighties, when W.L. Alden, in\n_Harper's Magazine_, and James Runciman, in the _St. James's Gazette_\nand other papers, wrote articles on the subject with musical\nquotations. Since then several collections have appeared:\n\n     1887. _Sailors' Songs or Chanties_, the words by Frederick\n     J. Davis, R.N.R., the music composed and arranged upon\n     traditional sailor airs by Ferris Tozer, Mus. D. Oxon.\n\n     1888. _The Music of the Waters_, by Laura Alexandrine Smith.\n\n     1910 and 1912. _Sea Songs, Ships, and Shanties_, by Capt.\n     W.B. Whall.\n\n     1912. _Songs of Sea Labour_, by Frank T. Bullen and W.F.\n     Arnold.\n\n     1914. _English Folk Chanteys_ with Pianoforte Accompaniment,\n     collected by Cecil J. Sharp.\n\nOf all these collections Capt. Whall's is the only one which a sailor\ncould accept as authoritative. Capt. Whall unfortunately only gives\nthe twenty-eight shanties which he himself learnt at sea. But to any\none who has heard them sung aboard the old sailing ships, his versions\nring true, and have a bite and a snap that is lacking in those\npublished by mere collectors.\n\nDavis and Tozer's book has had a great vogue, as it was for many years\nthe only one on the market. But the statement that the music is\n'composed and arranged on traditional sailor airs' rules it out of\ncourt in the eyes of seamen, since (_a_) a sailor song is not a\nshanty, and (_b_) to 'compose and arrange on traditional airs' is to\ndestroy the traditional form.\n\nMiss Smith's book is a thick volume into which was tumbled\nindiscriminately and uncritically a collection of all sorts of tunes\nfrom all sorts of countries which had any connection with seas, lakes,\nrivers, or their geographical equivalents. Scientific folk-song\ncollecting was not understood in those days, and consequently all was\nfish that came to the authoress's net. Sailor shanties and landsmen's\nnautical effusions were jumbled together higgledy-piggledy, along with\n'Full Fathom Five' and the 'Eton Boating Song.' But this lack of\ndiscrimination, pardonable in those days, was not so serious as the\ninability to write the tunes down correctly. So long as they were\ncopied from other song-books they were not so bad, but when it came to\ntaking them down from the seamen's singing the results were\ndeplorable. Had the authoress been able to give us correct versions of\nthe shanties her collection would have been a valuable one. The book\ncontains altogether about thirty-two shanties collected from sailors\nin the Tyne seaports. Since both Miss Smith and myself hail from\nNewcastle, her 'hunting ground' for shanties was also mine, and I am\nconsequently in a position to assess the importance or unimportance of\nher work. I may, therefore, say that although hardly a single shanty\nis noted down correctly, I can see clearly--having myself noted the\nsame tunes in the same district--what she intended to convey, and\nfurthermore can vouch for the accuracy of some of the words which were\ncommon to north country sailors, and which have not appeared in other\ncollections.\n\nIf I have been obliged to criticize Miss Smith's book it is not\nbecause I wish to disparage a well-intentioned effort, but because I\nconstantly hear _The Music of the Waters_ quoted as an authoritative\nwork on sailor shanties; and since the shanties in it were all\ncollected in the district where I spent boyhood and youth, I am\nfamiliar with all of them, and can state definitely that they are in\nno sense authoritative. I should like, however, to pay my tribute of\nrespect to Miss Smith's industry, and to her enterprise in calling\nattention to tunes that then seemed in a fair way to disappear.\n\nBullen and Arnold's book ought to have been a valuable contribution to\nshanty literature, as Bullen certainly knew his shanties, and used to\nsing them capitally. Unfortunately his musical collaborator does not\nappear to have been gifted with the faculty of taking down authentic\nversions from his singing. He seems to have had difficulty in\ndifferentiating between long measured notes and unmeasured pauses;\nbetween the respective meanings of three-four and six-eight time;\nbetween modal and modern tunes; and between the cases where irregular\nbarring was or was not required. Apart from the amateur nature of the\nharmonies, the book exhibits such strange unacquaintance with the\nrudiments of musical notation as the following (p. 25):\n\n[Music illustration]\n\nA few other collections deserve mention:\n\n     1912. _The Esperance Morris Book_, Part II (Curwen Edition\n     8571), contains five shanties collected and arranged by\n     Clive Carey.\n\n     1914. _Shanties and Forebitters_, collected and\n     accompaniments written by Mrs. Clifford Beckett (Curwen\n     Edition 6293).\n\n     _Journal of the Folk-Song Society_, Nos. 12, 18, and 20,\n     contain articles on shanties, with musical examples\n     (melodies only), which, from the academic point of view, are\n     not without interest.\n\n     1920. _The Motherland Song Book_ (Vols. III and IV, edited\n     by R. Vaughan Williams) contains seven shanties. It is\n     worthy of note that Dr. Vaughan Williams, Mr. Clive Carey,\n     and Mrs. Clifford Beckett all spell the word 'shanty' as\n     sailors pronounced it.\n\n     1920. _Sailor Shanties arranged for Solo and Chorus of Men's\n     Voices_ by the present editor; two selections (Curwen\n     Edition 50571 and 50572).\n\nThere are one or two other collections in print which are obviously\ncompilations, showing no original research. Of these I make no note.\n\n\nSHANTY FORMS\n\nShanties may be roughly divided, as regards their use, into two\nclasses: (_a_) Hauling shanties, and (_b_) Windlass and Capstan. The\nformer class accompanied the setting of the sails, and the latter the\nweighing of the anchor, or 'warping her in' to the wharf, etc. Capstan\nshanties were also used for pumping ship. A few shanties were\n'interchangeable,' i.e. they were used for both halliards and capstan.\nThe subdivisions of each class are interesting, and the nature of the\nwork involving 'walk away,' 'stamp and go,' 'sweating her up,' 'hand\nover hand,' and other types of shanty would make good reading; but\nnautical details, however fascinating, must be economized in a musical\npublication.\n\nCapstan shanties are readily distinguishable by their music. The\noperation of walking round the capstan (pushing the capstan bars in\nfront of them) was continuous and not intermittent. Both tune and\nchorus were, as a rule, longer than those of the hauling shanty, and\nthere was much greater variety of rhythm. Popular songs, if they had a\nchorus or refrain, could be, and were, effectively employed for\nwindlass and capstan work.\n\nHauling shanties were usually shorter than capstan ones, and are of\ntwo types: (_a_) those used for 'the long hoist' and (_b_) those\nrequired for 'the short pull' or 'sweating-up.' Americans called these\noperations the 'long' and the 'short drag.' The former was used when\nbeginning to hoist sails, when the gear would naturally be slack and\nmoderately easy to manipulate. It had two short choruses, with a\ndouble pull in each. In the following example, the pulls are marked\n[music accent symbol].\n\n[Music illustration: REUBEN RANZO\n\n     SOLO. Oh pity poor Reuben Ranzo,\n     CHORUS. [accent] Ranzo, boys, [accent] Ranzo,\n     SOLO. Oh poor old Reuben Ranzo,\n     CHORUS. [accent] Ranzo, boys, [accent] Ranzo.]\n\nIt is easy to see how effective a collective pull at each of these\npoints would be, while the short intervals of solo would give time for\nshifting the hands on the rope and making ready for the next combined\neffort.\n\nWhen the sail was fully hoisted and the gear taut, a much stronger\npull was necessary in order to make everything fast, so the shanty was\nthen changed for a 'sweating-up' one, in which there was only one\nshort chorus and one very strong pull:\n\n[Music illustration: HAUL THE BOWLIN'\n\n     SOLO: We'll haul the bowlin', so early in the morning,\n     CHORUS: We'll haul the bowlin', the bowlin' [accent] haul.]\n\nSo much effort was now required on the pull that it was difficult to\nsing a musical note at that point. The last word was therefore usually\nshouted.\n\n\nSOURCES OF TUNES\n\nThe sailor travelled in many lands, and in his shanties there are\ndistinct traces of the nationalities of the countries he visited.\nWithout doubt a number of them came from American negro sources. The\nsongs heard on Venetian gondolas must have had their effect, as many\nexamples show. There are also distinct traces of folk-songs which the\nsailor would have learnt ashore in his native fishing village, and the\nmore familiar Christy Minstrel song was frequently pressed into the\nservice. As an old sailor once said to me: 'You can make anything into\na shanty.'\n\nLike all traditional tunes, some shanties are in the ancient modes,\nand others in the modern major and minor keys. It is the habit of the\n'folk-songer' (I am not alluding to our recognized folk-song experts)\nto find 'modes' in every traditional tune. It will suffice, therefore,\nto say that shanties follow the course of all other traditional music.\nMany are modern, and easily recognizable as such. Others are modal in\ncharacter, such as 'What shall we do with the drunken sailor?' No. 14,\nand 'The Hog's-Eye Man,' No. 11. Others fulfil to a certain extent\nmodal conditions, but are nevertheless in keys, e.g. 'Stormalong\nJohn,' No. 10.\n\nLike many other folk-songs, certain shanties--originally, no doubt, in\na mode--were, by the insertion of leading notes, converted into the\nminor key. There was also the tendency on the part of the modern\nsailor to turn his minor key into a major one. I sometimes find\nsailors singing in the major, nowadays, tunes which the very old men\nof my boyhood used to sing in the minor. A case in point is 'Haul\naway, Joe,' No. 28. Miss Smith is correct in giving it in the minor\nform which once obtained on the Tyne, and I am inclined to hazard the\nopinion that that was the original form and not, as now, the\nfollowing:\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n     Way, haul away,\n     We'll haul away the bowlin'.\n     Way, haul away,\n     We'll haul away, Joe.]\n\nIn later times I have also heard 'The Drunken Sailor' (a distinctly\nmodal tune) sung in the major as follows:\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n     What shall we do with the drunken sailor?\n     What shall we do with the drunken sailor? etc.]\n\nI have generally found that these perversions of the tunes are due to\nsailors who took to the sea as young men in the last days of the\nsailing ship, and consequently did not imbibe to the full the old\ntraditions. With the intolerance of youth they assumed that the modal\nturn given to a shanty by the older sailor was the mark of ignorance,\nsince it did not square with their ideas of a major or minor key. This\nexperience is common to all folk-tune collectors.\n\nOther characteristics, for example: (_a_) different words to the same\nmelody; (_b_) different melodies to the same or similar words, need\nnot be enlarged upon here, as they will be self-evident when a\ndefinitive collection is published.\n\nOf the usual troubles incidental to folk-song collecting it is\nunnecessary to speak. But the collection of shanties involves\ndifficulties of a special kind. In taking down a folk-song from a\nrustic, one's chief difficulty is surmounted when one has broken down\nhis shyness and induced him to sing. There is nothing for him to do\nthen but get on with the song. Shanties, however, being labour songs,\none is 'up against' the strong psychological connection between the\nsong and its manual acts. Two illustrations will explain what I mean.\n\nA friend of mine who lives in Kerry wished a collector to hear some of\nthe traditional keening, and an old woman with the reputation of being\nthe best keener in the district, when brought to the house to sing the\nfuneral chants, made several attempts and then replied in a distressed\nmanner: 'I can't do it; there's no body,' This did not mean that she\nwas unwilling to keen in the absence of a corpse, but that she was\nunable to do so. Just before giving up in despair my friend was seized\nwith a brain wave, and asked her if it would suffice for him to lie\ndown on the floor and personate the corpse. When he had done this the\nold woman found herself able to get on with the keening.\n\nAn incident related to me quite casually by Sir Walter Runciman throws\na similar light on the inseparability of a shanty and its labour. He\ndescribed how one evening several north country ships happened to be\nlying in a certain port. All the officers and crews were ashore,\nleaving only the apprentices aboard, some of whom, as he remarked,\nwere 'very keen on shanties,' and their suggestion of passing away the\ntime by singing some was received with enthusiasm. The whole party of\nabout thirty apprentices at once collected themselves aboard one\nvessel, sheeted home the main topsail, and commenced to haul it up to\nthe tune of 'Boney was a warrior,' changing to 'Haul the Bowlin'' for\n'sweating-up.' In the enthusiasm of their singing, and the absence of\nany officer to call ''Vast hauling,' they continued operations until\nthey broke the topsail yard in two, when the sight of the wreckage and\nthe fear of consequences brought the singing to an abrupt conclusion.\nIn my then ignorance I naturally asked: 'Why couldn't you have sung\nshanties without hoisting the topsail?' and the reply was: 'How could\nwe sing a shanty without having our hands on the rope?' Here we have\nthe whole psychology of the labour-song: the old woman could not keen\nwithout the 'body,' and the young apprentices could not sing shanties\napart from the work to which they belonged. The only truly\nsatisfactory results which I ever get nowadays from an old sailor are\nwhen he has been stimulated by conversation to become reminiscent, and\ncroons his shanties almost subconsciously. Whenever I find a sailor\nwilling to declaim shanties in the style of a song I begin to be a\nlittle suspicious of his seamanship. In one of the journals of the\nFolk-Song Society there is an account of a sailor who formed a little\nparty of seafaring men to give public performances of shanties on the\nconcert platform. No doubt this was an interesting experience for the\nlisteners, but that a self-conscious performance such as this could\nrepresent the old shanty singing I find it difficult to believe. Of\ncourse I have had sailors sing shanties to me in a fine declamatory\nmanner, but I usually found one of three things to be the case: the\nman was a 'sea lawyer,' or had not done much deep-sea sailing; or his\nseamanship only dated from the decline of the sailing vessel.\n\nIt is doubtless interesting to the folk-songer to see in print\nshanties taken down from an individual sailor with his individual\nmelodic twirls and twiddles. But since no two sailors ever sing the\nsame shanty quite in the same manner, there must necessarily be some\nmeans of getting at the tune, unhampered by these individual\nidiosyncrasies, which are quite a different thing from what folk-song\nstudents recognize as 'variants.' The power to discriminate can only\nbe acquired by familiarity with the shanty as it was in its palmy\ndays. The collector who comes upon the scene at this late time of day\nmust necessarily be at a disadvantage. The ordinary methods which he\nwould apply to a folk-song break down in the case of a labour-song.\nManual actions were the soul of the shanty; eliminate these and you\nhave only the skeleton of what was once a living thing. It is quite\npossible, I know, to push this line of argument too far, but every one\nwho knows anything about seamanship must feel that a shanty nowadays\ncannot be other than a pale reflection of what it once was.\n\nThat is why I deprecate the spurious authenticity conferred by print\nupon isolated versions of shanties sung by individual old men. When\nthe originals are available it seems to me pedantic and academic to\nput into print the comic mispronunciations of well-known words by old\nand uneducated seamen.\n\nAnd this brings me to the last difficulty which confronts the\ncollector with no previous knowledge of shanties. As a mere matter of\ndates, any sailors now remaining from sailing ship days must\nnecessarily be very old men. I have found that their octogenarian\nmemories are not always to be trusted. On one occasion an old man sang\nquite glibly a tune which was in reality a _pasticcio_ of three\nseparate shanties all known to me. I have seen similar results in\nprint, since the collector arrived too late upon the scene to be able\nto detect the tricks which an old man's memory played him.\n\nOne final remark about collectors which has an important bearing upon\nthe value of their work. There were two classes of sailing vessels\nthat sailed from English ports--the coaster or the mere collier that\nplied between the Tyne or Severn and Boulogne, and the Southspainer,\nunder which term was comprised all deep-sea vessels. On the collier or\nshort-voyage vessel the crew was necessarily a small one, and the\nshanty was more or less of a makeshift, adapted to the capacity of the\nlimited numbers of the crew. Purely commercial reasons precluded the\nengagement of any shantyman specially distinguished for his musical\nattainments. Consequently, so far as the shanty was concerned, 'any\nold thing would do.' On the Southspainer, however, things were very\ndifferent. The shantyman was usually a person of considerable musical\nimportance, who sang his songs in a more or less finished manner; his\nmelodies were clean, clear-cut things, without any of the\nfolk-songer's quavers and wobbles. I heard them in the 'seventies and\n'eighties before the sailing-ship had vanished, consequently I give\nthem as they were then sung--undisfigured and unobscured by the\nmixture of twirls, quavers, and hiccups one hears from octogenarian\nmariners who attempt them to-day.\n\n\nMETHOD OF SINGING\n\nSo far as the music was concerned, a shanty was a song with a chorus.\nThe song was rendered by one singer, called the shantyman, and the\nchorus by the sailors who performed their work in time with the music.\nSo far as the words were concerned there was usually a stereotyped\nopening of one or more verses. For all succeeding verses the shantyman\nimprovized words, and his topics were many and varied, the most\nappreciated naturally being personal allusions to the crew and\nofficers, sarcastic criticism on the quality of the food, wistful\nreferences to the good time coming on shore, etc. There was no need\nfor any connection or relevancy between one verse or another, nor were\nrhymes required. The main thing that mattered was that the rhythm\nshould be preserved and that the words should be such as would keep\nthe workers merry or interested. Once the stereotyped verses were got\nrid of and the improvization began, things became so intimate and\npersonal as to be unprintable. It was a curious fact that such shanty\nwords as lent themselves most to impropriety were wedded to tunes\neither of fine virility or haunting sweetness.\n\nFor 'pull-and-haul' shanties the shantyman took up his position near\nthe workers and announced the shanty, sometimes by singing the first\nline. This established the tune to which they were to supply the\nchorus. For capstan shanties he usually did the same. He frequently\nsat on the capstan, but so far as I can learn he more usually took up\nhis position on or against the knightheads. The importance of the\nshantyman could not be overestimated. A good shantyman with a pretty\nwit was worth his weight in gold. He was a privileged person, and was\nexcused all work save light or odd jobs.\n\n\nTHE WORDS OF SHANTIES\n\nI have already noted the shanties which were derived from popular\nsongs, also the type which contained a definite narrative. Except\nwhere a popular song was adapted, the form was usually rhymed or more\noften unrhymed couplets. The topics were many and varied, but the\nchief ones were: (1) popular heroes such as Napoleon, and 'Santy\nAnna.' That the British sailor of the eighteenth century should hate\nevery Frenchman and yet make a hero of Bonaparte is one of the\nmysteries which has never been explained. Another mystery is the\nfascination which Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna (1795-1876) exercised\nover the sailor. He was one of the many Mexican 'Presidents' and was\ndefeated by the American General Taylor in 1847. That did not prevent\nthe British sailor presenting him in the light of an invariable victor\nuntil he was led out to be shot (he really died a natural death) by\npersons unknown. (2) The sailor had mythical heroes too, e.g. 'Ranzo,'\nalready mentioned, and 'Stormy,' who was the theme of many shanties.\nNo sailor could ever give the least explanation of them, and so they\nremain the last echoes of long forgotten sagas. (3) High-sounding,\npoetic, or mysterious words, such as 'Lowlands,' 'Shenandoah,'\n'Rolling river,' 'Hilo,' 'Mobile Bay,' 'Rio Grande,' had a great\nfascination, as their constant recurrence in many shanties shows. (4)\nThe sailor also sang much of famous ships, such as 'The Flying Cloud,'\n'The Henry Clay,' or 'The Victory,' and famous lines, such as 'The\nBlack Ball.' Even famous shipowners were celebrated in song, as\nwitness 'Mr. John Tapscott,' in 'We're all bound to go.' (5) Love\naffairs, in which 'Lizer Lee' and other damsels constantly figured,\nwere an endless topic. (6) But chiefly did Jack sing of affairs\nconnected with his ship. He never sang of 'the rolling main,' 'the\nfoaming billows,' 'the storm clouds,' etc. These are the\nstock-in-trade of the landsman; they were too real for the sailor to\nsing about. He had the instinct of the primitive man which forbids\nmention of natural forces of evil omen. But intimate or humorous\nmatters such as the failings of his officers, the quality of the food,\nthe rate of pay, or other grievances were treated with vigour and\nemphasis. Like the Britisher of to-day, he would put up with any\nhardship so long as he were permitted to grouse about it. The\nshantyman gave humorous expression to this grousing, which deprived it\nof the element of sulks. Steam let off in this way was a wholesome\npreventive of mutiny.\n\nThe choruses were usually jingles, with no relevance save maintenance\nof the rhythm.\n\nOne feature of the words may be noted. The sailor's instinct for\nromance was so strong that in his choruses, at least, no matter how\n'hair-curling' the solo might be, he always took the crude edge off\nthe concrete and presented it as an abstraction if possible. For\nexample, he knew perfectly well that one meaning of 'to blow' was to\nknock or kick. He knew that discipline in Yankee packets was\nmaintained by corporeal methods, so much so that the Mates, to whom\nthe function of knocking the 'packet rats' about was delegated, were\ntermed first, second, and third 'blowers,' or strikers, and in the\nshanty he sang 'Blow the man down.' 'Knock' or 'kick,' as I have\nrecently seen in a printed collection, was too crudely realistic for\nhim. In like manner the humorous title, 'Hog's-eye,' veiled the coarse\nintimacy of the term which it represented. And that is where, when\ncollecting shanties from the 'longshore' mariner of to-day, I find\nhim, if he is uneducated, so tiresome. He not only wants to explain to\nme as a landsman the exact meaning (which I know already) of terms\nwhich the old type of sailor, with his natural delicacy, avoided\ndiscussing, but he tries where possible to work them into his shanty,\na thing the sailor of old time never did. So that when one sees in\nprint expressions which sailors did not use, it is presumptive\nevidence that the collector has been imposed upon by a salt of the\n'sea lawyer' type.\n\nPerhaps I ought to make this point clearer. Folk-song collecting was\nonce an artistic pursuit. Now it has become a flourishing industry of\nhigh commercial value. From the commercial point of view it is\nessential that results should be printed and circulated as widely as\npossible. Some knowledge of seamanship is an absolute necessity where\nfolk-shanties are concerned. The mere collector nowadays does not\npossess that knowledge; it is confined to those who have had practical\nexperience of the sea, but who will never print their experiences. The\nmere collector _must_ print his versions. What is unprinted must\nremain unknown; what is printed is therefore accepted as\nauthoritative, however misleading it may be. Many highly educated men,\nof whom Captain Whall is the type, have followed the sea. It is from\nthem that the only really trustworthy information is forthcoming. But\nso far as I can judge, it is uneducated men who appear to sing to\ncollectors nowadays, and I have seen many a quiet smile on the lips of\nthe educated sailor when he is confronted with printed versions of the\nuneducated seaman's performances. For example, one of the best known\nof all shanties is 'The Hog's-eye man'; I have seen this entitled 'The\nHog-eyed man,' and even 'The Ox-eyed man.' Every old sailor knew the\nmeaning of the term. Whall and Bullen, who were both sailors, use the\ncorrect expression, 'Hog-eye.' The majority of sailors of my\nacquaintance called it 'Hog's-eye.' Did decency permit I could show\nconclusively how Whall and Bullen are right and the mere collector\nwrong. It must suffice, however, for me to say that the term\n'Hog's-eye' or 'Hog-eye' had nothing whatever to do with the optic of\nthe 'man' who was sung about. I could multiply instances, but this one\nis typical and must suffice.\n\nWe hear a great deal of the coarseness and even lewdness of the\nshanty, but I could wish a little more stress were laid on the\nsailor's natural delicacy. Jack was always a gentleman in feeling.\nGranted his drinking, cursing, and amours--but were not these, until\nVictorian times, the hall-mark of every gentleman ashore? The\nRabelaisian jokes of the shantyman were solos, the sound of which\nwould not travel far beyond the little knot of workers who chuckled\nover them. The choruses--shouted out by the whole working party--would\nbe heard all over the ship and even penetrate ashore if she were in\nport. Hence, in not a single instance do the choruses of any shanty\ncontain a coarse expression.\n\n\nEDITORIAL METHODS\n\nAs regards the tunes, I have adhered to the principle of giving each\none as it was sung by some individual singer. This method has not been\napplied to the words. Consequently the verses of any given shanty may\nhave derived from any number of singers. Since there was no connection\nor relevancy between the different verses of a shanty, the only\nprinciple I have adhered to is that whatever verses are set down\nshould have been sung to me at some time or other by some sailor or\nother.\n\nOf course I have had to camouflage many unprintable expressions, and\nold sailors will readily recognize where this has been done. Sometimes\na whole verse (after the first line) has needed camouflage, and the\nmethod adopted is best expressed as follows:\n\n     There was a young lady of Gloucester\n     Who couldn't eat salt with her egg,\n     And when she sat down\n     She could never get up,\n     And so the poor dog had none.\n\nAs regards the accompaniments, I have been solely guided by the\nnecessity of preserving the character of the melodies in all their\nvigour and vitality, and have tried, even in obviously modal tunes,\nnot to obscure their breeziness by academic treatment.\n\n\nACKNOWLEDGMENTS\n\nAmongst those to whom I owe thanks, I must number the Editors of _The\nMusic Student_ and _Music and Letters_, for allowing me to incorporate\nin this Preface portions of articles which I have written for them.\nAlso to Capt. W.J. Dowdy, both for singing shanties to me himself, and\naffording me facilities for interviewing inmates of the Royal Albert\nInstitution, over which he presides. I also wish to express my\ngratitude to those sailors who have in recent years sung shanties to\nme, especially Capt. R.W. Robertson, Mr. Geo. Vickers, Mr. Richard\nAllen, of Seahouses, and Mr. F.B. Mayoss. And last, but not least, to\nMr. Morley Roberts, who has not only sung shanties to me, but has also\ngiven me the benefit of his ripe nautical experience.\n\nR.R.T.\n\n_Hampstead_, 1921.\n\n\n\n\nNOTES ON THE SHANTIES\n\n\n1. BILLY BOY\n\nThis is undoubtedly a coast song 'made into a shanty.' I heard it in\nNorthumberland, both on shore and in ships, when I was a boy. The\ntheme of a 'Boy Billy' seems common to folk-songs in different parts\nof the country. The tunes are different, and the words vary, but the\ntopic is always the same: 'Billy' is asked where he has been all the\nday; he replies that he has been courting; he is then questioned as to\nthe qualifications of his _inamorata_ as a housewife. Dr.\nVaughan-Williams's 'My Boy Billie' is in print and well known, as is\nalso Mr. Cecil Sharp's 'My Boy Willie' ['English Folk-Songs,' vol. i,\npage 98]. I have also collected different versions in Warwickshire and\nSomerset. The version of line 1, page 3, bars 2 and 3, is older than\nthe one given in my arrangement for male-voice chorus (Curwen Edition\n50572), so, upon consideration, I decided to give it here. There are\nmany more verses, but they are not printable, nor do they readily lend\nthemselves to camouflage. The tune has not appeared in print until\nnow.\n\n\n2. BOUND FOR THE RIO GRANDE\n\nThe variants of this noble tune are legion. But this version, which a\nsailor uncle taught me, has been selected, as I think it the most\nbeautiful of all. I used to notice, even as a boy, how it seemed to\ninspire the shantyman to sentimental flights of _Heimweh_ that at\ntimes came perilously near poetry. The words of the well-known song,\n'Where are you going to, my pretty maid?' were frequently sung to this\nshanty, and several sailors have told me that they had also used the\nwords of the song known as 'The Fishes.' Capt. Whall gives 'The\nFishes' on pages 96 and 97 of his book, and says that the words were,\nin his time, sometimes used to the tune of 'Blow the man down.'\n\n\n3. GOOD-BYE, FARE YE WELL\n\nThis is one of the best beloved of shanties. So strongly did its\nsentiment appeal to sailors that one never heard the shantyman\nextemporize a coarse verse to it. Whall prints a version, page 71.\n\n\n4. JOHNNY COME DOWN TO HILO\n\nThis is clearly of negro origin. I learnt several variants of it, but\nfor its present form I am indebted to Capt. W.J. Dowdy.\n\n\n5. CLEAR THE TRACK, LET THE BULLGINE RUN\n\nThe tune was a favourite in Yankee Packets. It does not appear in\nWhall. 'Bullgine' was American negro slang for 'engine.' I picked up\nthis version in boyhood from Blyth seamen.\n\n\n6. LOWLANDS\n\nFor another version see Whall (page 80), who says it is of American\norigin and comes from the cotton ports of the old Southern States. It\nwas well known to every sailor down to the time of the China Clippers.\nMy version is that of Capt. John Runciman, who belonged to that\nperiod. I have seldom found it known to sailors who took to the sea\nafter the early seventies. The tune was sung in very free time and\nwith great solemnity. It is almost impossible to reproduce in print\nthe elusive subtlety of this haunting melody. In North-country ships\nthe shantyman used to make much of the theme of a dead lover appearing\nin the night. There were seldom any rhymes, and the air was\nindescribably touching when humoured by a good hand. A 'hoosier,' by\nthe way, is a cotton stevedore. An interesting point about this shanty\nis that, whether by accident or design, it exhibits a rhythmic device\ncommonly practised by mediaeval composers, known as _proportio\nsesquialtera_. Expressed in modern notation it would mean the\ninterpolation of bars of three-four time in the course of a\ncomposition which was in six-eight time. The number of quavers would,\nof course, be the same in each bar; but the rhythm would be different.\nThe barring here adopted does not show this.\n\n\n7. SALLY BROWN\n\nFor another version of this universally known shanty see Whall, page\n64. Although its musical form is that of a halliard shanty, it was\nalways used for the capstan. I never heard it used for any other\npurpose than heaving the anchor. The large-sized notes given in the\nlast bar are those which most sailors sing to me nowadays; the small\nones are those which I most frequently heard when a boy.\n\n\n8. SANTY ANNA\n\nThis fine shanty was a great favourite, and in defiance of all history\nthe sailor presents 'Santy Anna' in the light of an invariable victor.\nThe truth is that Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna (1795-1876) was the\nlast President of Mexico before the annexation by America of\nCalifornia, Texas, and New Mexico. He defeated the Spaniards at\nZampico, and held Vera Cruz against the French, but was badly beaten\nat Molina del Rey by the United States Army under General Taylor\n(1847). He was recalled to the Presidency in 1853, but overthrown in\n1855. He attempted to overturn the Republic in 1867; was captured and\nsentenced to death, but was pardoned on condition that he left the\ncountry. He retired to the United States until 1872, when a general\namnesty allowed his return to Mexico. Like other Mexican Presidents,\nhe lived a stormy life, but unlike most of them he died a natural\ndeath. Whall gives a version on page 89.\n\n\n9. SHENANDOAH\n\nThis is one of the most famous of all shanties. I never met a sailor\nto whom it was unknown, nor have I ever found any two who sang it\nexactly alike. This version (sung to me by Capt. Robertson) is almost,\nbut not quite, identical with the one I learnt as a boy. Shenandoah\n(English seamen usually pronounced it 'Shannandore') was a celebrated\nIndian chief after whom an American town is named. A branch of the\nPotomac river bears the same name. The tune was always sung with great\nfeeling and in very free rhythm. Whall gives a version on page 1.\n\n\n10. STORMALONG JOHN\n\nThis is one of the many shanties with 'Stormy' as their hero. Whatever\nother verses were extemporized, those relating to digging his grave\nwith a silver spade, and lowering him down with a golden chain, were\nrarely omitted. Other favourite verses were:\n\n     (_a_) I wish I was old Stormy's son.\n     (_b_) I'd build a ship a thousand ton.\n\nWho 'Stormy' was is undiscoverable, but more than a dozen shanties\nmourn him.\n\n\n11. THE HOG'S-EYE MAN\n\nOf the numberless versions of this shanty I have chosen that of Capt.\nRobertson as being the most representative. Of the infinite number of\nverses to this fine tune hardly one is printable. There has been much\nspeculation as to the origin of the title. As a boy my curiosity was\npiqued by reticence, evasion, or declarations of ignorance, whenever I\nasked the meaning of the term. It was only in later life that I learnt\nit from Mr. Morley Roberts. His explanation made it clear why every\n_sailor_ called it either 'hog-eye' or 'hog's-eye,' and why only\n_landsmen_ editors ever get the word wrong. One collector labels the\nshanty 'The hog-eyed man,' and another goes still further wide of the\nmark by calling it 'The ox-eyed man.' The remarks on this shanty in\nthe Preface will show the absurdity of both titles. That is all the\nexplanation I am at liberty to give in print. Whall gives the shanty\non page 118, his version differing but slightly from Capt.\nRobertson's.\n\n\n12. THE WILD GOOSE SHANTY\n\nThis I learnt from Capt. John Runciman. Allusions to 'The Wild Goose\nNation' occur in many shanties, but I never obtained any clue to the\nmeaning (if any) of the term. The verse about 'huckleberry hunting'\nwas rarely omitted, but I never heard that particular theme further\ndeveloped. Whall gives another version (in six-eight time) on page\n131.\n\n\n13. WE'RE ALL BOUND TO GO\n\nI used to hear this tune constantly on the Tyne. It is one of the few\nshanties which preserved a definite narrative, but each port seems to\nhave offered variants on the names of the ships that were 'bound for\nAmerikee.' 'Mr. Tapscott' was the head of a famous line of emigrant\nships. The last word in verse 5 was always pronounced _male_. This has\nled to many shantymen treating it not as _meal_, but as the _mail_\nwhich the ship carried. As the shanty is full of Irish allusions, the\nprobabilities are that the word was _meal_, to which the sailor gave\nwhat he considered to be the Irish pronunciation. Whenever I heard the\nshanty it was given with an attempt at Irish pronunciation throughout.\nCapt. Whall (page 79) gives additional colour to the supposition that\nthis was a general practice, for his version of verse 6 runs:\n\n     'Bad luck unto them _say_-boys,\n        Bad luck to them I say;\n      They broke into me _say_-chest\n        And they stole me clothes away.'\n\n\n14. WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH THE DRUNKEN SAILOR?\n\nThis fine tune--in the first Mode--was always a great favourite.\nAlthough mostly used for windlass or capstan, Sir Walter Runciman\ntells me that he frequently sang to it for 'hand-over-hand' hauling.\nWhall gives it on page 107 under the title 'Early in the morning.' It\nis one of the few shanties that were sung in quick time.\n\n\n15. BLOW, MY BULLY BOYS\n\nThis shanty has been included in every collection that I know of. (See\nWhall, page 91.) Most of my sailor relatives sang the last line thus:\n\n[Music illustration: Her masts and yards they shine like silver.]\n\nSpotless decks, and 'masts and yards that shone like silver,' were the\ndistinguishing marks of a Yankee Packet, and this immaculate condition\nwas the result of a terrible discipline, in which the belaying pin was\na gruesome factor.\n\n\n16. BLOW THE MAN DOWN\n\nThis is the shanty which is perhaps the best known among landsmen.\n'Winchester Street' is in South Shields, and in the old days was the\naristocratic quarter where only persons of high distinction--such as\nshipowners, and 'Southspainer' skippers--lived. Whall gives the shanty\non page 92.\n\n\n17. CHEER'LY, MEN\n\nThis is a very well-known shanty, and the variants of it are endless.\nThis particular version was sung to me by Capt. R.W. Robertson. It\ndiffers but slightly from the version which I originally learnt from\nSir Walter Runciman. Very few of the words were printable, and old\nsailors who read my version will no doubt chuckle over the somewhat\npointless continuation of the verses concerning Kitty Carson and Polly\nRiddle. They will, of course, see the point of my having supplied a\nChopinesque accompaniment to such a shanty.\n\n\n18. GOOD MORNING, LADIES ALL\n\nThe title belongs to other shanties as well; but, so far as I know,\nthis tune has never been printed until now. I learnt it from\nNorthumbrian sailors when a very small boy, and have never heard of\nits use in any other than Blyth and Tyne ships. It may be a\nNorthumbrian air, but from such knowledge as I have gleaned of\nNorthumbrian folk-tunes, I incline to the conjecture that it may have\nbeen picked up in more southern latitudes by some Northumbrian seaman.\n\n\n19. HANGING JOHNNY\n\nThis cheery riot of gore is wedded to the most plaintive of tunes, and\nis immortalized by Masefield in his 'Sailor's Garland.' Nowadays one\noccasionally meets unhumorous longshore sailormen who endeavour to\ntemper its fury to the shorn landsman by palming off a final verse,\nwhich gives one to understand that the previous stanzas have been only\n'Johnny's' little fun, and which makes him bleat:\n\n     'They said I hanged for money,\n      But I never hanged nobody.'\n\nI also possess a shanty collection where the words have so clearly\nshocked the editor that he has composed an entirely fresh set. These\nexhibit 'Johnny' as a spotless moralist, who would never _really_ hang\nhis parents, but would only operate (in a Pickwickian sense of course)\non naughty and unworthy people:\n\n     'I'd hang a noted liar,\n      I'd hang a bloated friar.\n\n     'I'd hang a brutal mother,\n      I'd hang her and no other.\n\n     'I'd hang to make things jolly,\n      I'd hang all wrong and folly.'\n\nImagine a shantyman (_farceur_ as he ever was) making for edification\nin that style!\n\n\n20. HILO SOMEBODY\n\nThis is another of the shanties I learnt as a boy from Blyth sailors,\nand which has never been printed before. I fancy that 'blackbird' and\n'crew' must be a perversion of 'blackbird and _crow_,' as the latter\nfigure of speech occurs in other shanties.\n\n\n21. OH, RUN, LET THE BULLGINE RUN\n\nThe reference to the 'Bullgine' seems to suggest Transatlantic origin.\nThere were endless verses, but no attempt at narrative beyond a\nrecital of the names of places from which and to which they were\n'running.' This version was sung to me by Mr. F.B. Mayoss, a seaman\nwho sailed in the old China Clippers.\n\n\n22. REUBEN RANZO\n\nAlden gives this version, and I fancy it may have once been fairly\ngeneral, as several of my relatives used to sing it. The version I\nmostly heard from other sailors, however, began:\n\n[Music illustration: Oh, pity poor Reuben Ranzo etc.]\n\nBut from Mr. Morley Roberts I had the following:\n\n[Music illustration: Oh, pity poor Reuben Ranzo etc.]\n\nCapt. Robertson's version ran thus:\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n     Oh, poor old Reuben Ranzo,\n     Ranzo, boys, Ranzo,\n     Oh, poor old Reuben Ranzo,\n     Ranzo, boys, Ranzo.]\n\nWhall gives another version on page 84.\n\nWho Ranzo was must ever remain a mystery. Capt. Whall suggests that\nthe word might be a corruption of Lorenzo, since Yankee Whalers took\nmany Portuguese men from the Azores, where Lorenzo would have been a\ncommon enough name. He adds that in his time the shanty was always\nsung to the regulation words, and that 'when the story was finished\nthere was no attempt at improvization; the text was, I suppose,\nconsidered sacred.' He further says that he never heard any variation\nfrom the words which he gives.\n\nI think he is right about the absence of improvization on extraneous\ntopics, but I used to hear a good deal of improvization on the subject\nof Ranzo himself. I knew at least three endings of the story: (1)\nwhere the captain took him into the cabin, 'larned him navigation,'\nand eventually married him to his daughter; (2) where Ranzo's hatred\nof ablutions caused the indignant crew to throw him overboard; (3)\nwhere the story ended with the lashes received, not for his dirty\nhabits, but for a theft:\n\n     'We gave him lashes thirty\n      For stealin' the captain's turkey.'\n\nI have also heard many extemporaneous verses relating his adventures\namong the denizens of the deep after he was thrown overboard.\n\n\n23. THE DEAD HORSE\n\nThis shanty was used both for hauling and for pumping ship. It seems\nto have had its origin in a rite which took place after the crew had\n'worked off the dead horse.' The circumstances were these: Before any\nvoyage, the crew received a month's pay in advance, which, needless to\nsay, was spent ashore before the vessel sailed. Jack's first month on\nsea was therefore spent in clearing off his advance, which he called\nworking off the dead horse. The end of that payless period was\ncelebrated with a solemn ceremony: a mass of straw, or whatever other\ncombustibles were to hand, was made up into a big bundle, which\nsometimes did, and more often did not, resemble a horse. This was\ndragged round the deck by all hands, the shanty being sung meanwhile.\nThe perambulation completed, the dead horse was lighted and hauled up,\nusually to the main-yardarm, and when the flames had got a good hold,\nthe rope was cut and the blazing mass fell into the sea, amid shouts\nof jubilation.\n\n\n24. TOM'S GONE TO HILO\n\nThis beautiful tune was very popular. I have chosen the version sung\nto me by Mr. George Vickers, although in the first chorus it differs\nsomewhat from the version I learnt as a boy:\n\n[Music illustration: Away down Hilo etc.]\n\nIt will be seen how closely the above resembles the version given by\nWhall on page 74. (It will be noted that he entitled it '_John's_ gone\nto Hilo.') I give Mr. Vickers's verses about 'The Victory' and\n'Trafalgar,' as I had never heard them sung by any other seaman. I\nhave omitted the endless couplets containing the names of places to\nwhich Tommy is supposed to have travelled. As Capt. Whall says: 'A\ngood shantyman would take Johnny all round the world to ports with\nthree syllables, Montreal, Rio Grande Newfoundland, or any such as\nmight occur to him.'\n\n\n25. WHISKY JOHNNY\n\nThis Bacchanalian chant was a prime favourite. Every sailor knew it,\nand every collection includes some version of it.\n\n\n26. BONEY WAS A WARRIOR\n\nI never met a seaman who has not hoisted topsails to this shanty. Why\nJack should have made a hero of Boney (he frequently pronounced it\n'Bonny') is a mystery, except perhaps that, as a sailor, he realized\nthe true desolation of imprisonment on a sea-girt island, and his\nsympathies went out to the lonely exile accordingly. Or it may have\nbeen the natural liking of the Briton for any enemy who proved himself\na 'bonny fechter.'\n\n\n27. JOHNNY BOKER\n\nThis popular shanty was sometimes used for bunting-up a sail, but more\nusually for 'sweating-up.' Although I have allowed the last note its\nfull musical value, it was not prolonged in this manner aboard ship.\nAs it coincided with the pull, it usually sounded more like a staccato\ngrunt.\n\n\n28. HAUL AWAY, JOE\n\nThe major version of this shanty (which appears in Part II) was more\ngeneral in the last days of the sailing ship; but this minor version\n(certainly the most beautiful of them) is the one which I used to hear\non the Tyne. The oldest of my sailor relatives never sang any other.\nThis inclines me to the belief that it is the earlier version. The\nverses extemporized to this shanty were endless, but those concerning\nthe Nigger Girl and King Louis never seem to have been omitted. As in\nNo. 27, I have allowed the last note its full musical value, but\naboard ship it was sung in the same manner as No. 27.\n\n\n29. WE'LL HAUL THE BOWLIN'\n\nThis was the most popular shanty for 'sweating-up.' There are many\nvariants of it. The present version I learnt from Capt. John Runciman.\nIn this shanty no attempt was ever made to sing the last word. It was\nalways shouted.\n\n\n30. PADDY DOYLE'S BOOTS\n\nThis shanty differs from all others, as (_a_) it was sung _tutti_\nthroughout; (_b_) it had only one verse, which was sung over and over\nagain; and (_c_) it was used for one operation and one operation only,\nviz. bunting up the foresail or mainsail in furling. In this operation\nthe canvas of the sail was folded intensively until it formed a smooth\nconical bundle. This was called a bunt, and a strong collective effort\n(at the word 'boots') was required to get it on to the yard.\n\nAlthough the same verse was sung over and over again, very\noccasionally a different text would be substituted, which was treated\nin the same manner. Capt. Whall gives two alternatives, which were\nsometimes used:\n\n     'We'll all drink brandy and gin,'\n\nand--\n\n     'We'll all shave under the chin.'\n\nMr. Morley Roberts also told me that a variant in his ship was--\n\n     'We'll all throw dirt at the cook.'\n\n\n\n\nTHE SHANTY BOOK.\n\nPART I.\n\n[Transcriber's Note: Fractions in brackets indicate that the original\ntext has a music note symbol over the succeeding word, e.g., [1/4] = a\nquarter note. A vowel with an umlaut indicates that the word or\nsyllable has two dots over it in the original text, presumably to\nindicate that it should be prolonged when sung. See the Glossary\nbelow.]\n\n\n\n\n1. Billy Boy.\n\n(NORTHUMBRIAN CAPSTAN SHANTY.)\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n1.   Where hev ye been aeal the day,\n     Billy Boy, Billy Boy?\n   Where hev ye been aeal the day, me Billy Boy?\n     I've been walkin' aeal the day\n     With me charmin' Nancy Grey,\n     And me Nancy kittl'd me fancy\n     Oh me charmin' Billy Boy.]\n\n2.   Is she fit to be yor wife\n     Billy Boy, Billy Boy?\n   Is she fit to be yor wife, me Billy Boy?\n     She's as fit to be me wife\n     As the fork is to the knife\n     And me Nancy, _etc._\n\n3.   Can she cook a bit o' steak\n     Billy Boy, Billy Boy?\n   Can she cook a bit o' steak, me Billy Boy?\n     She can cook a bit o' steak,\n     Aye, and myek a gairdle cake\n     And me Nancy, _etc._\n\n4.   Can she myek an Irish Stew\n     Billy Boy, Billy Boy?\n   Can she myek an Irish Stew, me Billy Boy?\n     She can myek an Irish Stew\n     Aye, and \"Singin' Hinnies\" too.\n     And me Nancy, _etc._\n\n_Glossary_:--\n\n     aeal = all. Pronounced to rhyme with \"shall\" only the vowel\n     must be very much prolonged.\n\n     kittled = tickled.\n\n     myek = make.\n\n     gairdle cake = girdle cake, i.e. a cake baked on a griddle.\n\n     Singin' Hinnies--i.e. a species of Sally Lunn teacake only\n     larger. Usually plentifully besprinkled with currants, in\n     which case it is designated by pitmen as \"Singin' Hinnies\n     wi' smaea co fizzors\" (small coal fizzers.)\n\n\n\n\n2. Bound for the Rio Grande.\n\n(WINDLASS AND CAPSTAN SHANTY.)\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n1. I'll sing you a song of the fish of the sea.\n   Oh Rio.\n   I'll sing you a song of the fish of the sea\n   And we're bound for the Rio Grande.\n   Then away love, away,\n   'Way down Rio,\n   So fare ye well my pretty young gel.\n   For we're bound for the Rio Grande.]\n\n2. Sing good-bye to Sally, and good-bye to Sue, Oh Rio, _etc._\n   And you who are listening, good-bye to you. And we're bound, _etc._\n\n3. Our [1/4]ship [1/8]went sailing out over the Bar\n   [1/16]And [1/16]we pointed her nose for the South-er-en Star.\n\n4. Farewell and adieu to you ladies of Spain\n   [1/16]And [1/16]we're all of us coming to see you again.\n\n5. [1/8]I [1/4]said [1/8 1/4]farewell [1/8]to Kitty my dear,\n   [1/16]And [1/16]she waved her white hand as we passed the South Pier.\n\n6. The oak, and the ash, and the bonny birk tree\n   They're all growing green in the North Countrie.\n\n\n\n\n3. Good-bye, fare ye well.\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n1. I thought I heard the old man say\n   Good-bye, fare ye well,\n   Good-bye, fare ye well.\n   I thought I heard the old man say,\n   Hooray my boys we're homeward bound.]\n\n2. We're homeward bound, I hear the sound. (_twice_)\n\n3. We sailed away to Mobile Bay. (_twice_)\n\n4. But now we're bound for Portsmouth Town. (_twice_)\n\n5. And soon we'll be ashore again. (_twice_)\n\n6. I kissed my Kitty upon the pier\n   [1/16]And [1/16]it's oh to see you again my dear.\n\n7. We're homeward bound, and I hear the sound. (_twice_)\n\n\n\n\n4. Johnny come down to Hilo.\n\n(WINDLASS AND CAPSTAN.)\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n1. I nebber see de like since I bin born,\n   When a big buck nigger wid de sea boots on,\n                            Says \"Johnny come down to Hilo.\n                            Poor old man.\"\n   Oh wake her, oh, shake her,\n   Oh wake dat gel wid de blue dress on,\n                            When Johnny comes down to Hilo.\n                            Poor old man.]\n\n2. I lub a little gel across de sea,\n   She's a Badian[1] beauty and she sez to me,\n                            \"Oh Johnny,\" _etc._\n\n3. Oh was you ebber down in Mobile Bay\n   Where dey screws de cotton on a summer day?\n                            When Johnny, _etc._\n\n4. [1/16]Did [1/16]you ebber see de ole Plantation Boss\n   And de long-tailed filly and de big black hoss?\n                            When Johnny, _etc._\n\n5. I nebber seen de like since I bin born\n   When a big buck nigger wid de sea boots on,\n                            Says \"Johnny come down,\" _etc._\n\n[Footnote 1: i.e. Barbadian, to wit, a native of Barbados.]\n\n\n\n\n5. Clear the track, let the Bullgine run.\n\n(WINDLASS AND CAPSTAN.)\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n1. Oh, the smartest clipper you can find.\n   Ah ho Way-oh, are you most done.\n   Is the Marget Evans of the Blue Cross Line.\n   So clear the track, let the Bullgine run.\n   Tibby Hey rig a jig in a jaunting car.\n   Ah ho Way-oh, are you most done.\n   With Lizer Lee all on my knee.\n   So clear the track, let the Bullgine run.]\n\n2. Oh the Marget [1/16 1/16]Evans [1/16]of [1/16]the Blue Cross Line\n   She's [1/16 1/16]never a day behind her time.\n\n3. Oh the gels are walking on the pier\n   [1/16]And [1/16]I'll soon be home to you, my dear.\n\n4. Oh when I come home across the sea,\n   It's Lizer you will marry me.\n\n5. Oeh shake her, wake [1/16]her, [1/16 1/8]before [1/8]we're [1/8]gone;\n   Oh fetch that gel with the blue dress on.\n\n6. Oh I thought I heard the skipper say\n   \"We'll keep the brig three points away.\"\n\n7. Oh the smartest clipper you can find\n   Is the Marget [1/16 1/16]Evans [1/16]of [1/16]the Blue Cross Line.\n\n\n\n\n6. Lowlands away.\n\n(WINDLASS AND CAPSTAN.)\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n(INTRODUCTION.)\n\nLowlands, Lowlands,\nAway my John,\nLowlands, away,\nI heard them say,\nMy dollar and a half a day.\n\n1. A dollar and a half a day is a Hoosier's pay.\n   Lowlands, Lowlands,\n   Away my John.\n   A dollar and a half a day is very good pay.\n   My dollar and a half a day.\n\n2. Oh was you ever in Mobile Bay.\n   Lowlands, Lowlands,\n   Away my John.\n   Screwing the cotton by the day.\n   My dollar and a half a day.\n\n3. All in the night my true love came,\n   Lowlands, Lowlands,\n   Away my John.\n   All in the night my true love came.\n   My dollar and a half a day.]\n\n4. She came to me all in my sleep. (_twice_)\n\n5. And her eyes were white my love. (_twice_)\n\n6. And then I knew my love was dead. (_twice_)\n\n\n\n\n7. Sally Brown.\n\n(WINDLASS AND CAPSTAN.)\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n1. Sally Brown she's a bright Mulatter.\n   Way Ay-y Roll and go.\n   She drinks rum and chews terbacker.\n   Spend my money on Sally Brown.]\n\n2. Sally Brown she has a daughter\n   Sent me sailin' 'cross the water.\n\n3. Seven long years I courted Sally. (_twice_)\n\n4. Sally Brown I'm bound to leave you\n   Sally Brown I'll not deceive you.\n\n5. Sally she's a 'Badian' beauty. (_twice_)\n\n6. Sally lives on the old plantation\n   She belongs the Wild Goose Nation.\n\n7. Sally Brown is a bright Mulatter\n   She drinks rum and chews terbacker.\n\n\n\n\n8. Santy Anna.\n\n(WINDLASS AND CAPSTAN.)\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n1. Oh Santy Anna won the day.\n   Way-Ah, me Santy Anna.\n   Oh Santy Anna won the day.\n   All on the plains of Mexico.]\n\n2. He beat the Prooshans fairly. Way-Ah, _etc._\n   And whacked the British nearly. All on, _etc._\n\n3. He was a rorty gineral;\n   A rorty snorty gineral.\n\n4. They took him out and shoet him.\n   Oh when shall we forget him.\n\n5. Oh Santy Anna won the day\n   And Gin'ral Taylor run away.\n\n\n\n\n9. Shenandoah.[2]\n\n(WINDLASS AND CAPSTAN.)\n\n[Footnote 2: The small notes in the piano part are to be played when\nthere is no violin.]\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n1. Oh Shenandoah, I long to hear you.\n   Away you rolling river.\n   Oh Shenandoah, I long to hear you.\n   Away, I'm bound to go\n   'Cross the wide Missouri.]\n\n2. Oh Shenandoah, I love your daughter. (_twice_)\n\n3. 'Tis seven long years since last I see thee. (_twice_)\n\n4. Oh Shenandoah, I took a notion\n   To sail across the stormy ocean.\n\n5. Oh Shenandoah, I'm bound to leave you.\n   Oh Shenandoah, I'll not deceive you.\n\n6. Oh Shenandoah, I long to hear you. (_twice_)\n\n\n\n\n10. Stormalong John.\n\n(WINDLASS AND CAPSTAN.)\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n1. Oh poor old Stormy's dead and gone.\n   Storm along boys,\n   Storm along.\n   Oh poor old Stormy's dead and gone.\n   Ah-ha, come along, get along,\n   Stormy along John.]\n\n2. I dug his grave [1/8]with [1/8]a silver spade. (_twice_)\n\n3. I lower'd him down [1/8]with [1/8]a golden chain. (_twice_)\n\n4. I [1/8 1/8]carried [1/8]him [1/8]away to Mobile Bay. (_twice_)\n\n5. Oh poor old Stormy's dead and gone. (_twice_)\n\n\n\n\n11. The Hog's-eye Man.\n\n(WINDLASS AND CAPSTAN.)\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n1. Oh the hog's-eye man is the man for me,\n   He were raised way down in Tennessee.\n   Oh hog's eye, oh.\n\n   Row the boat ashore for the hog's-eye.\n   Steady on a jig with a hog's-eye oh,\n   She wants the hog's-eye man.]\n\n2. Oh who's been here while I've been gone?\n   Soeme big buck [1/16 1/16]nigger, with his sea boots on?[3]\n\n3. Oh bring me down my riding cane,\n   For I'm off to see my darling Jane.\n\n4. Oh [1/16 1/16]Jenny's [1/16]in [1/16]the [1/8 1/16]garden a-picking\n     peas,\n   And her [1/16 1/16]golden hair's [1/16 1/16]hanging down to her knees.\n\n5. Oh a hog's-eye ship, and a hog's-eye crew,\n   And a hog's-eye mate, and a skipper too.\n\n[Footnote 3: This verse was sometimes sung:--\n\n     \"Now where have you been gone so long\n      You Yankee Jack wid de sea boots on?\"]\n\n\n\n\n12. The Wild Goose Shanty.\n\n(WINDLASS AND CAPSTAN.)\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n1. I'm the Shanty-man of the Wild Goose Nation.\n   Tibby Way-ay Hioha!\n   I've left my wife on a big plantation.\n   Hilo my Ranzo Hay!]\n\n2. Now a long farewell to the old plantation. (_twice_)\n\n3. And a long farewell to the Wild Goose Nation. (_twice_)\n\n4. Oh the boys [1/8.]and [1/16]the [1/4]girls went a [1/8. 1/16 1/8.\n     1/16]huckleberry hunting. (_twice_)\n\n5. Then good-bye [1/8.]and [1/16 1/4]farewell yoeu rolling river.\n     (_twice_)\n\n6. I'm the Shanty-man of the Wild Goose Nation.\n   I've left my wife on a big plantation.\n\n\n\n\n13. We're all bound to go.\n\n(WINDLASS AND CAPSTAN.)\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n1. Oh Johnny was a rover\n     And to-day he sails away.\n            Heave away, my Johnny,\n            Heave away-ay.\n   Oh Johnny was a rover\n     And to-day he sails away.\n            Heave away my bully boys,\n            We're all bound to go.]\n\n2. As I was walking out one day,\n     Down by the Albert Dock.\n            Heave away, &c.\n   I heard an emigrant Irish girl\n     Conversing with Tapscott.\n            Heave away, &c.\n\n3. \"Good mornin', Mister Tapscott, sir,\"\n     \"Good morn, my gel,\" sez he,\n   \"It's have you got a Packet Ship\n     All bound for Amerikee?\"\n\n4. \"Oh yes, I've got a Packet Ship,\n     I _have_ got one or two.\n   I've got the _Jenny Walker_\n    And I've got the _Kangeroo_.\"\n\n5. \"I've got the _Jenny Walker_\n     And to-day she does set sail,\n   With five and fifty emigrants\n     [1/16]And [1/16]a thousand bags o' male.\"[4]\n\n6. [1/8]Bad [1/8]luck [1/8]to [1/8]thim Irish sailor boys,\n     Bad luck to thim I say.\n   [1/16]For [1/16]they all got [1/8]drunk, [1/8]and [1/8]broke into me\n     bunk\n     And stole me clo'es away.\n\n[Footnote 4: meal.]\n\n\n\n\n14. What shall we do with the drunken sailor?\n\n(WINDLASS AND CAPSTAN.)\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n1. What shall we do with the drunken sailor,\n   What shall we do with the drunken sailor,\n   What shall we do with the drunken sailor\n   Early in the morning?\n   Hooray and up she rises,\n   Hooray and up she rises,\n   Hooray and up she rises\n   Early in the morning.]\n\n2. [1/16]Put [1/16]him in the long-boat until he's sober. (_thrice_)\n\n3. Pull out the plug aend [1/16]wet [1/16]him all over. (_thrice_)\n\n4. [1/16]Put [1/16]him in the [1/16 1/16]scuppers with a hose-pipe on\n     him. (_thrice_)\n\n5. [1/16]Heave [1/16]him by the leg in a running bowlin'. (_thrice_)\n\n6. [1/16]Tie [1/16]him to the [1/16 1/16]taffrail when she's yard-arm\n     under. (_thrice_)\n\n\n\n\n15. Blow my bully boys.\n\n(HALLIARD SHANTY.)\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n1. A Yankee ship came down the river,\n   Blow, boys blow.\n   Her masts and yards they shine like silver.\n   Blow my bully boys blow.]\n\n2. And how d'ye know [1/8]she's [1/8]a Yankee packet?\n   The Stars and Stripes they fly above her.\n\n3. And who d'ye think was skipper of her. (_twice_)\n\n4. 'Twas Dandy Jim, the one-eyed nigger;\n   'Twas Dandy Jim, [1/8]with [1/8]his bully figure.\n\n5. And what d'ye think they had for dinner?\n   Why bullock's lights and donkey's liver.\n\n6. And what d'ye think they had for supper?\n   Why weevilled bread and Yankee leather.\n\n7. Then blow my boys, and blow together.\n   And blow my boys for better weather.\n\n8. A Yankee ship came down the river.\n   Her masts and yards they shine like silver.\n\n\n\n\n16. Blow the man down.\n\n(HALLIARDS.)\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n1. Oh blow the man down, bullies, blow the man down.\n   To me Way-ay, blow the man down.\n   Oh blow the man down, bullies, blow him away.\n   Oh gimme some time to blow the man down.\n\n2. We went over the Bar on the thirteenth of May.\n   To me Way-ay, blow the man down.\n   The Galloper jumped, and the gale came away.\n   Oh gimme some time to blow the man down.]\n\n3. Oh the rags they was gone, and the chains they was jammed,\n   [1/16]And [1/16]the skipper sez he, \"Let the weather be hanged.\"\n\n4. Aes I was a-walking down Winchester Street,\n   A saucy young damsel I happened to meet.\n\n5. I sez to her, \"Polly, and how d'you do?\"\n   Sez she, \"None the better for seein' of you.\"\n\n6. Oh, it's sailors is tinkers, and tailors is men.\n   [1/16]And [1/16]we're all of us coming to see you again.\n\n7. So we'll blow the man up, and we'll blow the man down.\n   [1/16]And [1/16]we'll blow him away into Liverpool Town.\n\n\n\n\n17. Cheer'ly men.[5]\n\n(HALLIARDS.)\n\n[Footnote 5: Pronounced \"Chee-lee men.\"]\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n1. Oh, Nancy Dawson, I-Oh.\n   Chee-lee men.\n   She robb'd the Bo'sun, I-Oh.\n   Chee-lee men.\n   That was a caution, I-Oh.\n   Chee-lee men.\n   Oh Hauly, I-Oh,\n   Chee-lee men.\n\nIf sung without accompaniment the portion within brackets may be\nomitted. If sung with accompaniment the note D (to the word \"men\") may\nbe sung _crescendo_ and held on to the end of the bar.]\n\n2. Oh Sally Racket. I-Oh, &c.\n   Pawned my best jacket. I-Oh, &c.\n   Sold the pawn ticket. I-Oh, &c.\n\n3. Oh Kitty Carson\n   Jilted the parson,\n   Married a mason.\n\n4. Oh Betsy Baker\n   Lived in Long Acre,\n   Married a quaker.\n\n5. Oh Jenny Walker\n   Married a hawker\n   That was a corker.\n\n6. Oh Polly Riddle\n   Broke her new fiddle.\n   Right through the middle.\n\n\n\n\n18. Good morning, ladies all.\n\n(HALLIARDS.)\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n1. Now a long good-bye to you, my dear,\n                         With a heave-oh haul.\n   And a last farewell, and a long farewell.\n                         And good morning, ladies all.]\n\n2. For we're outward boeund to New York town;\n                         With a heave, _etc._\n   And you'll wave to us till the sun goes down.\n                         And good morning, _etc._\n\n3. Aend when we get to New York town,\n   Oh it's there we'll drink, and sorrows drown.\n\n4. When we're back once moere in London Docks,\n   All the pretty girls will come in flocks.\n\n5. Aend Poll, and Bet, and Sue will say:\n   \"Oh it's here comes Jack with his three years' pay.\"\n\n6. So a long good-bye to you, my dear,\n   And a last farewell, and a long farewell.\n\n\n\n\n19. Hanging Johnny.\n\n(HALLIARDS.)\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n1. Oh they call me hanging Johnny.\n   Away, boys, away.\n   They says I hangs for money.\n   Oh hang, boys, hang.]\n\n2. Aend first I hanged my daddy. (_twice_)\n\n3. Aend then I hanged my mother,\n   My sister and my brother.\n\n4. Aend then I hanged my granny. (_twice_)\n\n5. Aend then I hanged my Annie;\n   I hanged her up see canny.[6]\n\n6. We'll hang and haul together;\n   We'll haul for better weather.\n\n[Footnote 6: Northumbrian equivalent of \"so nicely\" or \"so gently.\"]\n\n\n\n\n20. Hilo somebody.\n\n(HALLIARDS AND INTERCHANGEABLE.)\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n1. The blackbird sang unto our crew.\n   Hilo boys, Hilo.\n   The blackbird sang unto our crew.\n   Oh Hilo somebody, Hilo.]\n\n2. The blackbird sang so sweet to me. (_twice_)\n\n3. We sailed away to Mobile Bay. (_twice_)\n\n4. And now we're bound for London Town. (_twice_)\n\n5. The up aloft this yard must go. (_twice_)\n\n6. I thought I heard the old man say:--\n  \"Just one more pull, and then belay.\"\n\n7. Hooray my boys, we're homeward bound. (_twice_)\n\n8. The blackbird sang unto our crew. (_twice_)\n\n\n\n\n21. Oh run, let the Bullgine run.\n\n(HALLIARDS.)\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n1. Oh we'll run all night till the morning.\n   Oh run, let the Bullgine run.\n   Way-yah, Oh-I-Oh, run, let the Bullgine run.]\n\n2. Oh we sailed all day toe Mobile Bay.\n\n3. Oh we sailed all night aecross the Bight.[7]\n\n4. Oh we'll run from Dover to Caellis.\n\n5. Oeh drive her captaein, drive her.\n\n6. Oeh captain make her noese blood.\n\n7. She's a dandy packet and a flier too.\n\n8. With a dandy skipper, and a dandy crew.\n\n9. Oh we'll run all night till the moerning.\n\n[Footnote 7: Of Australia.]\n\n\n\n\n22. Reuben Ranzo.\n\n(HALLIARDS.)\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n1. Oh poor old Reuben Ranzo,\n   Oh Ranzo boys, Ranzo.\n   Ah pity poor Reuben Ranzo.\n   Ranzo boys, Ranzo.]\n\n2. Oh Ranzo was no sailor\n   He shipped on board a whaler.\n\n3. Old Ranzo couldn't steer her,\n   [1/8]Did [1/8]you [1/8 1/8]ever hear [1/8 1/8]anything queerer?\n\n4. Oh Ranzo was no beauty\n   Why [1/8 1/8]couldn't he do his duty?\n\n5. Oh Ranzo washed [1/8]once [1/8]a fortnight\n   He said it was his birthright.\n\n6. They triced [1/8]up [1/8]this man so dirty\n   And gave him five and thirty.[8]\n\n7. Oh poor old Reuben Ranzo\n   Ah [1/8 1/8]pity poor Reuben Ranzo.\n\n[Footnote 8: i.e. 35 lashes.]\n\n\n\n\n23. The dead horse.\n\n(HALLIARDS, or PUMPING SHIP.)\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n1. A poor old man came riding by.\n   And they say so, and they hope so.\n   A poor old man came riding by.\n   Oh poor old man.]\n\n2. I said \"Old man your hoss will die.\" (_twice_)\n\n3. And if he dies I'll tan his skin. (_twice_)\n\n4. And if he lives you'll ride again. (_twice_)\n\n5. I thought I heard the skipper say. (_twice_)\n\n6. Oh one more pull and then belay. (_twice_)\n\n7. A poor old man came riding by. (_twice_)\n\n\n\n\n24. Tom's gone to Hilo.\n\n(HALLIARDS.)\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n1. Tommy's gone and I'll go too,\n               Away down Hilo.\n   Oh, Tommy's gone and I'll go too.\n               Tom's gone to Hilo.]\n\n2. Tommy's gone to Liverpool,\n               Away, &c.\n   Oh, Tommy's gone to Liverpool,\n               Tom's gone to Hilo.\n\n3. Tommy's gone to Mobile Bay.\n   Oh, Tommy's gone to Mobile Bay.\n\n4. Tommy's gone, what shall I do?\n   Oh, Tommy's gone, what shall I do?\n\n5. Tommy fought at Trafalgar.\n   Oh, Tommy fought at Trafalgar.\n\n6. The old Vic[1/16 1/16]tory led the way.\n   The brave old Vic[1/16 1/16]tory led the way.\n\n7. Tommy's gone for evermore.\n   Oh, Tommy's gone for evermore.\n\n\n\n\n25. Whisky Johnny.\n\n(HALLIARDS.)\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n1. Oh whisky is the life of man.\n   Whiskey Johnny.\n   Oh whisky is the life of man.\n   Whisky for my Johnny.]\n\n2. Oh whisky makes me pawn my clothes.\n   And whisky gave me this red nose.\n\n3. Oh whisky killed my poor old dad.\n   And whisky druv my mother mad.\n\n4. Oh whisky up, and whisky down.\n   And whisky all around the town.\n\n5. Oh whisky here and whisky there.\n   It's I'll have whisky everywhere.\n\n6. Oh whisky is the life of man.\n   It's whisky in an old tin can.\n\n\n\n\n26. Boney was a warrior.\n\n(HALLIARDS.)\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n1. Boney was a warrior.\n   Way-ay Yah.\n   Boney was a warrior.\n   John France-Wah.[9]]\n\n[Footnote 9: Francois.]\n\n2. Boney beat the Rooshians. (_twice_)\n\n3. Boney beat the Prooshians. (_twice_)\n\n4. Boney went to Moescow. (_twice_)\n\n5. Moscow was a-fire. (_twice_)\n\n6. Boney he came back again. (_twice_)\n\n7. Boney went to Elbow. (_twice_)\n\n8. Boney went to Waterloo. (_twice_)\n\n9. Boney was defeated. (_twice_)\n\n10. Boney was a prisoner\n    'Board the Billy Ruffian.[10]\n\n11. Boney he was sent away,\n    'Way to St. Helena.\n\n12. Boney broke his heart, and died. (_twice_)\n\n13. Boney was a warrior. (_twice_)\n\n[Footnote 10: Sailor pronunciation of \"Bellerophon.\"]\n\n\n\n\n27. Johnny Boker.\n\n(FORE-SHEET.)\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n1. Oh do my Johnny Boker,\n   Come rock and roll me over.\n   Do my Johnny Boker, do.]\n\n2. Oh do my Johnny Boker,\n   The skipper is a rover.\n   Do my Johnny, &c.\n\n3.   Oh do, &c.\n   The mate he's never sober.\n     Do my, &c.\n\n4.   Oh do, &c.\n   The Bo'sun is a tailor.\n     Do my, &c.\n\n5.   Oh do, &c.\n   We'll all go on a [1/8 1/8 1/4]jamboree.\n     Do my, &c.\n\n6.   Oh do, &c.\n   The Packet is a Rollin'.\n     Do my, &c.\n\n7.   Oh do, &c.\n   We'll pull and haul together.\n     Do my, &c.\n\n8.   Oh do, &c.\n   We'll haul for better weather.\n     Do my, &c.\n\n9.   Oh do, &c.\n   And soon we'll be in [1/8 1/8]London Town.\n     Do my, &c.\n\n10.   Oh do, &c.\n    Come rock and roll me over.\n      Do my, &c.\n\n\n\n\n28. Haul away, Joe.\n\n(FORE-SHEET.)\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n1. Way, haul away,\n   We'll haul away the bowlin'.\n   Way, haul away,\n   Haul away Joe.]\n\n2. Way haul away. The packet is a-rollin'.\n\n3. Way haul away. We'll hang and haul together.\n\n4. Way haul away. We'll haul for better weather.\n\n5. [1/4]Once [1/8]I [1/4]had [1/8]a [1/4 1/8]nigger [1/4]girl, and she\n     was fat and lazy.\n\n6. [1/4]Then [1/8]I [1/4]had [1/8]a [1/4 1/8]Spanish girl, she nearly\n     druv me crazy.\n\n7. [1/4 1/8]Geordie [1/4 1/8]Charlton [1/4]had [1/8]a [1/4]pig, and it\n     was double jointed.\n\n8. [1/8]He [1/4]took [1/8]it [1/4]to [1/8]the blacksmith's shop to get\n     its trotters pointed.\n\n9. [1/8]King [1/4 1/8]Louis [1/4]was [1/8]the [1/4]king [1/8]o'\n     [1/4]France before the Revolution.\n\n10. [1/8]King [1/4 1/8]Louis [1/4]got [1/8]his [1/4]head [1/8]cut\n      [1/4]off, and spoiled his Constitution.\n\n11. Oh when I was a little boy and so my mother told me.\n\n12. That if I didn't kiss the girls my lips would all go mouldy.\n\n13. Oh once I had a scolding wife, she wasn't very civil.\n\n14. I clapped a plaster on her mouth and sent her to the divvle.\n\n\n\n\n29. We'll haul the bowlin'.\n\n(FORE-SHEET.)\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n1. We'll haul the bowlin' so early in the morning.\n   We'll haul the bowlin', the bowlin' haul![11]]\n\n[Footnote 11: The last word (\"haul\") of the chorus is not sung but\nshouted _staccato_.]\n\n2. We'll haul the bowlin' for Kitty is my darlin'.\n\n3. We'll haul the bowlin'; the fore-to-gallant bowlin'.\n\n4. We'll haul the bowlin', the skipper is a growlin'.\n\n5. We'll haul the bowlin', the packet is a rollin'.\n\n6. We'll haul the bowlin' so early in the morning.\n\n\n\n\n30. Paddy Doyle's boots.\n\n(BUNT SHANTY.)\n\n\n[Music illustration:\n\n1. To my way-ay-ay-ah,\n   We'll pay Paddy Doyle for his boots.]\n\n_Alternative verses._\n\n2. We'll all throw dirt at the cook.\n\n3. We'll all drink brandy and gin.\n\n\n\n\nBRIEF LIST OF\n\nMorris and Country Dances\nFolk Songs, Singing Games\n\n_Our Folk Music List, gratis and post free, contains full particulars,\ncontents, and illustrations of these works._\n\nALL PRICES ARE NET CASH EXCEPT THOSE MARKED Sec.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe Esperance Morris Book\n\nBy MARY NEAL\n\n5694 Parts I and II. Price 7/6 each net cash.\n\n\nThe Guild of Play Books\n\nBy Mrs. C.W. KIMMINS\n\n5634 Parts I-IV. Price 7/6 each net cash.\n\n5735 MASQUE OF THE CHILDREN OF THE EMPIRE. Numbers from the 'Guild of\nPlay Book.' Price: Plan, without music, 2/-; Complete, 5/- net cash.\n\n5777 NATIONAL SONGS AND DANCES OF THE ALLIES. Price 5/- net cash.\n\n\nSinging Games\n\nCollected by Miss Alice Gillington\n\n                                           _Net Cash_\n5734 OLD DORSET SINGING GAMES                     1/-\n5673 OLD HAMPSHIRE SINGING GAMES                  1/-\n5668 OLD SURREY SINGING GAMES                     1/-\n5685 OLD ISLE OF WIGHT SINGING GAMES              1/-\n5703 BRETON SINGING GAMES                         1/-\n\nCollected by S.E. Thornhill.\n\n5730 LONDON BRIDGE AND OTHER GAMES                2/-\n\nCollected by Grace Cleveland Porter.\n\n5756 NEGRO FOLK-SINGING GAMES                     2/6\n\n\nCountry, Morris, and Folk Dances[12]\n\nArranged by Mary H. Woolnoth\n\n[Footnote 12: Bells, rosettes, hats, beansticks, maypoles and braids\nmay be procured from the Publishers.]\n\n                                           _Net Cash_\n5743 PLAYFORD'S COUNTRY DANCES                    3/-\n\nRevived by Nellie Chaplin.\n\n5675 ANCIENT DANCES AND MUSIC                     3/-\n5707 COURT DANCES AND OTHERS                      5/-\n5746 MINUET AND GAVOTTE                           2/-\n\nEdited by Miss Cowper Coles.\n\n5704 GREENSLEEVES AND OTHER OLD DANCES            3/-\n5681 OLD ENGLISH COUNTRY DANCE STEPS              2/-\n\nCollected by Mildred Bult\n\n5640 OLD DEVONSHIRE DANCES                        1/-\n\nCollected by John Graham.\n\n5623 SHAKESPEAREAN-BIDFORD MORRIS DANCES          2/-\n5713 LANCASHIRE AND CHESHIRE MORRIS DANCES        2/-\n\nCollected by Frank Kidson.\n\n5769 ENGLISH COUNTRY DANCES                       2/-\n  Arranged for children's performance, with Instructions.\n5645 OLD ENGLISH COUNTRY DANCE AND MORRIS TUNES   2/-\n\nBy Miss E. Hughes.\n\n5261 MAY-POLE EXERCISES                           2/-\n\nBy A. Shaw.\n\n5711  MAY-POLE DANCES                             2/-\n\nCollected and Arranged from Various Sources.\n\n5692 FOLK DANCES OF EUROPE                        3/-\n\nNoted by Miss Cowper Coles.\n\nSec.1365 THE HORNPIPE                                2/-\n\n\nFolk and National Songs\n\nCollected and Arranged by S. Baring Gould, M.A., and Cecil Sharp, B.A.\n\nSec.5120 ENGLISH FOLK-SONGS FOR SCHOOLS              5/-\n  Vocal edition, 1/6. Words only, 6d.\n\nSelected and Arranged by W.H. Hadow.\n\nSec.5462 SONGS OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS                3/6\n  Vocal edition, 1/-. Words only, 3d.\n\nCollected by John Graham\n\n                                           _Net Cash_\n5718 TRADITIONAL NURSERY RHYMES                   3/-\n\nCollected by Mrs. Clifford Beckett.\n\n5772 SHANTIES AND FOREBITTERS                     1/-\n\nCollected by Alice E. Gillington.\n\n5702 OLD CHRISTMAS CAROLS                         1/-\n5627 EIGHT HAMPSHIRE FOLK-SONGS                   1/-\n\nNoted by John Graham.\n\n5712  DIALECT SONGS OF THE NORTH                  1/-\n\nLONDON: J. CURWEN & SONS LIMITED, 24 BERNERS STREET, W.1.","title":"The Shanty Book, Part I, Sailor Shanties","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":14303}