Introduction In these pages are listed some lyrics and scores. At the moment, they comprise of those we do at my sailing club; and of those, the ones which I've had time to get onto this site. More will be added from time to time, depending on time and webspace being available. Click on the link above to take you to the Index page. Lyrics The lyrics listed are those we find acceptable for club use. Inevitably, this is influenced by taste, availability, and simply what I like singing, being the bod in charge of lyrics – rather than historical accuracy. In some cases they are composite versions. There are a lot more verses, and of course versions, than those that are included here. These include coarse verses that may be added later: realistic verses that better represent actual use; and there are dubious ones, best forgotten, since in the past no-one worried too much about about insulting and denigrating language. There are also many ridiculous ones written by sanctimonious Victorians that will never feature here; and many are now lost to the mists of time. Make up one or two of your own, to suit your vessel (or club) – all shantymen did. Scores The Music Man is Steve Davies of Greenhithe, who we must thank for all the music-side of the input here. I personally need to thank him for holding my hand and walking me gently through the world of scores, orchestration, and so on. He introduced me to Scorch and Sibelius, being a fine mix of electronics engineer, musician, and sailor. One wonders if there is another house like his, with such a combination of musical instruments and seemingly dozens of networked computers. The first-ever Scorch scores for shanties on the Net are here, as far as I can make out, since I looked but couldn't find any elsewhere. [Update: everyone is following our lead and you can find many shanty sites with Scorch scores. We were the first.] You will see that the number of links given later is quite comprehensive, yet there were no Scorch scores there (at the time I checked them). As yet there aren't a huge number here, mainly because I keep losing Steve's emails to me with them attached; but I'll go back to him and ask for the entire collection so far. We won't ask precisely where he got them, since we don't necessarily want to know the answers... It's unlikely that there would be any copyright issues, though, since 99% of these tunes are a hundred years old or more. There may be one or two modern sea songs included, and the author is acknowledged where known. Fiddler's Green, for instance, is a modern song (not an old shanty!). Thanks I am also glad to acknowledge the assistance and input of Chris Cook, of Hornchurch, whose experience in this field is much greater than mine. Thanks also to pro musician Les Greenhill of Edinburgh / Florida / Horta – depending on where he is at the time – for his musical assistance. Historical accuracy In some cases the scores are the ones agreed between us using a combination of published, Internet, and recorded works. Steve did the notation for the tune that sounded about right to us. Don't look for absolute accuracy in terms of what was sung on a Black Ball liner in 1880 – who could know the answer to that now? Check the published works of Stan Hugill and John Sampson for the best guide. Shanties are the lost art of seafaring. Because these work songs were never sung ashore, it's almost as if they never existed. No-one except those who served aboard ship knew of their existence. Even now, with the reprise of the square-riggers, people seem to be mainly unaware of their existence and fundamental contribution to the working of the ship. As an example of this: give me the title of one of the dozens of modern-day swashbuckling sailing ship novels, that actually features their use as the most-noticeable aspect of shipboard life – which in all probability they were. 'A rope was never touched without the men breaking out into a shanty', as many authors who served before the mast have written. And note how a sailing ship man specifically refers to 'rope', and not some modern yottie's strange alternative such as 'line'. If you want to know what they really sounded like when sung by an expert shantyman with a good crew, I don't think you could do better than 'Rolling Down the Bay to Juliana' by Johnny Collins. You might be able to locate it, or another track by this authentic-sounding Scouser, somewhere on the Net. In my opinion his renditions are better than those of Bob Roberts; and certainly those of the folk groups, who sound good but probably aren't accurate. Oscar Brand is fun, and certainly has the right spirit; but JC is The Man. German versions are well-sung, with good baritone parts, but could perhaps have a little more life; Polish versions have great spirit but do not usually adhere to the original. Dutch groups seem to be about the best that are easily available on mp3. And don't get caught out by modern tunes! 'Fiddler's Green', for instance, was written by John Connolly in 1966, and copyrighted in 1968. 'The Shoals of Herring' is another recent number, by Euan McColl. Scorch With this free download plug-in for Internet Explorer and the two files per score, you can listen to the tune while looking at the score and words. You don't need to be able to read music – the Scorch plugin for IE plays the tune in a music score for you. The full Sibelius / Photoscore program inputs notation and/or scans in scores, to create the two pages that Scorch reads. With the Scorch tracks, please note the following: 1. Internet Explorer only here, not Firefox, as there isn't a Scorch plugin for it yet. 2. Download and install the Scorch plug-in. Download, i.e. view and then Save the two Scorch files to the same folder. Each track comprises TWO pages, and you need both (the .htm and the .sib file). One page has the visible outline format; the other page has data embedded for the PC to play the tune, with the score, tempo and option controls, and words. Much like a downloaded web page has its text page, plus the separate graphics folder. 3. Open the two saved pages with Internet Explorer. Just double-click the .htm file – ignore the other page, the .sib file. If you open this page, it works, but only with default settings. 4. Click the arrow button on the menu bar at the top to play the track. The tempo slider allows you to play it at the correct speed, or slow for learning. Only 'Shallow Brown' is dead slow. For example, in our South Australia version, move the slider all the way to the right for the correct speed. This does not apply to all of them – some go about three-quarters. 5. Plug in your speakers, un-mute the main volume control, and turn up the volume, or you won't hear anything. The Index The words for several shanties are included on one page, to save space and time. A score, for one shanty, consists of 2 pages: you need both. Links Here's a link for the free Scorch plug-in: www.sibelius.com/scorch The index of shanties & scores on this site is at: www.pelaginox.com/shanty/s-index.html www.rendance.org/shanty www.windjammers.net www.jsward.com/shanty www.acronet.net/~robokopp/shanty.html http://sailorsongs.com www.sailorschoice.com www.mudcat.org (the Digital Tradition archive) http://sniff.numachi.com/~rickheit/dtrad http://sniff.numachi.com/~rickheit/dtrad/aidx/aidxR.html (a mirror of the D.T. archive, a good resource, and easier to navigate) www.lyrics.com.au/directory/Shanties_and_Sailor_Songs/ http://home.worldonline.nl/meester7/shanties.html http://audiomusic.info/lyrics/shanties-and-sailor-song-lyrics.htm www.contemplator.com/sea/ www.stormy.ca/marine/shanties.html www.shanty.org/ http://chivalry.com/cantaria/ Please note that links change, sites come and go. I would welcome information regarding new sources and dead links. Feedback If you can help in any way, improve, or even criticize, your contribution is most welcome. If you need files for a shanty not featured, let me know, as there are many in our collection not included yet. See the Contact page. ^ TOP ^ |
Sea Shanties Intro to the lyrics and scores |