#Songs and ballads of the shanty boy

[passengerpigeons]

remember when I did that arrangement of an obscure folk song that may have literally only been sung by one guy but collected anyway. I've been noodling with it more. many sour bits bc it's like 75% improvisation. also the groove for drone string is worn out so it snaps out of place at the end. But enjoy. Maybe one day I'll sing over this

[ltwilliammowett]

Sea Shanty Books

For all those who are looking for books on the subject of sea shanties.

The Early Naval Ballads of England, by J.O. Halliwell, 1841 Naval Songs, by S.B. Luce, 1883 The Music of the Waters, by Laura A. Smith, 1888 Songs of Sea and Sail, by Thomas Fleming Day, 1898 Old Sea Chanties, by J. Bradford and A. Fagge, 1904 Sailors' Songs or Chanties, by Ferries Tozer and F.J. Davis, 1906 Sea Songs and Shanties, by Captain W.B. Whall, 1910 Shanties and Forebitters, by Mrs. Clifford Beckett, 1914 Songs of Sea Labour, by Frank T. Bullen and W.F. Arnold, 1915 King's Book of Chanties, by Stanton H. King, 1918 Capstan Chanteys, by Cecil K. Sharp, 1919 Pullings Chanteys, by Cecil K. Sharp, 1919 Deep Sea Chanties, by Owen Trevine, 1921 The Shanty Book, Part 1, R.R. Terry, 1921 Sea Songs and Ballads, by C. Fox Smith, 1923 Roll and Go: Songs of American Sailormen, by Joanna C. Colcord, 1924 Sea Chanties, by Geoffrey Toye, 1924 Songs of the Sea and Sailors Chanteys, by Robert Frothingham, 1924 Ballads and Songs of the Shanty- Boy, by Franz L. Rickaby, 1926 The Shanty Book Part II, R.R. Terry, 1926 The Seven Seas Shanty Book, by John Sampson, 1927 A Book of Shanties, by C. Fox Smith, 1927 Salt Sea Ballads, by R.R. Terry, 1931 American Sea Songs and Chanteys, by Frank Shay, 1948 Shantymen and Shantyboys: Songs of the Sailor and the Lumberman, by W.M. Doerflinger, 1951 The Shell Book of Shanties, 1952 Sea Songs of Sailing, Whaling and Fishing, by Burl Ives, 1956 Shanties from the Seven Seas: Shipboard Work- Songs from the Great Days of Sail, Stan Hugill, 1961 Sailo's Songs and Shanties, by Michael Hur, 1965 Shanties and Sailors's Songs, by Stan Hugill, 1969

[thatmoththoth]

You know what I’m making a catelog of as many mechanism animatics and animations as I can find:

OUTIS

‘Once’

Old King Cole

‘The Twins’

Rose Red

‘Snow’s Flight’

Pump Shanty

‘The Bride’

Cinder’s Song

‘The Resistance Grows’

Our Boy Jack

‘The Aurora Strikes’

Sleeping Beauty

‘Endgame’

No Happy Ending

‘Chapter The Last’

Laid in Blood

UDAD

‘The City’

Broken Horses

‘Olympians’

My Name is No-One

‘Trial by Wits’

Riddle of the Sphinx

‘Ulysses’s Will”

Sirens

‘Trial by Strength’

Favoured Son

‘Loose Threads’

Trial By Song

‘Hades’

Underworld Blues

‘Trial By Love’

Ties That Bind

‘The Daidala’

Torn Suits

‘Sunrise’

Elysian Fields

HNOC

“The Tower”

Gunfight at the Dolorous Guard

“Strength”

Empty Trail

“Death”

The Hanged Man Rusts

“The Hierophant”

Hellfire

“The Lovers”

Blood and Whiskey (unfinished)

“The Fool”

Skin and Bone

“The Hermit”

Holder of the Grail (Partial)

“Judgement”

Peacemaker (partial)//Alt1 (Partial)

“Justice”

Once and Future King

TBI

Black Box

Odin

Cold Case

Loki

Person of Interest

Thor

Conspiracy to Commit Treason

Sigyn

White Noise

Losing Track

Expert Testimony

Red Signal//Alt 1

Ragnarok I: Runaway

Ragnarok II: The Calling

Ragnarok III: Strange Meeting

Ragnarok IV: Jormungandr (unfinished)//Alt 1 (Partial)

Ragnarok V: End of the Line

Terminus

Additional Songs

Tales To Be Told // Alt 1 (partial)

The Ignominious Demise of Dr Pilchard // Alt 1 (partial)

Swan Song

Actaea and Lyssa (partial)

Lucky Sevens (partial)

Lost in the Cosmos (loop)

Cyberian Demons

Fun & Violence

Frankenstein

Death to the Mechanisms//Alt 1 (partial)

MISC

Brass Goggles

Out

High Noon Over Camelot

The Ballad of Jane Doe

Breakcore in a Nutshell But it’s The Mechanisms

This Is How Who Killed Dr Carmilla Went Right?

So… who broke it?

Who broke it?

Get help

Gunpowder Tim Cancels Jonny

[marryat92]

— Frederick Marryat, Poor Jack

I'm very happy to report that the traditional seafarer's ballad "Oh Cruel" now has a great Kate Rusby recording on Spotify!

I learned about this song when Marryat included some of the lyrics in Poor Jack, quoted above. I like Rusby's slightly different lyrics, singing "Haul away, boys, haul away" and not "tura-la, tura-la, tura-lara ley." This needs to go on every classic sea songs and shanties playlist!

Marryat's taste in music is generally good, and he was also credited with helping to revive the song "Spanish Ladies" when he included the lyrics in a popular novel.

[pretentious-art-love]

Album Reviews #67 - Infinity by Devin Townsend

This is my favorite-sounding album of all time. The soundscape it presents is absolutely jaw-droppingly perfect; a consummate and unmitigated, abrasive gust of noise that envelops you completely and blows you away. The amount of infinitesimal and distinct colors I experience when listening to it is just unutterable. It's as if air itself were visible, and you could separate it into all its colors, each one governed by a blinding light and dominated by a pervasive red. The way the guitar and the keyboards interact with each other is like angels creating the most massive world ever to exist—an alive expression that invites you to take its hand. If you ever have the chance, play this album when you are at the top of a mountain or at the side of a canyon, especially when you are really, really high above the ground. You will be able to reach the sky, feel it with your own hands.

The songs overall are just a treat. If you arrange the original tracklist, you will embark on a bona fide journey of relentless power where the zippotent reign free and people grow wings. If you play the tracklist as it is now, you will also experience several really varied musical diversions. These include a song of pure Mathcore disarray ('Ants'), an adaptation of an old folk ballad in a quasi sea shanty fashion ('Wild Colonial Boy'), a Dream Pop song with wistful enthusiasm where the past turns into the future ('Noisy Pink Bubbles'), and even the first song of Swing Metal, predating Diablo Swing Orchestra by several years ('Bad Devil').

You see that cover? A white cover and in the middle you can Devin in his bare self, smiling at you. It's not just a simple white to be minimalist, it's a complete white because it represents the shining light this album has, when you play it, you will be blinded by it. I have a really strong urge, a really, really, really burning need to tell you how beautiful this album sounds, how huge this album sounds. If you play it, prepare yourself to be overwhelmed. As I am writing this, the only album I have found to rival the immensity of this record is Weighing Souls With Sand. The difference is that 'Weighing Souls With Sand' makes you feel that you are at the edge of the end of the world, while 'Infinity' makes you feel that you have turned into air itself, able to reach every place where reality touches.

9/10

[kaheeliez]

Hello SPG enjoyer! I was inspired by someone new to a different fandom I was in reaching out to people on Tumblr to get to know them. So now I’m doing something similar since I’m new to SPG!

Have you heard of/listened to The Mechanisms?

What is your favorite album/song?

Which bot is your favorite?

What is your favorite photo?

Do you have a fanbot?

If you could go anywhere in kazooland, where would you go?

- @steambot-sparky

hello!! thank you for the ask :)!!!!

1. i've listened to a couple of mechs songs!! i need to listen to more. i've listened to half of UDAD and a couple miscellaneous songs (pump shanty, loki, our boy jack, lost in the cosmos etc.) also i love their designs so much they're so cool looking. especially ashes i love them

2. favourite album is for sure 1896 (closely followed by mk iii) it's so so good and full of absolute bangers. favourite song,,, i have so many but on a crescendo, i'll rust with you, the pulls, intertwined, on top of the universe (steamworld heist), latum alterum, transform, bad days on the horizon, the ballad of delilah morreo, the suspender man... etc. i will start listing the whole discography if no one stops me

3. RABBIT!!!!! she's so silly. would do anything for the bit. but her story and character are so incredibly tragic and ougjhhghgj i have so many thoughts about her. and her tendency to carry all the people she has ever cared about with her in her music. and the fact that she still feels guilty about the 1950 incident, which wasn't her fault in the slightest :( her ever-shifting design. AND HER SONGS. so many emotions. i think about rabbit a normal amount.

4. i have so many favourite photos. i have an entire folder on my laptop of every single rabbit design chronicled by date and show for drawing reference. JKHSDF i'll put some standouts from the many photos i have accumulated under the cut:

they're like overly affectionate cats. spine's on the opposite end of the cat affection spectrum

PLAYING HIS SPINES LIKE A XYLOPHONEJKHSDF RABBIT LOOKS SO GLEEFUL

it's me boy i'm the ps5 speaking to you inside your brain

she's so proud of herself

chelsea patting an inflatable palm tree and the spine looking at a tiny beach ball very fondly

5. i kind of have a fanbot? but she doesn't really count i think sjkdhfs. when i first got into spg it was through honeybee (like literally everyone else). and i decided to for some reason read all of the lore before listening to any other songs. and i also decided to design honeybee as a robot rabbit might have fallen in love with (and subsequently broke up with). it turns out honeybee has a canonical design i think - if the cover art of honeybee is anything to go by. oh well. i still like this funky bee bot design. maybe i'll design an actual fanbot someday!

here she is. there's a lot wrong with this drawing, looking back jksdhf like her wonky left eye

6. i would go to snornia. i'd probably get eaten instantly but big magical creatures,,, and legend has it there's a certain pink dragon princess there!

[mycological-mariner]

12, 23, 24 for the history ask?

12. Would you take part in reenactment? In what era and as whom?

I technically already do! I do a Napoleonic light infantry. Not as any actual historical figure but I do get to keep making up the most ludicrous and wild backstory whenever I talk to the public. If I wasn’t doing this, I’d want to do Napoleonic naval (there’s literally no one I’d be suited to be) or Edwardian/WWI (again — no one specifically I could possibly pull off). Honestly, I’d love to do English civil war or Saxons because SWORDS (and no gunpowder license!). Anything with swords.

23. Favourite historical song with such reference?

I do have a few? Northwest Passage will always be a banger. Horse Soldier as well. There’s also one that was written by one of the gents in my re-enactment regiment and a sea shanty group recorded it. It’s about an actual person who was in the regiment and well, he died. It’s a ballad about him, The Ballad of Phillip Glass. It only exists on CD, nobody’s digitised it rip 13 Miles is also another one written about a specific event no one really knows about! Also, The Handsome Cabin Boy. Battlefield Dance Floor is also a BANGER. 10/10 recommend.

24. Most underrated historical figure?

Hannah Snell, lady tar. I wrote a stage play based on her! But also John Paynter. I’m honestly kicking myself because I know in two hours I’ll remember so-an-so and wish I’d remembered sooner lol

[grayscollins]

GRAYSON COLLINS' PLAYLIST [ CAN BE ACCESSED HERE ] Due to his gruff in nature first appearances, many would assume Gray might have heavy metal blasting in his ears, but truth be told his tastes are mainly riddled with alternative and punk music. Grayson doesn't stray away from formative early 2000's music while getting sea shanties stuck in his head time and time again. He also enjoys songs that are a step below a love ballad, though those have been trickling into his repeat lists more often now then not. Also mostly known as Sad Boi Jams.

1. Waltz #2 (XO) - Elliot Smith 2. Visions of Gideon - Sufjan Stevens 3. MakeDamnSure - Taking Back Sunday 4. Such Great Heights - The Postal Service 5. Alive With The Glory of Love - Say Anything 6. Dzanum - Teya Dora 7. Wellerman Sea Shanty - Nathan Evans 8. Rye Whiskey - The Pirates Charles 9. Te Haarlem in den houte - Pekel 10. When Am I Gonna Lose You - Local Natives 11. Late Night Talking - Harry Styles 12. Hidden In the Sand - Tally Hall 13. Tek It - Cafune 14. Do I Wanna Know? - Artic Monkey's 15. I'll Wait For You - Tsuwavii 16. Slow Show - The National 17. Scott Street - Phoebe Bridgers 18. Cornelia Street - Taylor Swift 19. Tongue Tied - GROUPLOVE 20. Good Grief - Bastille 21. Clocks - Coldplay 22. Everybody Wants To Rule The World - Tears For Fears 23. Glory Box - Portishead 24. Mr. Blue Sky - Electric Light Orchestra 25. Bitter Sweet Symphony - The Verve 26. Wild World - Yusuf/Cat Stevens 27. Roxanne - The Police 28. London Calling - The Clash 29. Ghost Town - The Specials 30. Anarchy In The U.K. - Sex Pistols 31. Banquet - Bloc Party 32. Flightless Bird, American Mouth - Iron & Wine

[hyperobsession]

Which song recommendations can You recommend?

🦫

Now I'm in logical conundrum similar to the ship of Theseus. If my soul is made of pieces of other souls, than single piece of my soul is too made out of smaller other pieces. But if I give that piece away, it's perceived only as my soul 99% of time. So after the transaction, is it indivisible and only ex-mine or still others too? And if it's still pieces of others too than how many transactions back can one of them be tracked?

Anyway I will recommend few songs that I was obsessed with last few weeks:

I'm Still Standing - Elton John

Thnks fr th Mmrs- Fall Out Boy

Rockstar Sea Shanty- Nickelback

GUY.EXE - SUPERFRUIT

Blood & Glitter - Lord Of The Lost

The Look - Lord Of The Lost

Why You Only Call Me When You're High - Arctic Monkeys

The Ballad Of Mona Lisa - Panic! At The Disco

THE DRIVER - Måneskin

Thanks for the ask 💖 and sorry for philosophying a bit too much.

[parkerbombshell]

Rules Free Radio Feb 13

Tuesdays 2pm - 5pm  EST Rules Free Radio With Steve  Caplan bombshellradio.com On the next Rules Free Radio with Steve Caplan, we’ll hear tributes and a commemoration. Unfortunately, we’ve lost several people in music in the last week or so. We'll start with a tribute to Aston “Family Man” Barrett, the prolific bass player with Bob Marley and The Wailers who also did some solo albums and played with many other artists. His work has a distinctive deep, clean, funky bass sound that is the standard of bass rhythm in Reggae and Ska music. Wayne Kramer was a guitarist with the band MC5, and Mojo Nixon was a singer known for his comical songs such as Elvis Is Everywhere. In the second hour, we’ll do a set with music from both of these artists. Beatles and British Invasion fans will want to stick around for the third hour when we celebrate the 60th anniversary of The Beatles' first American television performance on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9th, 1964. We’ll hear some of the audio from that performance, other songs by The Beatles, songs they gave to other artists, and a bunch of British Invasion songs that go deeper than the eras’ overplayed hits. Before that we’ll hear some new music from The Decemberists, Kula Shaker, The Paranoid Style, Frank Carter and The Rattlesnakes, Brigitte Calls Me Baby, Papa Schmapa, Alkaline Trio, and Gentleman Jesse. Plus Harry Nilsson, The Beach Boys, Martha and The Muffins, Elvis Costello, and more. Bob Marley & The Wailers - Midnight Ravers Aston Family Man Barrett - Dubbing Naturally Alpha Blondy - Bloodshed In Africa Bob Marley & the Wailers - War Burning Spear - Red Gold And Green Peter Tosh - Legalize It Alton Ellis & The Flames - Girl I've Got A Date Desmond Dekker & the Aces - 007 (Shanty Town) The Bodysnatchers (feat .Rhoda Dakar) - Ruder Than You Dandy Livingstone (feat. Rico Rodriguez) - Rudy, a Message to You Frank Carter and The Rattlesnakes - Man of The Hour Harry Nilsson - Gotta Get Up The Paranoid Style - The Ballad of Pertinent Information (Turn It On) Martha and The Muffins - Women Around the World at Work Kula Shaker - Gaslighting The Decemberists - Burial Ground The Beach Boys - Sloop John B Elvis Costello - (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes Alkaline Trio - Scars Papa Schmapa - That's Just Fine Brigitte Calls Me Baby - Impressively Average Gentleman Jesse - Where Time Stands Still Love - Seven & Seven Is MC5 - Kick Out The Jams Mojo Nixon - I'm Gonna Dig Up Howlin' Wolf The Clash - Jail Guitar Doors Was (Not Was) - The Party Broke Up Mojo Nixon - Gin Guzzlin' Frenzy MC5 - Future/Now Wayne Kramer - No Easy Way Out The dbs - Lonely Is (As Lonely Does) The Beatles - Ed Sullivan Intro  All My Loving The Beatles - Please Please Me (Washington Coliseum February 11, 1964) The Strangers with Mike Shannon - One & One Is Two The Applejacks - Like Dreamers Do Peter And Gordon -  I Don't Want To See You Again (Live on Ed Sullivan) The Beatles - I Got to Find My Baby The Beatles - Ed Sullivan Intro I Saw Her Standing There The Fourmost - I'm In Love Billy J. Kramer And The Dakotas - Bad To Me The Chris Barber Band - Catwalk Cilla Black - It's For You Gerry and the Pacemakers - Hello Little Girl The Rolling Stones -  I Wanna Be Your Man The Undertakers - Watch Your Step The Yardbirds - I'm Not Talking The Pretty Things - Oh Baby Doll The Kinks - So Mystifying The Merseys - Sorrow The Remo Four - Live Like A Lady Chad & Jeremy - From A Window The Animals - It's My Life Read the full article

[passengerpigeons]

YE NOBLE BIG PINE TREE

T'was on a cold and frosty morning

when the sunshine was adorning -

the boughs of ev'ry lofty pine,

making them in radiance shine.

My favorite part of this song is near the end when the singer tells the pine what it'll become because it's such a straight, lofty pine:

"Then they'll sell you to some farmer

to keep his wife and children warmer.

With his team he'll haul you home

to the prairie drear and lone.

XInto a prairie house he'll make you,

where the prairie winds will shake you.

There'll be little rest for thee,

O! ye noble big pine tree!

"The prairie winds will sing around you.

The hail and sleet and snow will pound you,

and shake and wear and beach your bones,

on the prairie drear and lone.

"Then the prairie fires will burn you.

Into ashes they will turn you.

That will be the end of thee,

O! ye noble big pine tree!"

Oddly enough, the version that Brian Miller (EvergreenTrad) found via Rickaby is more of a major tune as he sings it. The version in Ballads and Songs of the Shanty-Boys is distinctly in the Dorian mode. I personally like the ambivalence between the splendor of the tree and its inevitable fate due to the mediation of capital (so, Cronon) between the singer and the tree. (especially the last lick for "o! ye noble big pine tree", as if taking in sublimity of it—such a major sounding lick to end an almost dirge like verse!)

[momocicerone]

boy, i loved you

my love is subsiding

;

for i loved you like a seastorm—

;

in crashing waves of endless fury,

in blinding thunder, raging winds

in siren songs and sailor's shanties

in birdless skies and wrecking ships

.

i loved you—in all my madness,

all my freedom, all my chains,

.

i loved you— like a sin

like a shadow, like myself,

.

i loved you like the night

in which the stars and moon collide

in all my glory, all my shame

in all the things you said you felt

.

i loved you like the morning

with all my fears and all your warnings

with all your jokes and all my laugh

through all the hurdles in our path

.

i loved you like a habit

like a choice i never had

like the rhythm of a heartbeat

like the songs that made me sad

.

i loved you, boy, i loved you.

do they love you like i do—, well... did?

will they ever love you like this?

like my heart that can't be still?

.

i loved you, boy, i loved you.

like a fire in the sea—

contained ire in a shipwreck

nowhere to hide, nowhere to flee

.

but this love became a burden,

for a seagull should be free

and as they sing in summer ballads

a fish shouldn't love a bird

.

(i loved you, boy, i loved you)

but my heart you never craved,

and your passion slowly faded;

(i loved you, boy, i loved you)

so my love is now subsiding,

like the waves from shore retiring,

(i loved you, boy, i loved you)

and like a seastorm meets its end

we shall never love again—

.

but boy, I loved you.

[tarantula-hawk-wasp]

Been listening to the spongebob soundtrack sea shanty (Sailing over the Dogger Bank) on loop today

Which like I know sea shanties are all the rage rn which is cool I guess

[wolfythewitch]

Wolf, I to have Witcher brain rot and I would like to exchange head cannons!

1. Jaskier's first relationship was with a boy but they were to nervous to anything else but hold hands.

2. Geralt really enjoys braiding Roach's mane and tail and he is very good at it. When Ciri starts traveling with Geralt she sees this and makes him braid her hair.

3. Yennefer really like Jaskier's music but she will never admit it, not even to herself.

This is all I could think of right now, I have more but they are written down in a journal that I don't have with me :(

Oh those are cute awwwwwww

I find it so weird that people keep composing about jaskier’s singing because it’s Lovely D:

Yen will never admit it, and neither will geralt, but his voice is incredible

Hmmmm an exchange

I hc that geralt sometimes tries to do ciri’s hair but isn’t very good as it, so ciri teaches him by braiding his hair to show him

To annoy geralt, jaskier will narrate his entire life in song. Geralt is hunting a rabbit for dinner? Lovely ballad. He’s trying to stoke a fire? Would make for a good rhyme. He’s taking a piss? Take out the lute, this would make a great shanty

Yen and jaskier, between their years of shared history with geralt, absolutely tells ciri all the embarrassing stories of the white wolf’s slip ups

[estelmeanshope]

Songs for the Gentleman Pirate: An OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH Mock Musical

A “mock musical”: Some classic sounds of the Caribbean and environs, a touch of folk, and a few showtunes broadly evoking the storyline of the new show from David Jenkins.

LISTEN TO THE FULL PLAYLIST HERE on YouTube

Overture: No Polite Society, Only Pirate Society Shake the Chains, "Shake the Chains"

Stede Bonnet Is an Actual Completely Sincere Dastardly Badass Pirate Kevin Kline and cast, "Oh, Better Far to Live and Die" (from The Pirates of Penzance)

A Song for Oluwande: Because We Don't Have Any Other Choice Desmond Dekker, "Israelites"

Foreshadowing Blackbeard/Badminton Dies Gerald Price, "The Ballad of Mack the Knife" (from The Threepenny Opera)

Aboard the Revenge Moondog, "High on a Rocky Ledge"

Vacation(?) on the Deserted(?) Island Buena Vista Social Club, "Chan Chan"

Mr. Hands Wonders What the Deal Is with These Poncey Guys Jimmy Cliff, "The Harder They Come"

En Route to the Republic of Pirates (Although It's Become Quite Touristy) Varend Volk, "This Night We Spend Ashore"

"Booty for Sale" Does Not Mean What You Think It Means Red Plastic Bag, "Ragga Ragga"

Spanish Jackie'z Noze Jar Con Grazia, "Hernando's Hideaway" (from The Pajama Game)

He Can Suck Eggs in Hell Miles Anderson, "My Name" (from Oliver!)

Assault on the Spanish Ship The Skatalites feat. Stranger Cole, "Rough & Tough"

I've Heard All About You The Beach Boys, "Our Prayer"

Mary Flashback: Lighthouses and Graves Caetano Veloso, "The Empty Boat"

Stede's Auxiliary Wardrobe Delroy Wilson, "Better Must Come"

The Fog Christopher Gordon, "Into the Fog" (from Master and Commander)

We're a Lighthouse Klaus Badelt, "He's a Pirate" (from Pirates of the Caribbean) (of course)

Ed & Stede On Deck Steel Pulse, "Your House"

Fancy Party for Hoity-Toity People George Fenton, "The Madness of King George Front Titles"

Frenchy Invents the Pyramid Scheme The Gladiators, "Rich Man Poor Man"

Passive Aggression Vienna Mozart Ensemble, "Five Contredanses: 'Non più andrai'"

The Deep Down Question of Every Pirate “Who Will Love Me as I Am?” (from Side Show)

Aboard the Revenge Aswad, "I a Rebel Soul"

Wonderful Fuckery Storm Weather Shanty Choir, "Fish in the Sea"

I Was the Kraken Bob Marley, "Redemption Song"

Hands vs. Bonnet: Missed the Important Bits Lin-Manuel Miranda, "Ten Duel Commandments (Instrumental)" (from Hamilton)

Treasure Hunting for Oranges Jimmy Cliff, “Raggae Down Babylon”

My Favorite Color Is Teal Shakira, “Tú”

A Song for Lucius and Pete and Oluwande and Jim Junior Delgado, "Gimme Your Love"

Calico Jack, Bringer of Chaos The Skatalites, "Wood and Water"

Betrayed to Badminton Toots and the Maytals, "Pressure Drop"

A Truer Chain Fleetwood Mac, "The Chain"

Last-Minute Act of Grace The Pioneers, "Long Shot (Kick De Bucket)"

Signing the Contract Bailey's Nervous Kats, "Cobra"

Blackbeard Shaves Bob Marley, "Is This Love"

What Makes Ed Happy Peter Dinklage/The National, "Madly" (from Cyrano)

Izzy's Revenge: (ladies (derogatory)) Tao Seeger Band, "Sail Away Ladies"

Dawn, but No Stede Derina Harvey Band, "Nancy Spain"

A Song for The Widow Bonnet Marin Mazzie, "Back to Before" (from Ragtime)

Killed By a Falling Piano Thematic Pianos, "Hornblower Opening Theme" by John E. Keane

Blackbeard's Despair Yusuf (Cat Stevens), "Miles from Nowhere"

Marooned - Is There Hope? Desmond Dekker, "What Is Man"

The Man of Independent Mind Dougie MacLean, "For a' That" (poem by Robert Burns)

[gerrydelano]

it’s time for an actual, legitimate, in-depth discussion about sea shanties, and some corresponding meta about the tundra!

this covers what shanties actually are, what they are not, and why peter lukas wouldn’t be caught dead listening to or participating in one (nevermind allowing his crew to so much as consider them an option.)

i think a lot of people forget what sea shanties actually ARE, tbh! and i won’t say that it annoys me to see people using it wrong, but i always do itch to explain when i see it because it’s just so cool. my time has come.

more specifically, this post is going to talk about:

01. what a shanty actually is, versus other types of sea songs 02. the way they are composed (lyrically, etc.) 03. the practical function they served 04. types of shanties (with examples!) 05. the SOCIAL function they served (genuinely emotional) 06. Peter Lukas Hates Shanties And Everything They Stand For (actual meta discussion about the tundra)

i numbered them so you can skip to the peter part if you don’t care about the Really Specific history of maritime music & don’t want to leaf through examples! 

EDIT: i put the videos used here on a playlist by request, too! i’m adding additional ones that i find/love at the end of it, too. other playlist recs here!

OKAY! here goes. about 3.2k words of pure autism. BOY oh BOY.

01. "shanty” is not just a blanket term for maritime music of any kind! those are actually just called sea songs as a broad umbrella term and there are all sorts of them that were sang for leisure! particularly:

forebitters or fo'c's'le songs - a recreational sea song typically sang at rest, during fair weather, before sleep. 

forebitters refers to singing in fine weather, gathered near large posts on the foredeck, literally called fore bitts. so these would be outside!

fo’c’s’le means “forecastle,” which is the sailors’ sleeping quarters, so those are the bedtime songs™

these could have ranged from any number of popular songs to ballads on any subject, as long as they’re not on watch.

speaking of, ballads are narrative songs that tell stories! often when they would sing about women, missing home, etc. could have been about any subject, but always telling a story specifically.

so basically, forebitters and fo’c’s’le songs are leisure songs, and the distinction between them lies in the setting and circumstance by which they’re sung.

but a shanty (or chantey, chanty, etc.) is specifically what you would call a Call-And-Response Work Song! they’re intended to boost morale and keep sailors in time and in good spirits while performing hard physical labor.

they actually have a specific function and composition, and social purpose which sets them apart from other maritime music! it’s actually seriously awesome!

02. so, the way they worked is that they alternated between:

a solo part sang by a shantyman (just a regular old sailor, usually self-appointed, who had a booming voice, notable lyrical wit, who would come up with his part of the words on the spot holy SHIT.)

and the simplistic refrains, intended to be repeated at a shouting bellow by the whole crew

that’s the “call and response” part of it, which in and of itself sets a rhythm and a tone. the shantyman calls out over the tandem silence of everyone waiting for their cue to respond, for the collective moment, for the rush of being a part of something bigger. swell of waves. the signal to heave or haul.

g-d it’s so beautiful like literally just typing this fills my chest with a very deep love for the way that human beings connect and communicate.

(which is a huge part of why peter lukas would literally never enjoy a shanty. but i’ll get there.)

the tempo usually followed either a 6/8 or a 9/8 time signature, and the basic beat/simplistic refrain would be set before the shantyman gets to work with his improvised lyrics i am still not over that. the simplistic chorus works out for the crew because largely they are VERY busy with the whole Hard Labor thing, so their part of it is less the Lyrics and more the OOMPH, the bellow sound, the moment. 

some of the examples i list in part 4 will include demonstrative videos showing how they work in accordance to the tasks they’re used for! exciting!

03. the “work song” part of it is the most important! a shanty is a WORK SONG, not a leisure song like a forebitter or a ballad.

functionally, shanties literally served the purpose of synchronizing the whole crew’s movements and pacing repetitive tasks like weighing anchor and setting sail. they boosted morale, they kept everyone in time, and were specifically suited to particular tasks on the ship.

there was typically no musical accompaniment to a proper shanty (such as with a fiddle or a concertina) because these songs were performed while everyone’s hands were occupied. it’s all voices. the drum is in your heart, in your footsteps, in the motion of machinery, in the rock of the boat.

so if you’re thinking of a song that a bunch of guys sing while swinging around pints of beer and laughing about pretty girls they miss from back home, you’re thinking of a different subset of drinking songs!

(and if you’re thinking about bloodwater ballad, which i’ve had referred to as a “slow shanty” in the tags, that’s definitely just what it says on the box - a ballad. a murder ballad, specifically, because the story being told has a particular theme. but it’s a ballad nonetheless! DEFINITELY not a shanty, as COOL as that’d have been. please forgive my geekery i’m not mad about the mislableing i just LOVE to talk about the distinctions!)

multiple voices or maritime themes don’t necessarily denote a shanty! there are so many types of sea songs that could cover those, and you’ve definitely heard more of those than you have heard actual shanties.

04. broadly speaking, you can categorize shanties in two easy ways: 

shanties related to hauling actions (pulling)

shanties related to heaving actions (pushing)

there were 6 basic hauling shanty types (this is where i go nuts):

long-drag: also called a halyard shanty! usually sang when hoisting topsails and yards. they tend to contain TWO Pulls per chorus, to a beat such as ”Way, ay, Blow the man down!”

EXAMPLE: hurrah for the blackball line

^ this is actually a video where a guy is EXPLAINING how the shanty works in time with the action, and they demonstrate!

short-drag: sung for short hauling jobs requiring a few bursts of great force, such as changing direction of sails. characterized by one strong pull, timed on the last syllable of the refrain.

EXAMPLE: haul away joe

VERY quick and snappy overall

sweating-up: also called a “swaying off chant” and classed as “sing-outs,” they’re sand for brief hauling tasks like for a few sharp pulls on a halyard to tighten the sail. comparable to short-drags.

EXAMPLE: roll the woodpile down

this is actually my favorite one on this example list so far, i forgot to say so, but the dreadnoughts? good band if you want more of this.

hand over hand:  used for lighter hauling tasks, like setting staysails and jibs, or just hauling in the slack of a rope. the corresponding action is tugging alternately with each hand, on each beat.

EXAMPLE: hellie hellie shumra

honestly just any chant with this particular tempo!

bunt:  used for "bousing up" (i.e. hauling) the tightly bunched bundle of a sail that would need to be gathered up and fastened to the yard when furling. there are only a few of these!

EXAMPLE: paddy doyle’s boots

johnny bowker is also cited, which is also a short-drag used for sweating up, too! here’s the one used in assassin’s creed, and here’s one where a guy is demonstrating the pull timing.

stamp and go: also called a “runaway” or “walk away” shanty, these had longer choruses and were actually more similar to heaving shanties! because the work that went along with these was continuous in nature.  

EXAMPLE: drunken sailor

you ALL have heard this one before, i can GUARANTEE. fun fact, it was one of the ONLY shanties allowed in the royal navy.

and 3 heaving shanty types:

capstan: that big winch wheel thing, you know? like everyone gets a wooden bar and walks forward to push it? it was a continuous action so they had longer solo verses and a “grand chorus” in addition to the call and response pattern.

EXAMPLE: santiana

(i love the longest johns they’re SO much fun. i’ll link another of theirs later when i talk about my favorite heaving shanty.)

EXAMPLE 2: roll the old chariot along

literally just fucking adore this one okay please take it

windlass: so, when raising anchor! operated by the see-saw like action of pumping hand brakes.

EXAMPLE: heave away, my johnny

and here is another live demonstration of how it works in accordance with the windlass, using cheer up, my lively lads!

pump: that’s right! PUMP SHANTY! you all know that song! (i did a meta here about why it’s not. actually an accurate pump shanty but HEY!) historically, these were sang when alleviating leakage in the holds.

EXAMPLE: fire down below

an ABSOLUTE favorite for sure

EXAMPLE 2: leave her, johnny, leave her was specifically sang during the last round of pumping the ship dry once it was tied up in port, before the crew was set to leave the ship! kind of a goodbye ritual! i have a lot of feelings about this one, alright! fuck!

seriously also take this version of leave her johnny sung by a bunch of dudes sitting around a table it’s so organic and their harmonies are killing me it’s SO emotional to me for some reason FUCK.

there were other miscellaneous ones, as well! like:

deep-water shanties: sang when holystoning the deck, or in ritual fashion when celebrating finalky getting paid after the first month’s work was done because they’d burned through their advance pay (by throwing a stuffed horse overboard? wack.)

EXAMPLE: poor old man

yes. the assassin’s creed ones are good. that’s the one they’d use when the horse ritual went down. the more you know.

“men are weird. especially when you put them on a boat for months. they come up with some Shit.”

EDIT: explanation of the horse ritual!

coastwise/longshore shanties: cargo ship/fishing/whaleboating shanties! used when loading and unloading heavy timber, pulling in nets, etc. the musical forms of these differ from the deep-water shanties, namely in that the workers "pull" in between rather than concurrently with certain words of the songs.

EXAMPLE: help me to raise ‘em

this is a demonstration video of the same song done by fishermen in virginia! because that’s right! this tradition exists in places other than europe! the southern US, the caribbean, alaska for the salmon run, etc. and still used in the modern day!

in terms of where you can find more of these: the dreadnoughts, the jolly rogers, and the longest johns are best sources i’ve found so far for clear modern recordings of classic shanties! i love the dreadnoughts’ covers of eliza lee and old maui, fuck.

EDIT: the storm weather shanty choir, too! lots of modernized covers, but VERY enjoyable. check out their renditions of rio grande and a drop of nelson’s blood. 

also, this isn’t quite a shanty, but rye whiskey by the pirate charles is one of the most gorgeous songs i’ve ever heard. the lyrics are INTENSE, definitely give this a shot if you can.

my personal favorite shanty is still RANDY DANDY O, which is a capstan/pump shanty! it’s SO much fun and very influential, total classic. PLEASE listen to that video i just linked there if NONE of the others, it’s like. genuinely really special to me and activates my autism full blast jkdsjfhs. the AC version is also INCREDIBLE.

like fun fact, as i was trying to pick which version to link, i found this one and was actually just. grinning, flapping, rocking, and laughing about it because it just! gets in my chest! the WHOOPING and the RHYTHM it just! this gets inside my heart, dude, that’s what shanties are supposed to do.

which brings me to the most important part of this meta!

05. there is a SOCIAL and PSYCHOLOGICAL component to a shanty that is DEEPLY important (especially in the context of the tundra)

shanties alleviated boredom, reduced the psychological burden of hard labor, and built and strengthened camaraderie!

the point was to keep people together, both physically so work can be done efficiently and socially so that the crew didn’t lose their spirit or drive. they’re not just a song that happens to be sung by many voices; they’re meant to be give and take. call and response. someone to call to; someone to call for you. the very nature of a shanty is a dialogue. you cannot sing a shanty alone.

even just sitting and listening to them on fucking youtube can fill a person with so much feeling and a weird yearning for that kind of togetherness and that open space being filled with voices so many voices all coming together, imagine what it must be like to actually be a part of it in real life! in real time!

even outside of the context of sea shanties specifically, there is a POWER that comes with singing with a chorus at all. there’s a LOVE and EXHILARATION that comes with hearing that many people singing together, with being one of the people singing. 

combine that feeling with the way your blood would be pumping with all that hard work, with the weird broad sweeping intimacy of knowing the people all around you are feeling all the same aches and pains and have the same rope burn calloused hands and the same salt soaked shirts and pinching boots and you’re still singing together through how thirsty you all are and later that night you’re all going to be feeling the same bone deep weariness, the same yearning for sleep, the same human experience.

a sea shanty isn’t just any maritime song. it meant something. it embodied something. and i really don’t think peter lukas would like it very much.

06. there is actually no WAY peter lukas Enjoys sea shanties, or allowed them to be sang on his ship. hell, dumbass rich boy growing up with isolation and money would have no NEED to understand the culture of hard labor. he owns a boat, sure! he ain’t worked a day in his damn life. he wouldn’t even have gone yachting because that implies his family would encourage fun and leisure, which they don’t even! it’s all detrimental solitude and rejection of things people do to feel connected.

peter’s understanding of the need for human connection is based in specifically how to destroy it.

the very nature of a shanty is togetherness and teamwork. it’s the Direct Opposition to Loneliness. they’re supposed to fill your chest with this kind of adrenaline and make you feel surrounded and in step with other people and honestly that’d just give the dude hives.

the boat itself isn’t actually even a real cargo ship. the containments are empty! they’re not actually doing meaningful work of any kind that would require the backbeat of a shanty to carry them through it.

the tundra is JUST a cover for finding and sacrificing people in need of work like this - work that is lonely before and after you get on the boat.

ordinarily, to get jobs like this, you’d wander around in search of a vacancy and sign on for one voyage, and when you hit port? you leave! and don’t typically stay in contact with the people you worked with the whole time you were there! and then you find another boat, and start the process over again.

this cover specifically targets people who are already port hopping and presumably don’t have much that’ll call them back home anywhere. people who are already traveling alone, who aren’t anchored to land. who are already lonely.

it’s not forever work, usually. the more stationary crew on the tundra are not normal sailors, they don’t do normal work, they are kept there for other reasons — presumably the money, at first, but more likely the fear for their lives.

algie’s tags on this post just reminded me of this, and while she’s completely right about peter not knowing/liking/willingly listening to shanties, i have to disagree a bit about his crew ever using them if only because of some technicalities and distinctions between sea songs & their functions.

shanties as a whole became somewhat obsolete as technological advances were made to larger sailing vessels and whatnot over time. pretty sure the tundra is a modernized cargo ship, likely steam, and so there is far less of even a NEED for the TYPE of work tasks that would typically be performed with a shanty at the backbone.

but beyond that, the crew of the tundra is painfully quiet, avoidant of one another, won’t even look each other in the eyes. they don’t even speak the same languages; people who Couldn’t communicate smoothly even if they Wanted to are now forced to feel even more isolated because of that lack of common threading, and understanding.

the job of a port hopping sailor is lonely when you’re hopping between ports. in the in-between. when you’re actually on the ship, though? on a normal ship, there’d be conversation. games. friendships, however fleeting. song. there’d be at least something to make the work bearable before you set off alone again, if you decide not to stay.

on the tundra, the entire point of their business there and their jobs is to somehow work alone doing a job that has always been better done with a hundred parts combined into one thriving collection of human beings relying on each other, moving in sync with each other, communicating with each other.

it’s actually, like. genuinely heartbreaking to think about this? yeah, we associate the ocean with Loneliness for good, obvious reasons but sailors? as a profession? as a type of person? on a big ship, part of a crew? are not meant to be quiet when they’re actually on the job. they are not meant to be solitary. are not meant not to speak.

this is obviously said to be the atmosphere when they’re waiting on a sacrifice to be chosen and made, they’re trying to Behave and Not get chosen. that takes up a majority of their time working there, and is presumably the long-term vibe.

and then, even as the atmosphere is said to change AFTER a sacrifice (“After that night, the atmosphere on board changed. People talked, and you’d occasionally hear actual laughter on board. Games were played, people drank, and there was this sense of relief to it all.” - MAG 33) the laughter is still only occasional. they’re still in that environment, still in the Know about how you Need to behave to survive. still scared of talking about it. still scared.

so if they DID sing, i think it’d be more likely to be fo’c’s’le songs! as mentioned before. those are sang at rest, in celebration, for leisure, in the sleeping quarters. in private, somewhat. it’s much safer, just slightly less obtrusive and symbolic, much more likely given the TONE (if they’re relieved and glad They didn’t get chosen to be eaten by the Lonely) and also just? generally more applicable to the setting. it’s a broader selection of potential #tunes. drinking songs, maybe! but drinking songs aren’t shanties.

they wouldn’t be allowed to sing a sea shanty even if it were applicable to their physical job. by this point i have to wonder if they would have ever even in a position to learn the words to any even before coming aboard the tundra, if only because of how much this particular tool has fallen out of usage in the modern maritime scene. it’s not like they’d get the chance to take part in it here.

they just stand for too much. they embody the human spirit of collaboration and togetherness too much. they represent too much that opposes what peter wants to foster here. they’re too powerful as a very human ritual, however simple it may sound just as a word. shanty. chanty. chorus. crew.

there was never room on the tundra for a shantyman.

but consider — shanties as a way to leave the lonely. 

you start singing a shanty to yourself, and from the distance, other voices join in.

a response to your call. 

the fog clears.