#the song was the northwest passage btw

[monty-glasses-roxy]

Oh yeah did I mention I was thinking about assigning some of the blorbos a Longest Johns song and was listening to a bunch of them, then ended up staying up till 7am reading the Wiki for the Franklin Expedition I'd never heard of before? Yeah that was interesting...

[if-only-angels-could-prevail]

the new stan rogers song i’m obsessed with is white squall, btw. for those keeping track, it was northwest passage, then tiny fish for japan, then forty-five years, and now white squall. just wanted to make sure everyone was keeping track!

[tomatoheretic]

Apparently TikTok made sea shanties a thing now. Awesome! Because I'm a sea shanty nerd, I decided to make an "explainer". This was originally a thread on Mastodon, but I decided to post a copy here too. Read on below the cut!

First: some people will complain that "it's not sea shanties, it's just  Wellerman!" and "Wellerman isn't even a sea shanty!". If you meet those, I recommend smiling, nodding, and then ignoring the fuck out of those  people. Shanties are a folk genre experiencing a revival - not only is  it music that organically evolved, but is actively adapted and adopted  by a new generation of singers and fans. There is no one true definition of a sea shanty!

Sea shanties are songs of sailors: in the navy, the merchant marine, on whaling ships, etc. In the narrowest sense, specifically WORKING SONGS sung to keep rhythm. They often have a call-and-response pattern.

A great example is "Pump Her Dry" as sang by the Exmouth Shanty Men: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgK1hnBCqjw

"Fire Down Below", sung by The Jolly Rogers, is another good one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mLR_W4JZdI

"Roll the Old Chariot" led by David Coffin is great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20n3N1uhztc

Aside from these, there are also "leaving songs": these are about leaving for a voyage, or leaving the ship after return. (Sometimes they're still also working songs.)

"Bonny Ship the Diamond" is about leaving the port: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtYaXUfTq4A (a whaler song like the Wellerman, btw)

"Leave her Johny" is about leaving the ship (Johnny Collins): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fVQwzv5Qfc

"Don't forget your old shipmate" as well (Jerry Bryant and Starboard Mess): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY1fUAPYH3M

Obviously, there are also sea shanties in other languages! My favorites:

German: "Männer mit Bärten" (Men with Beards), here by Die Streuner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on-CuaGMveg

French: "Guerre, guerre, vente vent" is beautiful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I_vQHbmmaY

And a Dutch one! "Daar Was Eens een Meisje Loos" - be sure to read the description here, you'll get a taste of what digging into a folk genre is like! :D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zep5DbpRYjg

Last but not least, there's what I call "modern sea shanties", or sea-shanty-adjacent. Some bands create completely new songs, adapt them into different genres, or are their own thing while being beloved by sea-shanty fans. Some examples:

"Northwest Passage", a famous song by the Canadian folk singer Stan Rogers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVY8LoM47xI

"When the Boat Comes In", an English folk song (here by Friends of The Shipyard and Fisherman's Fayre): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmBz5eGXB3o

"Hoist the Colors", from Pirates of the Carribean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdS2xj0br34

"Twiddles" by Misbehaving Maidens - warning, very NSFW!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS1-_fKF5ug

"Ballad of a Female Shanty Singer": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rIpCbebopQ

"Keelhauled" by Alestorm (metal): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta-Z_psXODw

The pirate song from the game Monkey Island: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK4OnCzPEWI

One tip: if you're looking for long playlists of sea shanties, look for Assassins Creed! Shanties first appeared in AC III and became such a hit that they became a mainstay of the series. (BTW many current shanty fans got into them through AC, so if you're here because of TikTok don't worry about not being "real" fans :P)

AC: Black Flag: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uicC2MUZ24I

AC: Odyssey has absolutely beautiful all-woman Greek songs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EsC-TszgKE

And a final rec: if you get hooked on sea shanties, check out this BBC documentary about maritime songs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqC2-wY_Axw It's really charming and has a ton of interesting tidbits (gutter girls!!!)

I hope this will be useful for someone! It's hilarious that shanties are blowing up like this, I hope it will get a lot more people to listen and sing and have fun with them.

I totally didn't manage to cram in all my favorites, so if you want more recs, hit me up!

[awlwren]

Asking you the same ones you asked me because it was so fun! (3 songs ask) 1, 3, 4, 26, 30. And 20, because I'm interested.

1. three songs that come up when you put your phone on shuffle

I don’t have access to my full music library atm, so I’m going to do an ad hock version with Pandora by circling my finger around with my eyes closed to select a station and putting the first song that comes up. So if this is a little wonky, I apologize.

-The Chemical Worker’s Song- So this one was new to my Pandora stream (and technically didn’t fit my Sea Shanties station) but was excellent. I really need to give in and make an Irish station so I don’t have to keep getting sad about culling songs like this one. (I use it for cooking, mainly, btw, and being pumped about One Piece)

-Wouldn’t It Be Loverly- ah, still the dream. Fun to make up dances to, as well. Great song, great musical. From my Musicals station.

-Come Thou Fount by Jadon Lavik from my Hymn station, another one I have to keep tightly cultivated. This hymn, if not this version, was actually the seed for this station.

3. three songs you were recently obsessed with

-Northwest Passage by Stan Rogers - the sound, the road trip feel, the different history perspectives that it makes me think about, especially the line “a land so wide and savage”.

-The Green Fields of France by Eric Bogle- this song and the one above it were misfit suggestions on my Sea Shanty station, actually. I ended up buying the High King’s album because I wanted a copy of this song and it ended up being...a bad version. (For instance “the countless white crosses in mute witness stand” becomes “the countless white crosses stand mute in the sand”, which robs it of its intensity and just...doesn’t make sense in a song that is literally about a grassy green graveyard. So I’ve sought out many versions to find one I like.) I love the rest of the CD for walking and outdoor work, though.

-Cold Missouri Waters by James Keelaghan - I heard this one at a ranger talk about controlled burns at some National Park over a decade ago, and it stuck with me.  I try out various ways of singing it every so often, because the story strikes a feeling in me that I don’t think I’ve yet been able to express in my music.

Umm... my musical tastes are actually much more varied than this; I am not actually on a folk kick at the moment, even. So, honorable mention to:

-Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego by Rockapella - which I am currently in the process of memorizing so I can sing it whenever I want.

4. three songs that you know thanks to your parents

-Take me Home, Country Roads by John Denver - I know this one literally thanks to my father; I had it memorized before I ever heard John Denver singing it. It was one of our standard car songs.

-When God Ran - an interesting retelling of the parable of the Prodigal Son that my mother literally emailed me, and the start of a music folder with her name on it.  Most of my modern Christian music knowledge is songs my mother sends me.

-What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong- my dad heard this on the radio when he was driving to the hospital to bring me home, and so it has sort of been our song ever since.

Honorable mention to: literally half of my music library is from CDs I stole (and replaced for various birthdays, etc) from my dad.

26. three favourite non-English songs

-El Grillo credited to Josquin des Pres - Italian, a fun, descriptive song about a cricket. Fun to sing, fun to hear.

-Sa Se Un Jou - Haitian Creole, I learned it during a trip there, and it reminds me of all the people I met. I’ve since taught it to kid groups I’ve worked with, and it’s fun to watch them learn faster than the adults, and reach out a little further into the wider world.

-Siyahamba - South African/Zulu, I learned this in kiddie choir in school first, but soon sang it many places, so it has a lot of memories.  Also the rhythms are fun, and I love songs where people know harmonies or variations and aren’t afraid to sing them.

30. three songs you really want your followers to know (for reasons other than all those above)

-Molasses to Rum from “1776”- umm, I love 1776 for many reasons, and this song is fantastic and sobering. A reminder that slavery is a legacy to more than just plantations.

-Fear is a Liar by Zach Williams- another one from Mom, but one that is helpful to hear, especially when you’re struggling.  Warning for the video; it made me cry the first time.

-Jesus Entered Egypt by Alan Tice - I can’t actually find a recording of this, but the lyrics work well enough (3rd song on the page). We sang it at university for a Christmas program and it’s stuck with me. I’ve sent it to many government officials, to no reply of course, but I send it again every so often.

20. three songs that remind you of the person who sends this one

-In Western Lands - this setting is fantastic, and I sing it every time I see the stars in the trees. It has such hope, and that plus Tolkien makes me think of you (there is some good!) Plus, this book this was the first thing I bought for myself online, so it makes me think of good things you can find online.

-I See the Moon- I feel this is self explanatory. 

-Soon from “Thumbelina”- Thumbelina gets awesome dresses and is in a world too big for her but she perseveres and always finds a friend and gets her love in the end. And I’m so stoked for you right now! (But if this one doesn’t work out, someone, someday, soon will!)

[d0rbee]

24-30??

Have you ever felt like you had a “mind meld” with someone?

Well, depending on how you define “mind meld,” I’d say so. My girlfriend and I constantly make the same jokes at the same time, that always feels like a weird brain tether between us.

Could you live as a hermit?

No way jose! I’ve gotta talk to my friends or I just feel down. I could barely be all by myself for a week if you paid me.

How would you describe your gender/sexuality?

I’ve got this pretty much in my description/about! Sexuality-wise I call myself a nomaromantic asexual (nomaromantic meaning “attracted to all folks besides men”). Gender-wise I call myself a demigirl in my blog description, but I’m still in consideration. Honestly I just found out I’m intersex kind of recently and that’s made me especially go back to Gender Exploration. So demigirl for now, but changes potentially upon the horizon.

Do you feel like your outside appearance is a fair representation of the “real you”?

This is a good question, and also a kind of vague one. I’m gonna define “outside appearance” as “the way you present yourself to others” and say that it’s about half-accurate. Mainly, I feel like my outside appearance is mostly me trying to suppress my needs- trying to look less disabled. Once people get to know the “real me,” they also get to know the things I need assistance with that I wouldn’t let show right off the bat. Personality speaking, I feel like my “outside appearance” and “real me” are similar. The real me is a bit more vulgar, probably. :p

On a scale from 1 to 10, how hard is it for someone to get under your skin?

I’d say I’m about a 4. It’s easy for me to find people slightly annoying, but people don’t often really frustrate me. I’m defining someone “getting under my skin” as someone annoying me enough that I stew on it for a while. If we count one-off annoyances I’m, like, an 8. 

Three songs that you connect with right now.

Ahhh I honestly can’t ever answer questions like this. I don’t connect with songs like that! So how about three songs that I think are very defining of my Taste In Music. Love in the Time of Human Papillomavirus and White Face, Black Eyes by AJJ and Northwest Passage by Stan Rogers are three good examples off the top of my head- but there’s definitely more good good songs if I think hard about it. 

Pick one of your favorite quotes.

It might seem lame to chose a tweet from Justin McElroy, but I really do think about it a lot: “I'm gonna wake up and keep trying to do good and so are you and nobody gets to vote on that.” (After this year’s election)

(btw, here’s the tweet!)

Whew, that was a lot of typing! But thank you for asking me all these cool questions! It’s always so nice to actually get an answer on one of these cool ask meme things. :D