Sea shanty

From Freepedia

Sea shanties (singular "shanty", also spelled "chantey"; derived from the French word "chanter", 'to sing') were shipboard working songs. Predominantly an American and British phenomenon (some Continental countries frowned on singing at sea), shanties flourished from at least the fifteenth century through the days of steam ships in the first half of the 20th century. Most surviving shanties date from the nineteenth and (less commonly) eighteenth centuries.

In the days when human muscles were the only power source available aboard ship, sea shanties served a practical purpose: people tuned into the same rhythm can work 'in phase', as it were. They also helped alleviate boredom and give vent to the hard working conditions typical of the day.

Most shanties are "call and response" songs, with one voice (the shantyman) singing the line and the chorus of sailors bellowing the response. For example, the shanty "Boney":

Shantyman: Boney was a warrior,

All: Way, hey, ya!

Shantyman: A warrior and a terrior,

All: Jean-François!

The "pulls" would be on the last syllable of the response in each line.

Shanties may be divided into several rough categories:

Long-drag (or halyard) shanties: Sung when a job of hauling on a rope was expected to last a long time. Usually one pull per verse, to give the men a chance to rest. Examples: "Hanging Johnny," "Blow the Man Down."
Short-drag (short-haul, sheet, or hand over hand) shanties: Sung when a job of hauling on a rope was expected to be quick. Two or more pulls per verse. Examples: "Boney," "Haul Away, Joe," "Blow the Man Down," "Drunken Sailor."
Capstan shanties: Raising the anchor on a ship involved winding the rope along a giant winch, turned by sailors walking around it. Capstan shanties are anchor-raising shanties. They are typically more "smooth" sounding than other types (no pulling required) and, unlike many other types of shanties, frequently have a full chorus in addition to the call-and-response verses. Examples: "Paddy Lay Back," "Rio Grande," "South Australia," "John Brown's Body," (adapted from Army marching song).
Pumping Shanties: All wooden ships leak somewhat. There's a special hold, called the bilge hold, at the very bottom of the ship where the seawater collects. The bilge water must frequently be pumped out; on period ships it was done with a two-man pump. Many pumping shanties were also used as capstan shanties, and vice versa, particularly after the adoption of the Downton pump which used a capstan rather than pump handles moved up and down. Examples include: "Strike The Bell," "Shallow Brown," "Barnacle Bill the Sailor," "Lowlands."
Fo'c's'le (Forecastle) Shanties: Shanties sung for fun. Example: "Rolling Down To Old Maui". As these were not sung during work, they are sometimes not referred to as "shanties", but rather as forebitters or simply as sea songs.

The above categories are not absolute. Sailors could (and did) take a song from one "type" and, with necessary alterations to the rhythm, use it for a different task. The only rule that was almost always followed was that songs that spoke of returning home were only sung on the homeward leg, and songs that sung of the joys of voyaging etc., were only sung on the outward leg. Other songs were very specific. "Poor Old Man" (also known as "The Dead Horse") was sung once the sailors had worked off their advance a month or so into the voyage. "Leave Her, Johnny Leave Her" (also known as "Time for Us to Leave Her") was only sung during the last round of pumping the ship dry once it was tied up, prior to leaving the ship at the end of the voyage.

The shantyman was usually self-appointed. One did not sign on as a shantyman per se, but took on the role in addition. Nevertheless, sailors reputed to be good shantymen were valuable and respected--it was a good professional skill to have, along with strong arms and back.

Historically, shanties were usually not sung ashore. Nowdays they are performed as popular music. Shanty choirs, often large choral groups that perform only sea chanties, are popular in Europe, particularly Poland and the Netherlands, but also countries such as Germany and Norway. In English-speaking countries, sea chanties are comparatively less popular as a separate genre and tend to be performed by smaller groups as folk music rather than in a choral style.

All though the "days of the tall ships" are over, the shanty song style is still used for new musical compositions. Well known examples include the Stan Rogers song, "Barrett's Privateers," the Steve Goodman song, "Lincoln Park Pirates," and the theme song for the television show SpongeBob Squarepants (a version of "Blow the Man Down").

Samples

Download recording - "Roll the Old Chariot Along," from the Library of Congress' Gordon Collection; recorded in the Bay Area of California in the early 1920s. Unfortunately, the identity of the singer is lost to history, but he is believed to have been a veteran of sailing ships. Due to the improvisational nature of sea shanties and folk music in general, this song exists with many different lyrics and even with different tunes. Depending on the lyrics it has been collected as both a spiritual song and as a sea chanty.

References

Doerflinger, William Main, Songs of the Sailor and Lumberman. Mayerbooks, Glenwood, 1990.
Harlow, Frederick Pease, Chanteying Aboard American Ships. Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic. 2004.
Hugill, Stan, Shanties and Sailor's Songs. Frederick A. Praeger, New York, 1969
Hugill, Stan, Shanties from the Seven Seas. Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic, 1994.
Proctor, David, Music of the Sea. HMSO, London, 1992.

Both Stan Hugill and Frank Shay have written extensively on sea shanties.