I love Sea Shanties and I just found out tonight this is the year of the Sea Shanty.
So here is the apparent cause of this phenom:
Now my favorite Shanty is Drunken Sailor and this is a great version.
TL;DR: Now most of my adult life I have been involved with the Hudson River and Monmouth County (now New Jersey) Clearwater groups. Putting on festivals, in wooden boat programs and environmental action. Along the way with these activities I fell in a with a crusty crew of Shantymen.
Now I have a poor voice, but with a good shanty, enthusiasm helps a lot. So does beer, rum and whiskey. Some for me and plenty for anyone having to listen.
One more of my favorite Shanties:
“Roll The Old Chariot” - American Sailor-folk Song
Does anyone else have favorite Shanties? Please share.
This thread inspired by @River_Hippie’s wonderful thread.
I always was partial to Drunken Sailor myself, although my preferred variant is by the Blaggards. Not that I don’t appreciate the Irish Rovers and have several songs by them in various playlists. Not as many as the Dropkick Murphys, but still…
While not quite a traditional Sea Shanty, my favorite Shanty - adjacent song is this little gem
What I learned from sea shanties is that all “good time” girls have names that end in -lly; Molly, Sally, Polly. If you want a girl who will stay true while you’re out to sea, find yourself a Nancy.
There’s one or two episodes of Deep Space 9 where Klingons do a “space shanty”. I liked that. I think the conclusion is that for me it isn’t so much the lyrics but the deep bass harmonies that I like.
Does this qualify as a sea shanty? I seem to remember posting it in another sea shanty thread maybe 6 or so months ago and being told it was not. But it’s a cappella, it’s a seafaring tale, and it has a rousing, oft-repeated chorus, parts of which are sung with accompaniment. So I say yer a scurvy dog if ye say otherwise.
On the Clearwater, Haul away Joe and Roll the Old Chariot were the most common ones for raising sails and/or the seine net. My week on board was way back in 1990. Since then it has been maybe a dozen individual sails. A couple of Pumpkin Sails and 3 spring fit-out weekends.
But I ran part of the boat program for the Monmouth County Friends of Clearwater for years. Maintaining the Tuckerton Sailing Garvey, The Adam Hyler for about half of its active life. The boat is now in the Tuckerton Seaport Museum which is cool.
I’m trying to find a good version of I’se the B’y, but no luck thus far. When done right that one was really good. I wish I had more music by the Sloop Singers available.
