The word “Yankee” probably came from sailors. In England, sailors were called by generic terms as Jack or Johnny. Many shanties have Johnny in the title—“Whisky Johnny,” “Leave Her, Johnny, Leave Her,” “Heave Away, My Johnny” and some believe that when the English descendants in the American colonies began to move into New Netherlands (New York) region, that the Dutch referred to the English as Janneke (Little John or Johnny) because they were most familiar with the English sailors back in Europe—the Johnnies. Eventually, Janneke (pronounced “Yah-ne-keh”) became pronounced by the English-speakers themselves as Yankee. This term was originally strictly applied to Americans of English descent as it was in Connecticut as well as to the Quakers of Nantucket who considered themselves both American and English. The New England whale fishery which was run by Quakers was even usually called the Yankee whale fishery (the Quakers, of course, started in England). The original dialect of the white Massachusetts settlers was also called the Yankee dialect, which is not spoken anymore.
Johnny Collins - Leave Her Johnny (sea chantey) - YouTube
One thing that seems to be overlooked is that the punk sub-genre called Oi is partly descended from pub sing-alongs which are greatly influenced by shanties. I noticed the similarity when I was still in the Navy and listening almost exclusively to punk at that time. Years later, when I met some shanty singers I was surprised to hear some of them say that some shanties have a punk-like feel. Indeed they do and for good reason. I’m so used to hearing that from shanty-lovers that it no longer surprises me.
[Shanty] Old Billy Riley - Johnny Collins - YouTube
This one has always struck me as punkish.
The Exploited - Sex and Violence - YouTube
This one by the Exploited certainly sounds like it was derived by the pub sing-along.
Rolling Down the Bay to Juliana - YouTube
Give it a rock band set-up and it’s pretty much textbook perfect Oi.
Booze & Glory - "London Skinhead Crew" - Official Video (HD) - YouTube
Rolf Harris - "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" - YouTube
This, by rights, should be considered proto-Oi. Just give it a standard Oi rock band set-up and it’s not far from being Oi. Yet it is also quite clearly a pub sing-along.
London Pub Singalong - YouTube
A London pub sing-along.
Cockney Rejects - Oi Oi Oi ! - YouTube
The word Oi was coined by Gary Bushell. It just basically means “Hey!” as a way of hailing someone. Note its close similarity to “Ahoy!” which is also a means of one ship hailing another. Yelling “Oi!” across the water at another ship would be too short to hear so it is simply stretched out into “Ahoy!” as the addition of the “A” and the “H” allows the person yelling to release the “oi” syllable with greater volume and power. A few years back I picked up an anthology called “Carry On Oi!” put out by Gary Bushell. Strangely, it was put out of the Ahoy label and the logo was the face of an old-fashioned ship captain. Coincidence or was Bushell giving us a subtle clue as to the true origins of Oi?