Cape Cod Girls - YouTube
“Cape Cod Girls” shanty. Cape Cod is an interesting place to visit. I would recommend doing so in the early autumn just after school starts. Otherwise it’s too crowded with vacationing families. When I went there, a lady I know told that she and her husband tried to drive all the way out to Provincetown but could not get there because there were so many cars and the road was jammed. When I went at the end of September, I practically had the road to myself. After reaching, Provincetown, I realized it was a lesbian stronghold. A buddy told me it was like an East Coast offset to San Francisco as a gay male capital on the West Coast.
The Seamen's Hymn - YouTube
An example of the church hymns of coastal areas dependent on the sea for their livelihood.
The dory men of Nantucket.
We be Three Poor Mariners - YouTube
“We Be Three Poor Mariners” was first gathered by Thomas Ravenscroft in 1609 in a work called
Deuteromelia as a second collection of King Henry VIII’s Mirth or Freeman’s songs. It quickly became a virtual anthem of sailors complete with a statement that sailors are superior to mere soldiers.
We be three poor mariners, newly come from the seas;
We spend our lives in jeopardy, while others live at ease.
Come let us dance the round, a round, a round
Come let us dance the round, a round, a round
And he that is a bully boy
Come pledge me on this ground, a ground, a ground.
We care not for these martial men, that do our states disdain;
But we care for those merchant men, who do our states maintain.
Come let us dance the round, a round, a round
Come let us dance the round, a round, a round
And he that is a bully boy
Come pledge me on this ground, a ground, a ground.
Scrimshander made from a sperm whale’s tooth.
Stan Rogers - Barrett's Privateers - YouTube
Stan Rogers’ “Barrett’s Privateers.” Rogers was a Canadian folksinger from Halifax who not only sang a lot of sea songs but wrote a great many—this one being of his own compositions. It has become very famous among both the folkies and the shanty-singers (the latter being a subset of the former). It is not unusual to hear it sung in bars around the world. Rogers died in 1983 when an Air Canada DC-9 caught fire while he was still in the cabin. The cause of death is attributed to smoke inhalation. His brother, Garnett, who was part of Stan’s band and a very talented fellow, now carries on Stan’s legacy.
New Bedford, MA in winter.