1. |
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Oh, Mary, come down with your bunch of roses
Come down when I call, oh Mary
Oh, Mary, come down
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2. |
Hilo, Come Down Below
01:39
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A blackbird sang unto the crow
Hilo, Come down below!
I’ll soon be takin’ you in tow
Hilo, come down below!
Blackbird sat in the walnut tree
Pingin’ and pongin’ on the old banjee
High and dry, we’ll hoist her high
We’ll hoist her high for a bulgine pie
Blackbird sang, crow said “Caw!”
Got to set this sail by half past four
If the sun don’t shine then the hens won’t lay
If we don’t work we get no pay
The blackbird flew to Mobile Town
See his Sally when the sun go down
Blackbird flapped his wings and crowed
Why does a chicken cross the road?
Blackbird said unto the crow
Eight bells and then our watch below
One more pull, the old crow cried
Hurry for to catch the evening tide
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3. |
Jolly Fisherman
03:18
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Jolly Fisherman
Come, all you jolly fishermen
That does a-fishing go
Beware of the cold nor’westers
And the stormy winds that blow
It was in the winter season
On the western banks we lay
On board of the old Veronia
Oh, I’ll never forget the day
It was stormy in the morning
Just at the dawn of light
When we went out to haul our trawls
We returned again all right
“bait up again, my jolly boys,”
I heard our captain say
“it’s halibut here it’s to be had
We must haul again today
“Oh, three can go in a dory,” said he,
“If it comes the worst do blow
We’ll pay down buoy line astern
Adrift you never can go.”
Oh, three of us went in a dory,
And away us boys did go
The wind southeast a-breezing up
And every sign of snow.
Oh, we got our trawls all right,
And might have reached her, too
But when we got our lights in sight
We broke our oars in two
I overboard the anchor
Thinking to ride it out
But our buoy line soon parted
For I tell you it was not stout.
My dory mate he kept her straight
While the other one kept her free
For if we’d got a-broadside to it
Capsized we would be.
My dory mate he kept her straight
While the other one kept her free
While I rigged a drogue of halibut
And cast it in the sea.
Oh, early the next morning
We took our turn about
And pulling away to leeward
And keeping a sharp lookout
“Sail ho! Sail ho! My jolly boys,
the joyful bells do ring,”
There lay the old Veronia
And to Williams we convened
“Oh, wasn’t you afraid?”
Oh, I guess so. We’re all right at last-
By baling with our sou’westers
We saved our little craft.”
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4. |
Fisherman's Frolic
02:37
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5. |
A Fitting Out
01:54
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[Note: an essener keeps tobacco from drying out, a squill is a plant bulb with medicinal properties, and a podeldoe is a liniment made of camphorated soap, oil of rosemary, and alcohol.]
A chest that is neither too large or too small
Is the first thing to which your attention I’ll call
The things to put in it are next to be named
And if I omit some I’m not to be blamed
Stow first at the bottom a blanket or quilt
To be used on the voyage whenever you wilt
Thick trousers and shirts, woolen stockings and shoes
Next your papers and books to tell you the news
Good substantial tarpaulins to cover your head
Just to say, keep it furled, N. C., ‘nuff said
Carry paper and ink, pens wafers, and wax
And a shoemaker’s last, awls, and some small tacks
Some cotton and thread, silk, needles and palm
And a paper of pins as long as your arm
Two vests and a thimble, a large lot of matches
A lot of old clothes that will answer for patches
A Bible and hymn book of course you must carry
If at the end of the voyage you expect for to marry
Don’t forget to take esseners, pipes, and cigars
Of the sweetest of butter a couple of jars
A razor you will want a pencil and slate
A comb and a hairbrush you will need for your pate
A brush and some shaving soap and plenty of squills
And a box of those excellent Richardson’s pills
A podeldoe and pain killer you surely will need
And something to stop the red stream if you bleed
Some things I’ve omitted but never mind that
Eat salt junk and hard bread and laugh and grow fat.
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6. |
Wild and Ugly
02:53
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All up and down the Arctic Ocean
There the Bowheads blow
There’s where my heart is yearning ever,
There’s where I want to go
All the whales that’s in this ocean
All are wild you see
Oh, Captain, won’t you go to that ocean
Go where the bowheads be
Chorus:
All these whales are wild and ugly
Everywhere we stray
Oh, Captain won’t you go to that ocean
Go where the bowheads play
All up and down these seas we’ve wandered
Since I have been with you
Oh, Captain, won’t you go to the north’ard
There you’ll find something new
Chorus
When shall we see the hills and valleys
of our own home shore
Oh, Captain, let us leave these waters
and not sail here any more.
Chorus
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7. |
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8. |
Wonderful Whalers
06:04
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Fathers of the oratory
List to my surprising tale
Hearken to a wondrous story
More than very like a whale
Each mesmeric marvel monger
Lend to me your ears likewise
If for miracles you hunger
You shall ope both mouth and eyes
In the ship Ann Alexander
Cruising in pursuit of whales
Bold John S. DeBlois, commander
with a crew so gallant sails
In the South pacific ocean
Reaching to the Off Shore Ground
‘Mong the waves in wind commotion
several monstrous whales they found
These two boats did follow after
larboard boat and starboard too
And with shouts of glee and laughter
The Leviathans pursue
When the larboard boat commanded
By the stout first mate did soon
In the whale, with force strong handed
Deeply plunge a sharp harpoon
Off the mighty monster started
pain and anguish gave him cause
Suddenly he backward darted
seized the boat between his jaws
Into smithereens he cracked it
or as witnesses declare
Who beheld the thing transacted
bits no bigger than a chair
In the starboard boat the Captain
to the rescue quickly struck
And although the boat was snap
in pieces saved the crew by luck
Now the good Ann Alexander
to their aid the waist boat sent
Half the band then having manned her
At the whale again they went
Soon the ocean giant nearing
they prepared to give him fight
Little thinking never fearing
that the beast again would bite
But without their host they reckoned
At the boat he also flew
Like the first he served the second
Snapped it into pieces too
Sure his jaws together clapping
would the gallant seamen crush
But when they perceived him snapping
straight into the sea they rushed
To afford the help they needed
Bold Deblois repaired again
Once more also he succeeded
In the aim to save his men
Tired perhaps of sport renewing
To their ship this time they hied
When behold the whale pursuing
With his jaws extended wide
Gloating with revenge he sought ‘em
But with blubber pierced and gored
He was crippled or had caught ‘em
But they all got safe on board
Risk the heroes little cared for
Speedily they set their sail
In the ship herself prepared for
One more tussle with the whale
Now they reached him, plunged a lance in
The infuriate monster’s head
Then of course they had no chance in
Close encounter onward sped
For the ship they saw him making
But the chase he soon gave o’er
Which the animal forsaking
Down on him again they bore
Fifty rods below the water
There they saw the monster lie
So despairing him to slaughter
They resolved no more to try
At this time Deblois was standing
Sternly on the larboard bow
Ready with harpoon in hand
To inflict the deadly blow
Up he saw the monster rising
With velocity and power
At the rate of speed surprising
Of full fifteen knots an hour
In an instant (Heaven defend us!)
Lo, the whale had near the keel
Struck with such a force tremendous
That it made the vessel reel
And her bottom knocked a hole in
Into which the water poured
And the sea so fierce did roll in
That the billows rushed and roared
The ship could not be saved from sinking
So riddled was it by the whale
But DeBlois and his unshrinking
Crew survived to tell the tale
Strong are those daring fellows
Dauntless the harpoon to throw
And to judge from what they tell us
Stronger still to draw the bow.
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9. |
Nantucket Girl's Song
01:43
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Well, I’ve made up my mind now to be a sailor’s wife
To have a purse full of money and a very easy life
For a clever sailor husband is so seldom at his home
That his wife can spend the dollars
with a will that’s all her own
So I’ll haste to wed a sailor and send him off to sea
For a life of independence is the very life for me
But every now and then I would like to see his face
For it always seems to me to beam with a manly grace
With his brow so nobly open and his dark and kindly eye
My heart beats fondly for him whenever he is nigh
But when he says goodbye, my love,
I’m off across the sea
First I’ll cry for his departure-
then I’ll laugh because I’m free
And I will welcome him upon him his glad return
And I will spend most cheerfully the money that he earns
For he’s my loving husband, though he lives the roving life
And well I know how good it is to be a sailor’s wife
So I’ll haste to wed a sailor and send him off to sea
For a life of independence is the very life for me
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10. |
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Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still
It’s been a year since last we met
We may never meet again
I have struggled to forget
But the struggle was in vain
For her voice lives on the breeze
And her spirit comes at will
In the midnight on the seas
Her bright smile haunts me still
In the midnight on the seas
Her bright smile haunts me still
I have sailed a falling sky
I have charted hazard’s path
I have seen the storm arise
Like a giant in his wrath
Every danger I have known
That a reckless life can fill
Though her presence is now flown
Her bright smile haunts me still
Though her presence is now flown
Her bright smile haunts me still
At the first sweet dawn of light
When I gaze upon the deep
Her form still greets my sight
While the stars their vigil keep
When I close my aching eyes
Sweet dreams my memory fill
And from sleep when I arise
Her bright smile haunts me still
And from sleep when I arise
Her bright smile haunts me still
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11. |
Raftsman's Song
01:49
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All you good people do not know
what we poor raftsmen undergo
although we go to take a ride
most every time there comes a tide
On the thirteenth it began to rain
our hands unto the raft all came
our steersman said, "there'll come a tide,
and down the river we will ride."
Our oars to make and then to swing
we go to work like anything
we worked all night there in the rain
and suffered much from cold and pain
The very next morn we turned her loose
she rode all day just like a goose
the evening tide it was so full
and now for shore we all must pull
Alas, we strived in vain
no nearer to the shore we came
run against a bluff, broke off our oar
and now no chance to get on shore
The wind did howl, the trees did fall
we thought that they would kill us all
some did weep and others pray
but Big Joe White just wished for day
Daylight come, we got on shore
we made some plank and fixed our oar
i went on with them to the end
but i never will go rafting again
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12. |
Boat's Up the River
02:51
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Boat's up the river and it won't come down
I believe to my soul Lord that I'm waterbound
If the river was whiskey and I was a duck
Lord I'd dive to the bottom and I'd never come up
Going down the river, take my rocking chair
If that blues overtakes me, rock away from here
Boat's up the river and it won't come down
I believe to my soul Lord that I'm waterbound
I'll go down to the river, and I'll set right down
If those blues don't leave me, jump in the river and drown
Boat's up the river and it won't come down
I believe to my soul Lord that I'm waterbound
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13. |
Fisherman's Island
02:47
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14. |
In Canso Strait
03:01
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In Canso Strait our vessel lay
We just arrived in from the Bay
Our vessel built both stout and strong
To Gloucester she does belong.
We were homeward bound and ready for sea
When our drunken captain got on a spree.
He came on board and to us did say:
"Get your anchor, lads, and fill her away."
We filled her away at his command.
With all sails set we left the land,
Leaving Sand Point all on our lee
As we sailed into a heavy sea.
The night came on and dark clouds lower;
The wind did howl and breakers roar.
An angry squall and the angry sky
It put her down at half-mast high.
We kindly asked him to shorten sail
Or we'd all be lost in the heavy gale.
He turned and swore if the wind would blow
He'd show us how his boat could go:
"I am captain here and I will not fail
For to shoot the first man to touch a sail
Then up speaks one of our bravest men:
"There's nine of us right here at hand
We'll reef her down and to sea we'll go,
If he interferes, lash him down below.
We'll reef her down to a steady steer
From those breaking waves as she disappears
."
We're heading up the Cape Shore now
As she knocks the white foam from her bow.
Our jib-sheet tore, in the wind it flew;
We hauled it down and bent our new.
We were homeward bound with great success
Like some lonely seagull seeking rest
When I get home no more I'll sail
With a drunken captain in a heavy gale.
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15. |
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Oh, then Susie, lovely Susie, I can no longer stay
For the bugle sounds the warning that calls me far away
It calls me to New Orleans the enemy for to rile
And to fight the southern soldiers way down on Dixie’s Isle
The owners they gave orders that no women were to come
And the Captain likewise ordered that they all should stay at home
For their waists are much too slender and their figures not the style
For to fight then southern soldiers way down on Dixie’s Isle
Then Susie cut her curling locks and man’s clothes she put on
And signed aboard our vessel and we sailed off with the dawn
Saying, “My waist it may be slender but you’ll find I have the style
To fight the southern soldiers way down on Dixie’s Isle.”
We heard those bullets flying, we heard them rebels yell
My feelings at that moment no human tongue can tell
Then Susie raised our banner and she led us all in style
And we whipped those southern soldiers way down on Dixie’s Isle
Oh, my curse attend those cruel wars and when they first began
They robbed New York and Boston of many a noble young man
They robbed us of our sweethearts, our wives and brothers while
We went to fight the southern soldiers way down in Dixie’s Isle
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16. |
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Craig Edwards New London, Connecticut
I play American roots music, from Appalachian fiddle and banjo tunes to Zydeco accordion. For nearly four decades i worked as a staff musician at Mystic Seaport Museum, demonstrating the use of chanteys, or sailor work songs, aboard the museum's collection of historic ships. I've plumbed the depths of sailor music, from the African American origins of chanteys to world maritime traditions. ... more
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