Sea Shanties - Blog Posts

ah, the strains of a sea shanty drifting into my garden while everyone is isolated in lockdown. it’s quite lovely to just sit and bask for a while

"Come, men, can't any of you sing? Sing now, and raise the dead." - Herman Melville

Hello and welcome to the Ultimate Sea Shanty Bracket! This is a silly little competition to see which sea shanty everybody loves the most. (Or the majority of people, at least.)

I'm currently taking submissions for songs to put in the bracket, which will be comprised of random match-ups. Feel free to include a version of the song that you particularly like along with your submission, if you feel like it!

I've decided to keep my definition of "sea shanty" pretty loose. Songs can be traditional shanties or foc's'le songs, or modern songs modeled after them (ex. Barrett's Privateers). Songs that are generally about the sea or oceangoing lifestyle, but that aren't quite sea shanties (ex. The Mariner's Revenge Song) won't be included in the bracket, but we love them anyways.

Songs that have already been submitted:

Leave Her, Johnny

Mingulay Boat Song

Drunken Sailor

Barrett's Privateers

Randy Dandy O

Fish In The Sea

Running Down To Cuba

Lowlands Away

Happy submitting, and fair winds and following seas to you!

when the wellerman comes

so i’ve seen this around a lot and i always felt like the version i listened to just. didn’t have everything? sO! i edited together my three favourite versions of the tik tok sea shanty! enjoy!!

(listen with headphones if possible!)

(yes i know the ending is bad oKaY-)

Drink ‘til I die by The Poxy Boggards is bloody hilarious.https://open.spotify.com/track/1vBin2JSUOYyAvUu96CGCW?si=68AB9CTxSLSugtYoAa9BHg

This is literally the only good thing I’ve seen come out of TikTok

This is awesome

Is it strange to unironically listen to Sea Shanties? They slap... They’re great, but... is it weird?

A Sea Shanty Quote:

"HOLY F*** STAN ROGERS MADE A SONG ABOUT ME!"     

     -Me, listening to "The Idiot", by Stan Rogers

Safe and sound at home again, let the waters roar, Jack.

Safe and sound at home again, let the waters roar, Jack.

Long we've tossed on the rolling main, now we're safe ashore, Jack.

Don't forget yer old shipmate, faldee raldee raldee raldee rye-eye-doe!

Me, believing every word of this: Wow, this is fascinating!

Me, who knows almost nothing about music: I wonder what a high C sounds like. Maybe I should look up songs in the key of high C so I can hear--

Me, finally getting it: Oh...  Oh. Ooooooh! Ha. 

Me, a little disappointed: So... none of that was real then. But... but... pirate shanties...

Me, still not sure how music works: But I still want to know what the key of high C sounds like, though. 

hey did anyone hear the news that scientists have actually been able to figure out the most common key that old pirate shanties were sang in

Work Songs and Sea Shanties

There’s been a lot of posts making the rounds discussing the ties between industrial union songs, folk songs, and sea shanties (since there’s been a rise in sea shanty popularity because of tik tok.) But I have yet to see one making the direct connection from African American work songs. Which is a little disheartening, as a black person who has always liked and enjoyed the genre.

Work songs have existed lonnnnnggg before shanties. But the distinct lyrical and instrumental form of what we immediately think of as “sea shanty” had antecedents in the working chants of international maritime traditions. Mainly those sung while loading vessels with cotton in ports of the Southern United States, during the 18th and 19th century. And you know what also rose in the 18th and 19th century? 

Answer: Chattel Slavery. 

“In the first few decades of the 19th century, White European-American culture, especially the Anglophone—the sailors’ “Cheer'ly Man” and some capstan songs notwithstanding—was not known for its work songs. By contrast, African workers, both in Africa and in the New World, were widely noted to sing while working. The fact that European observers found African work-singers so remarkable suggests that work songs were indeed rather foreign to their culture.” Source

Slave music has many distinct qualities. In early captivity, drums were used to provide rhythm, but they were banned in later years because of the fear that Africans would use them to communicate in a rebellion (they were, and also used as escape codes.)  Slaves then resorted to generating percussion, using other instruments or their own bodies. Another quality is the call-and-response format, where a leader sing’s a verse or verses and the others respond with a chorus. There’s also field hollers, shouts, moans, etc.

As slaves were forced into christianizing, their work songs evolved into Spirituals. Other measures to prevent slave rebellion included making sure that slaves from the same tribe were intentionally scattered, so that they could not share the same language. The forbiddance of practicing indigenous religions and speaking anything other than English meant that eventually, the large groups of slaves were once again able to communicate with each other. 

Spirituals were largely informed by the colonial hymns and folk songs of the time. They had the multitudinous purpose of 1.) keeping everyone working 2.) imparting Christian values 3.) describing the hardships of slavery, and 4.) hiding codes to escape.  Famous Spirituals include “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” and “Wade in the Water” and they were a significant part of navigating the Underground Railroad. 

The switch to steam powered ships by the end of the 19th century gradually made sea shanties obsolete as work songs, so they are largely preserved as folk music. But because African Americans were still forced into the labour class, their work songs continued to evolve. Here are some chain gang songs for example.

Work songs > Spirituals > Gospel Music > Blues > Every Modern Black American Musical Genre That we Know Today

Not only that, but the root genre of work songs still exist across the globe, distinct to the agricultural and industrial work force of each culture. These videos were all posted within the last 5-10 years, from Tasmania, South Africa, The Philippines, and Tanzania. You can hear the connection between them being the tremendous labour they do.

Sea shanty about a crew disappearing at sea but as it’s sung fewer and fewer people are singing until it’s just one person left.