Whaling Songs?
Gary Martin
For the last two weeks, I've been reading Moby Dick. (I've been
embarrassed for years that I hadn't read it, but I'm glad I waited -
there's so much that I wouldn't have appreciated, even a year ago.) Of
course it got me to thinking about traditional whaling songs, and it
struck me that I know far fewer than I would have expected.
The titles (with a key line or two) that came to mind quickly were:
The Greenland Whale Fishery
In 18 hundred 53, on June the 13th day
The Diamond
The bonnie ship the Diamond she goes fishing for the whale
The Coast of Peru
There are plenty of whales on the coast of Peru
Wings of a Gull
I would leave old Greenland's icy ground
for the right whale here is none
Rolling Down to Old Maui
Our main mast sprung, our whaling done & we ain't got far to roam
Blow Ye Winds in the Morning
They take you to New Bedford that famous whaling port
A glance at the seven albums of sea songs I found in my collection and
at the books I have (Doerflinger's _Songs_of_the_Sailor_and_Lumberman_,
Shay's _An_American_Sailor's_Treasury_, Lomax's _Folk_Songs_of_North_
_America_, and _Rise_Up_Singing_) didn't increase this list much. They
reminded me of:
Blood Red Roses
And it's all for the sake of them sperm-whales
This list seems awfully short, considering the size and importance of
the whaling industry, the complexity and danger of the process, and the
particular sources I consulted. Of course there are plenty of generic
shanties and ballads that must have been sung aboard whaling ships just
as they were sung on merchant ships and navy vessels, on all sorts of
topics, from the task at hand, to shipwrecks, pirates, naval battles,
slave trade, drinking, womanizing, being the victim of drink and women,
cruel treatment at sea, bad food, bad weather, etc., but where are the
songs about the specifics of whaling?
Anybody care to name some others? (I'm not looking for contemporary
songs like Last Leviathan, Baby Beluga, Rubber Blubber Whale, Call Me
the Whale, etc.)
Perhaps I'll get over to the library this week to look for more, but I'm
not hopeful. Though this university is only five miles from New
Bedford, and hosts an annual traditional music festival that has been
running for 21 years, it is funded by the Commonpoverty of
Taxrevoltachusetts.
E-mail replies are fine (I'll summarize), but in case I've forgotten to
include a Reply-To line in the header, please make sure to mail to:
mar...@cis.umassd.edu. Including a host-name will probably cause mail
to bounce.
--
Gary A. Martin, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, UMass Dartmouth
Mar...@cis.umassd.edu
Joseph C Fineman
whaling songs are mentioned, and quoted from, in another well-known
novel, _Captains Courageous_ by Kipling. One of them, "Wheat in the
Ear", is pretty impressive in the fragments given, and I have always
wished to know it, but I can't find it anywhere, despite much trying.
I wonder if Kipling's notes are extant.
Sara J. Wagner
There's a song called "Wheat in the Ear" on an album called National
Geographic Songs & Sounds of the Sea (which also has a lot of whaling
songs on it, come to think). I don't know anything about the date,
artists, etc. because I just have a tape that a friend gave me.
--
Jane Wagner, Computer Systems and Publications Assistant
The Claude Moore Health Sciences Library| INTERNET: jw...@virginia.edu
Box 234, UVA Health Sciences Center | PHONE: 804-924-0188
Charlottesville, VA 22908 | BITNET: jw...@virginia.bitnet
Jack Campin
polyphonic pieces somewhere between Welsh and Georgian singing in effect.
Their whaling was traditionally done in open boats rowed out into the Bay
of Biscay; that was doing it the hard way. I don't know where you can get
recordings of them; I haven't heard any for about 15 years.
There are Inuit songs about whaling as well; I haven't heard these.
Now can we have some traditional Canadian worksongs to accompany clubbing
baby seals to death?
--
-- Jack Campin room G092, Computing Science Department, Glasgow University,
17 Lilybank Gardens, Glasgow G12 8RZ, Scotland TEL: 041 339 8855 x6854 (work)
INTERNET: ja...@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk or via nsfnet-relay.ac.uk FAX: 041 330 4913
BANG!net: via mcsun and uknet BITNET: via UKACRL UUCP: ja...@glasgow.uucp
Greg Bullough
>Their whaling was traditionally done in open boats rowed out into the Bay
>of Biscay; that was doing it the hard way. I don't know where you can get
>recordings of them; I haven't heard any for about 15 years.
"Shore Whaling" was quite a common, though relatvely un-remembered, form
of whaling. It took place in virtually all areas where "whale watching"
expeditions now ply their trade.
>Now can we have some traditional Canadian worksongs to accompany clubbing
>baby seals to death?
'Take This Hammer' or any other labor song connected with hammering should
do :-)
Sorry. That was really sick.
Greg
David Dalton
two recordings that may be of interest:
1. The Southern Cross, which contains many songs about sealing
and about sealing disasters which killed hundreds of men.
2. Empty Nets, a recent release with songs about the catastrophe
in the Newfoundland fishery.
They may contain some songs about whaling as well.
They may be ordered from:
SingSong Productions
Station "C"
St. John's NF
A1C 6J9
CANADA
Matthew Moore
>One people who have some very good whaling songs are the Basques;
>polyphonic pieces somewhere between Welsh and Georgian singing in effect.
>Their whaling was traditionally done in open boats rowed out into the Bay
>of Biscay; that was doing it the hard way. I don't know where you can get
>recordings of them; I haven't heard any for about 15 years.
>There are Inuit songs about whaling as well; I haven't heard these.
>Now can we have some traditional Canadian worksongs to accompany clubbing
>baby seals to death?
will an antiwhaling song do? you can get the tune from the Dubliners
'Celebration' double. I think its by A. Barnes
My soul has been torn from me
And I am bleeding
My heart it has been rent
And I am screaming
All the beauty around me fades
And I am crying
I am the last of the great whales
And I am dying
Last night I heard the sound of my last companion
Then the roar of the harpoon gun
And then I was alone
I thought of the days gone by
When we were thousands
But I know that I soon must die
The last leviathan
This morning the sun did rise
Crimson in the North sky
The ice was the colour of blood
And the wind did cry
I rose for to take a breath
It was my last one
From a gun came the roar of death
And now I am done
Now that we are all gone
Theres no more hunting
The big fellow is no more
Its no use lamenting
What race will be next in line
All for the slaughter
The elephant or the seal,
Or your sons and daughters
My soul has been torn from me
And I am bleeding
My heart it has been rent
And I am screaming
All the beauty around me fades
And I am crying
I am the last of the great whales
And I am dying
Robert Derrick
Since the response to the request for whaling songs has been
so underwhelming, I decided to try and have a look for myself.
Here is what I came up with. The references are as complete
as I know; there may be more info for some of the songs. If
you know it, let me know. If anybody wants any more info
or lyrics of a particular song, let me know. If the response
is low enough, you may actually get it (I already have a couple
on disk already).
rob derrick
---
by The Morgans - this is an album from many years ago, which
was given to me as a tape. I don't know the title of the album,
if there was one, or anything else about these guys.
The Bowhead
I sailed out of Frisco town,
Hi, Ho, the bowhead blow,
To the Artic seas, where the whales abound,
In the land of frost and snow
Paddy O'Brien
a fanciful tale of a landlubber Irishman Jonah'd on a whaler,
swallowed for "six months and five days"
Windy Old Weather
the great fish song adapted for whales -- this is the
modern ecological view
So the leaders of Russia and old Japan
The killing of whales, stop, fast as you can
In this windy old weather, stormy old weather
When the wind blows, we'll all go together
[title unknown]
a paean to the lure of the whaler
Of a love of adventure, a promise of gold
Or an ardent desire to roam far away
Ever tempted you far o'er the watery world
Away from your kindred and home
---
Mister Eneos - by Gordon Bok (from Peter Kagan)
["Practically verbatim" from a smooth-log of the last whaler
to go out of New Bedford -- this is a smacked by the tail
song - "We saw the flukes comes crashing down where Mister
Eneos had been"]
It was March 29, 1910, the little brig Daisy did sail
The morning was clear and the sea was down,
And we raised a great pod of whale
---
John Cook - by Schooner Fare (from Classic Schooner Fare)
Oh, John Cook, you have taken us to hell
Locked up in the ice off Baffin Island
We've been here for a year, now the water's running clear
Won't you set for home, John Cook, without the oil
---
Rolling Down To Old Maui
two versions - 1. Ian Robb (Hang The Piper), Stan Rodgers (don't
remember which album), et. al.; this is the one
that everybody I meet knows, and 2. a two verse-no chorus
version by A.L. Lloyd (from Leviathan), with a more mournful
tune than the first (if such a thing is possible)
---
The Wounded Whale - by Archie Fisher (from The Man With The Rhyme)
["Collated from two versions in Gale Huntington's "Songs The
Whalermen Sang... detailed and compassionate description of
the kill..." - this one is my favorite]
Lo, as the sun from her ocean bed was rising
Broad on the water her glittering light throws
Hark, from the masthead our lookouts are crying
Hard on your lee beam, a whale, there she blows
---
The Wellerman - by The Woods Tea Co. (from Alive At The Inn)
these guy's pronunciation is rather muddy so there are many
words that I can only guess at -- the story is strange; anybody
out there can elucidate?
There was a ship that put to sea
And the name of ship was the Billyatee
The winds blew up, her bow did [?]
So blow, me bully boys, blow
Soon may the wellerman come, bring us sugar and tea and rum
Someday, when the [tugging] in done, we'll take our leave and go
---
also:
Two albums dedicated to whaler songs:
---
Whaler Out Of New Bedford - Ewan Macoll, Peggy Seeger, A.L.Lloyd
which includes The Boston Come All Ye, Come All You Tarry New
England Sailors, Tommy's Gone To Hilo, Homeward Bound, The
Bark "Gay Head", Tis Advertised In Boston, The Coast of Peru,
Desolation. Side one is a montage of Whaler songs which is the
soundtrack for a short film about a "panorama", a 1300 foot 'moving
picture' by Benjamin Russel and Caleb Purrington, from the mid 1800's.
The Panorama is currently in the New Bedford Whaling Museum.
---
Leviathan - A.L.Lloyd
which includes The Diamond, Rant and Roar, Farewell To
Tarwathie [another of my favorites], The Trying Out,
The Balena of Dundee, Bound For Greenland
And
Paddy Malony (Caterwauling, Tarpaulin, Harpoonin' and All)
this is the same story as Paddy O'Brien above, in a minor key
with a chorus -- in this one he's in the whale for "six months and
a day", and is spit out a "mile in the air"
Greenland Fishers [this is a more grim but probably more accurate version]
When the captain heard of the loss of his men
It grieved his heart full sore
But when he heard of the loss of the whale
It was half mast colors all, brave boys
It was half mast colors all
---
Gary Martin
Thanks to Rob for all the information. There were a number of
informative e-mail responses, but I've been too busy to compile
them into a summary (not to mention the fact that our machines
were down for four days while they waxed the floors!). I also
did some research, but not as successfully. The Oxford Book of
Sailors' Songs (or something like that - it's at home) had four
whaling songs out of about 150. Stan Hugill's book had a small
handful, too. I'll try to get the summary done soon.