Anyone know who did/wrote this whale song?
Dragon (David Fiedler)
but...my wife and I went to a Country Joe and the Fish concert the other
night and they ended with a song about whales that he dedicated to
Greenpeace. It sounded very familiar, and my wife insists that either Pete
Seeger or the Chad Mitchell Trio did it, but I can't find it on any Seeger
album that I have song titles for, and I can't find *anything* on Chad
Mitchell. The refrain is:
"Hey, hey, up she rises
Hey, hey, up she rises
Hey, hey, up she rises
Early in the morning."
I'm sure this will be familiar to someone here...thanks in advance!
--
David Fiedler UUCP:infopro!david Internet:da...@infopro.com or da...@ost.com
USMail:InfoPro Systems, PO Box 220 Rescue CA 95672 Phone:916/677-5870 FAX:-5873
"Spice are the variety of life."
Bev Herzog
fie...@netcom.com (Dragon (David Fiedler)) writes:
> The refrain is:
>
> "Hey, hey, up she rises
> Hey, hey, up she rises
> Hey, hey, up she rises
> Early in the morning."
>
The song that usually has this refrain is not about whales. It's "What Do
You Do With a Drunken Sailor?" It's an _old_ standard.
Bev
Walter Nelson
: I'm not a folkie, so I apologize in advance if this is a stupid question,
: but...my wife and I went to a Country Joe and the Fish concert the other
: night and they ended with a song about whales that he dedicated to
: Greenpeace. It sounded very familiar, and my wife insists that either Pete
: Seeger or the Chad Mitchell Trio did it, but I can't find it on any Seeger
: album that I have song titles for, and I can't find *anything* on Chad
: Mitchell. The refrain is:
: "Hey, hey, up she rises
: Hey, hey, up she rises
: Hey, hey, up she rises
: Early in the morning."
: I'm sure this will be familiar to someone here...thanks in advance!
: --
It is an old sea shanty, used to do light work like raising or hauling down
the jibs (the small triangular sails at the bow of a sailing ship). It
was either used as a "Stamp and go" where the crew put their backs to the
work and stamped in time down the deck, hauling on the line, or as a "hand
over hand" where the crew stayed in one place and hauled quickly and in
time to the music. It probably dates from the 19th Century. Like all sea
shanties, it was not exactly written--it just sorta grew. Every sailor
who used it to set the rhythm of the work of himself and his mates changed
it a little, and felt free to improvise new verses to suit the time and
place.
The chorus is usually something like:
Way hay (or hooray) and up she rises
Way hay and up she rises
Way hay and up she rises
Earlai in the morning.
The usual first verse is
What do you do with a drunken sailor
[repeat twice]
Earlai in the morning
Chorus
At this point the shantyman suggests possible fates for the drunken sailor,
like having his belly shaved with a rusty razor. The line should have the
same meter as "What do you do with a drunken sailor". The rest of the
crew then repeats the line twice, followed by "Earlai in the morning" and
then launches into the chorus, followed by another suggestion etc etc.
This is probably the best known sea shanty of them all, and as shanty
performers, it is an obligatory standard for the group I'm in. Though we
sometimes get a little tired of it on its own merits, the enthusiasm it
generates in the audience is contagious, so we still make a place for
it somewhere at the end of our performances. Many folk perfomers who would
never touch another sea shanty also perform this one.
A shanty, BTW, is a sailor's work song, as opposed to just any old song
about the sea.
Cheers,
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Walter Nelson | INSERT PITHY WITTICISM HERE
RAND |
walter...@rand.org |
___________________________________________________________________________
Dragon (David Fiedler)
>I'm not a folkie, so I apologize in advance if this is a stupid question,
>but...my wife and I went to a Country Joe and the Fish concert the other
>night and they ended with a song about whales that he dedicated to
>Greenpeace. It sounded very familiar, and my wife insists that either Pete
>Seeger or the Chad Mitchell Trio did it, but I can't find it on any Seeger
>album that I have song titles for, and I can't find *anything* on Chad
>Mitchell. The refrain is:
>"Hey, hey, up she rises
>Hey, hey, up she rises
>Hey, hey, up she rises
>Early in the morning."
Thanks to all the people who have already sent me email, but I swear, I am
*not* thinking of the drunken sailor song. Perhaps Country Joe just wrote
this about whales, using the refrain from the sailor song, and my wife
remembered the refrain (from a Pete Seeger album?). But the song I
heard was definitely about whales.
daniel r. reitman, attorney to be
wal...@thoreau.rand.org (Walter Nelson) writes:
>The usual first verse is
>What do you do with a drunken sailor
>[repeat twice]
>Earlai in the morning
Actually, three repeats was how I heard it.
>. . . .
>This is probably the best known sea shanty of them all, and as shanty
>performers, it is an obligatory standard for the group I'm in. . . .
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt; you're more qualified than I am.
>A shanty, BTW, is a sailor's work song, as opposed to just any old song
>about the sea.
And I don't think that anyone would doubt that it belongs somewhere in the folk
category. :-)
Daniel Reitman
"The examples of so-called bookkeeping for a so-called public financial
institution that were presented to us as evidence could easily warrant for a
half-dozen or so loan officers an other-worldly judgment of perdition, forever
condemning them to scramble about the floor of Pandemonium, each looking for
the missing beads of his shattered abacus."
In re Lanza, 51 B.R. 125, 126 (Bankr. D.N.J. 1985).
John Angliss
:>A shanty, BTW, is a sailor's work song, as opposed to just any old song
:>about the sea.
:>Cheers,
More useless information. The term "shanty" is a corruption of the French
word "chanson" (sorry about the spelling but that's the folk process)
meaning "song".
...........................................................................
: :
: "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle :
: if it is lightly greased." - The Profit by Kehlog Albran :
: :
: John Angliss Internet - jang...@perth.dialix.oz.au :
: Perth, Western Australia Compuserve - 100035,3634 :
:.........................................................................:
John Lupton
: The usual first verse is
: What do you do with a drunken sailor
: [repeat twice]
: Earlai in the morning
At this year's Philly Folk Festival, one of the performers (Mike Cross, I
think) sang this followup verse to "what do you do with a drunken sailor":
Put him in charge of an Exxon tanker,
Put him in charge of an Exxon tanker, etc...
______________________________________________________________________________
John Lupton, LAN Specialist |Internet:jlu...@mail.sas.upenn.edu
Communications & Network Services |3401 Walnut St., Suite 321A
School of Arts & Sciences |Philadelphia PA 19104-6228
University of Pennsylvania |Voice:(215) 898-4172
________________________________________|_____________________________________
Wil Leigh
: Thanks to all the people who have already sent me email, but I swear, I am
: *not* thinking of the drunken sailor song. Perhaps Country Joe just wrote
: this about whales, using the refrain from the sailor song, and my wife
: remembered the refrain (from a Pete Seeger album?). But the song I
: heard was definitely about whales.
Nope, you're NOT thinking of the drunken sailor song. :-) I vaguely
remembered the Country Joe song you described, and after an enjoyable, if
dusty, afternoon prowling my old vinyl I found it. The version I have is
on the following 2-record "live" folk anthology:
Bread and Roses, Festival of Acoustic Music
Fantasy Records, F-79009, 1979
The track is question is:
Side 3, Band 4
Country Joe McDonald
"Save the Whales!"
The lyrics follow:
Save the Whales
by Country Joe McDonald
intro: Well, there's a big movement all over the planet to try to
save the whales from extinction. This's a song I wrote about
it, it's called "Save the Whales."
When my grandpa was a boy
He went down to the general store
Saw a picture a book of whales
Shootin' it's spout and flashin' it's tail
Then he got a sailor's dream
About cruisin' around on a salty sea,
Joinin' up with a fishin' crew,
To go out and get him a whale or two.
Tell me what kind of men are these
That sail upon the salty seas
Up in the rigging in the afternoon
Swabbin' the deck and sharpenin' harpoons
Hoo-ray and up she rises,
Hoo-ray and up she rises,
Hoo-ray and up she rises,
Ear-ly in the mornin'...
Lots of whales in a deep blue sea
And we kill them for the industry
Drag 'em long side and chop 'em in two
And melt 'em down and sell it to you
There hardly is a sailor alive
Who can keep the tears from his eyes
As he remembers the good old days
When there were no whales to save
Now we can thank the industry
For scouring the deep blue sea
Looking for ivory and perfume
And oil to light your living room
[chorus]
Shanghaied by the light of the moon
Put out from Boston in the middle of June
And after six months out at sea
It's nothing but death and misery
Set out on a three year cruise
A union ship and a union crew
And after six months you begin to see
Whaling's not what it used to be
A modern ship and a modern crew
With sonar scopes and explodin' harpoons
A mechanical boat made out of steel
A floatin' machine built to kill the whales
[chorus]
Hope this helps!
A fan,
Wil.
--
Wil Leigh Perfect Blue Buildings
MCartsonis
(daniel r. reitman, attorney to be) writes:
<Anyone know who did/wrote this whale song?
That tune, with the chorus based on "What Will We do With the Drunken
Sailor" was in fact written by Country Joe, and is on one of his albums
from the late 70's, but I can't remember which one. I used to play it on
my radio show. Joe & Pete are old buds and are both very active on the
grassroots scene.
Robert G McCausland
>At this year's Philly Folk Festival, one of the performers (Mike Cross, I
>think) sang this followup verse to "what do you do with a drunken sailor":
>Put him in charge of an Exxon tanker,
>Put him in charge of an Exxon tanker, etc...
In 1989, the luxury ferry "The Scotia Prince" (which ferries from
Portland ME to Nova Scotia) was visiting Boston as part of an Atlantic
provinces tourist promotion. On board were some thirty musicians,
including The Rankin Family, Dave MacIsaac, Natalie McMaster, and John
Allen Cameron. John Allen at one point answered the musical question
this way: "Send him to Alaska to drive a tanker." Ah, the folk process...
On the sunny side,
~~Rob McCausland
rg...@world.std.com
Barry M. Schlesinger
I would suspect that this verse may have been written independently in
many locations. It was a natural. The version I heard was
"Put him on the bridge of an Exxon Tanker."
-BMS
jo...@netcom.com
> I would suspect that this verse may have been written independently in
> many locations. It was a natural. The version I heard was
> "Put him on the bridge of an Exxon Tanker."
Yeah, around here it's "Put him at the helm of...". I started hearing
this one within a week after the Valdez incident; I agree that it
probabably erupted, spontaneously and simultaneously, in millions of
locations. It's just a natural.
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-__ __ /_ Jon Berger "If you push something hard enough,
//_// //_/ jo...@netcom.com it will fall over."
_/ --------- - Fudd's First Law of Opposition
David Kassover
>I'm not a folkie, so I apologize in advance if this is a stupid question,
>but...my wife and I went to a Country Joe and the Fish concert the other
>night and they ended with a song about whales that he dedicated to
>Greenpeace. It sounded very familiar, and my wife insists that either Pete
>Seeger or the Chad Mitchell Trio did it, but I can't find it on any Seeger
>album that I have song titles for, and I can't find *anything* on Chad
>Mitchell. The refrain is:
>
>"Hey, hey, up she rises
>Hey, hey, up she rises
>Hey, hey, up she rises
>Early in the morning."
>
>I'm sure this will be familiar to someone here...thanks in advance!
Sounds like "Drunken Sailor". There must be thousands of verses
by now, probably only a couple of dozen less than ROTR...
--
David Kassover "Proper technique helps protect you against
RPI BSEE '77 MSCSE '81 sharp weapons and dull judges."
kass...@aule-tek.com F. Collins
kass...@ra.crd.ge.com
Don Wegeng
featured an Irish Rovers-type band singing:
Bringing home the oil, me boys
Bringing home the oil
Sailin' all around the world
Bringing home the oil
Workin' on a giant ship
Is very hard [???unclear???]
{??? unclear???]
Bringing home the oil
It occured to me that an interesting parady would be:
Spilling all the oil, me boys
Spilling all the oil
...
/Don
-R.CAPIK
Don Wegeng <dlw....@xerox.com> wrote:
>On a related note, anyone remember the old Exxon(?) TV commercial that
>featured an Irish Rovers-type band singing:
>
> Bringing home the oil, me boys
> Bringing home the oil
>
>It occured to me that an interesting parady would be:
>
> Spilling all the oil, me boys
> Spilling all the oil
> ...
>
>/Don
>
in New Jersey. I think it was less than a year after the big
Exxon spill. The lyrical tale follows the local news stories
with little exaggeration.
===========================================================================
See the Tank Farms All About lyrics by: the NJ Editorial Minstrel
(c) copyright 1991
[to the tune of: Good King Wenceslas]
===========================================================================
See the tank farms all about the coast line of New Jersey.
Watch them move that crude about in so great a hurry.
See big tankers sail about, in New Jersey waters.
Vessel traffic all about. Should we be more worried?
Hear the horn blast what a sound. What could be the matter?
See the tanker run aground. See it's hull just shatter.
Contents oozing all about! So much toxic matter.
Arthur Kill is closed tonight. Clean up crews now ga-ather.
Hope this mess will not ignight. Where's that navigator?
Seems he's run off for the night. Some say he just staggered.
Scape goats needed for this plight. Corporate image shattered.
But we'll just write this off our tax: cause it's a business matter.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ron Capik via: lo...@hogpa.att.com
--