rowing shanties????

[adam cyphers]

i cant seem to find any shanties for rowing does anyone know of any? especially 1670 - 1740?

[willie wobble]

^{row row your boat , gently down the stream..........}

[Jas. Hook]

..... merrily, merrily, merrily, merrliy, life is but a dream. Sorry Adam... Willie made me do it!

Jas. Hook

Although later... in the movie Moby Dick, didn't the whale boat rowers row to 'Hill and Gully Rider'

[Fox]

It would be nice to find more than a couple of 1670-1740 shanties of any kind!

In the introduction of Hugill's book there is a rowing chant from (IIRC) the sixteenth century. If I ca find my copy I'll post it later unless someone beats me to it.

[William Brand]

The only mention of a rowing chant that I've found is in the work 'Sar Orain: Three Gaelic Poems', which makes mention of rowing chants and even defines which oarsman makes the chant and when.

An excerpt from that work...

"Brosnackadh Iomraidh

The boat has to be rowed out from the shore, before the sail is hoisted , to be clear of rocks and to catch the wind. lonad seòlaidh is the place where ' sailing,' as contrasted with ' rowing,' begins.

Metre

The couplet consists of a long line of eight syllables, and a short line of four syllables, both ending on a dissyllable, and the couplets rhyme.

This is Sneadhbhairdne, 2{S-+4:^f+' . In this section, however, the long lines of the quatrains also rhyme, except in the first. As dealbhach occurs again in the second quatrain, the first line may have been wrongly transcribed . The emendation dhionach is suggested by "An Duanag Ullamh," two quatrains of which are given below, from Rel. Celt. II. Compare with the "Birlinn" for metre and style.

Loingis leathann laidir luchdmhor

Dealbhach dionach,

Sleamhuinn sliosreidh roluath ràmhach

Dairchruaidh direach.

Togbhar leo na gealchroinn chorrach

Suas le 'nlonaibh, '' ''l^ ^'*^ ^^^

B' iomdha ball teann bhiadh ga n deanamh

Nam dhuit seoladh.

(This poem was composed by the "Mull bard," before 1558, and may have been known to MacMhaighstir Alasdair. See note on the poem in "Bàrdachd")."

[Rats]

Check out the CD's by Father Sons and Friends. They do some great songs about all the vile scum we have come to love!

[William Brand]

You might look up lyrics and music for "Haul on the Bowline". It is a shanty that survives into the early 1900s, and while debated much in origin, it is similar enough in lyrics to a work found in the 'Complaynt of Scotland' that many people date it back to the mid 16th century. It's a very simple 'short-drag' shanty for hauling on the bowline.

[William Brand]

If all the citations are good, there is a good treasure trove of short, halyard and capstan shanties discussed by a Harvard student named Eric Youngerman here...

http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k59621&pageid=icb.page253584