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Sea shanties and maritime music

The songs of the sea have a long legacy of scholarship, musicianship, and public performance. From the work songs of deep-water sailors and fishermen, to the ballads taken into pubs and forecastles, these songs have been used to coordinate effort, remember shore life, and sometimes just pass the time.

The songs themselves have been passed from ship to ship, printed in newspapers and books, shared at festivals, learned from video games, and remixed on social media. Hundreds of sea music-specific albums have been recorded, and maritime music comprises a distinct genre.

This Day in History (February 29, 1908)

This Day in History (January 8, 1806)

The death of Lord Nelson was a national tragedy like no other for England. "From Greenwich to Whitehall Stairs, on the 8th of January, 1806, in one of the greatest Aquatic Processions that ever was beheld on the River Thames" drifted the royal shallop (barge). The event is referenced in the modern lament, Carrying Nelson Home. Nelson is mentioned in nearly a dozen other songs.

Try a random shanty sampling

The Alabama
Hauling shanty

When the Alabama's keel was laid,
Ch: ROLL, Alabama, ROLL,
They laid her keel in Birkenhead,
Ch: ROLL, Alabama, ROLL!

Oh, she was built at Birkenhead,
She was built in the yard of Jonathan Laird.

And down the Mersey she rolled away,
And Britain supplied her with men and guns.

And she sailed away in search of a prize.
And when she came to the port of Cherbourg,

It was there she met the little Kearsarge.
It was there she met the Ke-arsarge.

It was off Cherbourg harbor in April, '65,
That the Alabama went to a timely grave.
In Kwam Last Over Een Berg
Heaving shanty

Last time I crossed the hill,
Tari tari tari tari, ta ta,
(Repeat the first line in each verse)
I heard the jugs a-ringing,
I, a merry boatman,
I should like to tari ta ta,
I, a merry boatman,
I should like to drink.

Landlord sell me a jug of wine,
Tari tari tari tari, ta ta,
The jug was cracked at the bottom,
I, a merry boatman,
I threw it, so that it tari ta ta,
I, a merry boatman,
I threw it, so that it splintered.

And when I'd had me wine,
Tari tari tari tari, ta ta,
That landlord wouldn't let me go,
I, a merry boatman,
I hadn't any money for tari ta ta,
I, a merry boatman,
I hadn't any money for to pay.

They then stripped me naked,
Tari tari tari tari, ta ta,
They threw me into the barn,
I, a merry boatman,
There from cold I couldn't tari ta ta,
I, a merry boatman,
There from cold I couldn't last.

And as I lay there in that barn,
Tari tari tari tari, ta ta,
'Twas then that I thought,
I, a merry boatman,
If I now got the landlord's tari ta ta,
I, a merry boatman,
If I now got the landlord's daughter.

When I'd had the landlord's daughter,
Tari tari tari tari, ta ta,
How d'yer think she paid me?
I, a merry boatman,
She gave me two nice golden tari ta ta,
I, a merry boatman,
She gave me two nice golden crowns.
The Dying Sailor To His Shipmates
Ceremonial

Oh wrap me in my country's flag
And lay me in the cold blue sea,
And let the roaring of the waves
My solemn requiem be.

And I shall sleep a pleasant sleep
While storms above their vigils keep.

My Captain brave shall read for me
The service of the silent dead,
And, yea, shall lower me in the waves
While all the prayers are said.

And I will find my long long home
Among the billows and the foam.

Farewell, my friends, for many a league
We've sailed together on the deep.
Come, let us shake hands, I'll sail no more
But shipmates wear for weep.

I'm bound above, my course is run,
I near the port, my voyage is done.
Paddy, Lay Back
Heaving shanty

I was broke and out of a job in the city of London;
I went down the Shadwell Docks to get a ship

Paddy, get back, take in the slack!
Heave away your capstan,heave a pawl, heave a pawl!
'Bout ship and stations, there, be handy,
Rise tacks 'n' sheets, 'n' mains'l haul!

There was a Yankee ship a-laying in the basin.
Shipping master told me she was going to New York!

If I ever get my hands on that shipping master,
I will murder him if it's the last thing that I do!

When the pilot left the ship the captain told us
We were bound around Cape Horn to Callao!

And he said that she was hot and still a-heating,
And the best thing we could do was watch our step.

Now, the mate and second mate belond to Boston,
And the captain b'longed in Bangor down in Maine.

The three of them were rough-n'-tumble fighters.
When not fighting amongst themselves they fought with us.

Oh, they called us out one night to reef the tops'ls.
There was belayin' pins a-flyin' around the deck.

We came on deck and went to set the tops'ls.
Not a man among the bunch could sing a song.

Oh, the mate he grabbed ahold of me by the collar.
"If you don't sing a song I'll break your blasted neck!"

I got up and gave them a verse of "Reuben Ranzo."
Oh, the answer that I got would make you sick.

It was three long months before we got to Callao,
And the ship she was a-called a floating hell.

We filled up there at Callao with saltpetre,
And then back again around Cape Horn!

or

We filled up with saltpetre to the hatches,
And then bound back around Cape Horn to Liverpool.
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